Building Riparian Resilience through Collaboration
Location
USU Eccles Conference Center
Abstract
At the 2013 Restoring the West conference, Jerry Franklin spoke about restoring frequent-fire forests, and noted, “Collaborative groups may represent the most important interface between the American public and federal land management agencies.” The same holds true of collaborative groups focused on building riparian resilience. Five significant collaborations have been undertaken in Utah in recent years, focused primarily on the contentious issues of livestock and wild ungulate grazing, and/or aspen restoration. In four, consensus has been reached despite initial differences. The fifth consensus collaboration is newly-formed. Commonalities contributing to the success of these five collaborations will be examined in this presentation, as well as particular challenges. The Utah Forests Restoration Working Group, which developed recommendations for restoring aspen on national forests in Utah in 2012, is now beginning development of guidelines for restoration of woody riparian vegetation. The 2014 Restoring the West conference is timely for this collaborative group.
Building Riparian Resilience through Collaboration
USU Eccles Conference Center
At the 2013 Restoring the West conference, Jerry Franklin spoke about restoring frequent-fire forests, and noted, “Collaborative groups may represent the most important interface between the American public and federal land management agencies.” The same holds true of collaborative groups focused on building riparian resilience. Five significant collaborations have been undertaken in Utah in recent years, focused primarily on the contentious issues of livestock and wild ungulate grazing, and/or aspen restoration. In four, consensus has been reached despite initial differences. The fifth consensus collaboration is newly-formed. Commonalities contributing to the success of these five collaborations will be examined in this presentation, as well as particular challenges. The Utah Forests Restoration Working Group, which developed recommendations for restoring aspen on national forests in Utah in 2012, is now beginning development of guidelines for restoration of woody riparian vegetation. The 2014 Restoring the West conference is timely for this collaborative group.
Comments
Mary O’Brien (Botany), Forests Program Director of Grand Canyon Trust, has worked as a staff scientist with conservation advocacy groups for the past 34 years, and has been with Grand Canyon Trust for the past 15 years. With Grand Canyon Trust, she has largely focused on helping colleague organizations jointly develop alternatives for proposed forest plan amendments and projects throughout the Dixie, Fishlake and Manti-La Sal NFs (southern and central Utah).