Devils Postpile National Monument

Transcription

Challenges and Opportunities in Managing for Climate Change
National Park Service
U.S. Department of the Interior
Devils Postpile
National Monument
Challenges and Opportunities in Managing
for Climate Change
Presentation Goals
•
•
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This panel will explore the challenges and opportunities for managing Devils Postpile National Monument
(DEPO) in this era of climate change within the setting of the Upper Middle Fork of the San Joaquin.
The biological diversity and ecological significance will be presented, along with the geological context
that creates the unique setting of the Upper Middle Fork of the San Joaquin. The concept of managing this
area as refugium will be explored in the context of the he working definition as: Physical environments that
are less affected by climate change than other areas
Presentations will include:
Frank Gehrkie, CADWR: Information on climate variability, impacts, and monitoring,
Marie Denn, NPS : present physical and ecologic vulnerabilities of wetlands
Sue Burak, UNR and NPS: importance of understanding groundwater resources and monitoring efforts
Jim Upchurch, USFS: integrated management for climate change in the Eastern Sierra.
Introduction
•
DEPO is one piece of a larger visitor experience and resource base which
includes the Minarets and the Upper Middle Fork of San Joaquin River
Valley within the Inyo National Forest.
•
Located along the Upper Middle Fork of the San Joaquin, DEPO and the
surrounding valley is one of the most biologically rich and ecologically
important areas along the Eastern Sierra/Sierra Divide ecotone.
•
DEPO is embarking on its first ever management plan called the General
Management Plan, and the draft release is timed for the
100th anniversary of designation of the Monument in 2011. NPS is
collaborating with Inyo NF on ecosystem mgmt in UMFSJ. Public scoping is
planned to start this April.
DEPO is embarking on its first ever management plan called the
General Management Plan, and the draft release is timed for the
100th anniversary of designation of the Monument in 2011.
The Postpile and UMFSJ River have a long history in public lands and
the struggle for conservation.
NPS/FS Coordination in Planning for valley wide
in transportation, facilities, and resources
*Increase capacity of both agencies
to sustain and improve visitor
services and resource
management
*Resource Considerations
(50,000 acres, nearly 60 sq miles)
• Watershed values
• Biodiversity
• Climate change
– Wilderness and recreation
issues not considered on Inyo
NF lands, that is within the
Initiating GMP – FY09
•
No previous GMP, but required
by all parks.
•
Lack of GMP guidance has hampered
DEPO’s efforts to obtain funding for
projects and plans.
Proposed Schedule
• Foundation Planning (Jan-Mar FY09)
• Public Scoping (Apr-Sept FY09)
• Resource Analysis and Alternatives
Development (Fall FY10)
• DEPO Centennial / Release Draft Plan
(FY11)
• Final GMP (FY12-13)
Interagency Efforts and Partners research and support can be
complementary in ecosystem management.
Landscape and Core Reserve---(Fuels Mgmt and Fire Effects Mtrg)
Extensive and Intensive (Forest Health Landscape analysis & site)
Coarse and Fine Filter (Watershed Protection and Groundh20 Mtrg)
• Issue: Transportation and access to the monument is a
primary issue for the GMP
• Shuttle provides high quality, safe, visitor experience - one of the longest running
NPS public transit systems (30 years).
• 2-3 times more visitors can access the monument with the shuttle in operation, and
lightens the carbon footprint of visitation.
• Issues: long-term financial sustainability, road widths and vehicle size, drop-offs,
and turn-arounds
Issue: Operations and Facilities
– Comprehensive look at park facilities
visitor and operational facilities.
–
Develop plans that integrate energy
efficiency and water conservation into
infrastructure.
• Issue: Visitor Experience
Adequate and safe visitor facilities
Gateway to John Muir and Pacific Crest Trails
Untapped potential outreach to gateway community
What impacts will climate change have on visitation patterns
• Issue: Wilderness Management
Over 90% of monument is Wilderness (750 acres)
DEPO is a gateway to hundreds of thousands of acres of Inyo and Sierra
NF wilderness, both Ansel Adams and John Muir including JMT/PCT
Opportunity to complete a wilderness plan as part of GMP
Opportunity to integrate Soundscape Management as part of GMP
Issue: Groundwater and Surface Water
Extensive complexes of springs form creeks and groundwater reservoirs creating
extensive meadows and wetlands (8.5% of the monument)
Consider Wild and Scenic River status for Upper Middle Fork San Joaquin River,
especially with possible emphasis on increased dams on major rivers to cope
with climate change
Groundwater pumping in shared aquifer with Mammoth Mtn/Town of Mammoth
Lakes may impact hydrologic complex
Issue: Resource Management of
Biodiversity during Climate Change,
*Biodiversity hotspot: Over 400 plant species, 100 bird species, 35 mammals, (12
species bats) in 800 acres and at an elevation range of less than 1000 feet.
Why?
*Location
Ecological: Convergence of bioregions, high percentage of wetlands
Geographic: Along San Joaquin River, Adjacent to the lowest pass in ES
Hydroclimate : SJ River valley storm track, low passes, high SWE
Geologic: history creates diverse soil types and river canyon
Updated: 27th August, 2008
DEPO’s contribution to a Climate Change Strategy may be
to provide a vital link for species migration along corridors
and seed banks for the future.
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US Climate Change and Govt Program,
EPA: Updated: 27th August, 2008
Preliminary review of adaptation
options for climate-sensitive
ecosystems and resources
Synthesis and Assessment Product 4.4
NPS Guidelines, Chapter 4:
Adaptations for Climate-Sensitive
Ecosystems and Resources:
•
•
•
•
Address resilience to climate
change in activities and planning
that will increase ability of NPS in
meeting mission of Organic Act.
Many mgmt goals can only by
achieved by regional interagency
cooperation.
Needs strategies in event of rapid
rates of change.
Reduce the risks of catastrophic
loss through strategies managing
as a refugium.
Explore Refugium Concept in Context of UMFSJ
A) Definition: Physical environments
that are less affected by climate
change than other areas (e.g., due
to local currents, geographic
location, etc.) and are thus a
“refuge” from climate change for
organisms (June 4.4 SAR- report)
B) Chapter 4: Management concept:
The value of National Parks’s as
minimally disturbed refugia for
natural processes and biodiversity
becomes more important as
surrounding landscapes become
increasingly altered by human
activities.
Research underway
*Scripps Institution of Oceanography, USGS, CA
DWR and NPS meteorological station initiated
in 2005. (Data available at
www.nps.gov/depo/climate).
*Inyo National Forest-Calfed Grant with UMFSJ
Watershed Assessment.
*NPS-Sierra Nevada Inventory and Monitoring
Network
*
PSW-Albany, Climate Toolkit
Case Study of NPS/USFS ecosystem
management.
*
PSW-Riverside, Air quality research on Sierra
Air Quality Pollutants.
*
USGS- Groundwater Monitoring and
Surface Water Monitoring.
Number of Taxa in Plant Affinity for CA Mountain Floras
(Floristic Affinities of E. CA , H. Constantine HSU Thesis, 2000)
Areas/
Old
Not to scale Cordilwith acres
leran
Circum
boreal
Lowland
CA
Great
Basin
N.
Lassen NP
360
95
157
36
87/50
785
Sequoia
Kings NPs
401
105
210
79
67/19
881
Mammoth
Mtn
130
25
56
42
9/25
287
E side San
Joaquin
Ridge
216
59
72
60
34/5
446
DEPO
?
?
?
?
?/5
400
UMFSJ
?
?
?
?
?
?
White Mtns
232
58
24
148
40/14
516
Hemisphere
/Invasives
Total
DEPO may be vital link between YOSE Central Sierra
Bioregion (12 miles Donahue Pass), SEKI Southern
Sierra Bioregion, about 40 River miles to South Fork San
Joaquin River)
Devils Why
Postpile
National
Nationalinclu
Park Service
is there
such Monument
a high % of wetlands. Some factors may
de :
*The San Joaquin River creates riverside and groundwater rich wetlands in
layers of volcanic and metamorphic rocks.
*The high amount of precipitation that comes up the SJ Valley and hits
Mammoth Mountain that runs as surface water in creeks and springs, and
groundwater that nourishes meadows and seeps.
*Possible cold air pooling in the valley with reduction in evaporation.
Devils Postpile Natio
Monument
Wetland Inventory an
Condition Assessme
8.5% of Monument
classified as CRAM
wetlands
Water Resources Div
April 2008
Diverse Flora: over 400 species/800 acres/less than 1000 foot
elevational range.
With this great diversity is such a restricted elevational range of 1000
feet and 800 acres….potential for great diversity within the larger context
of valley.
35 mammals, 12 bat species,
(possibility bats finding refuge from SJ Valley pressures)
Invertebrates 100+ Genus, 100+Species of Birds
25
San Joaquin River Valley under
10K corridor along ecotone
DEPO, the UMFSJ, and the low
passes will likely play a vital role of
preserving links for species
migration during changing climates
.
Migratory corridor exists at
Mammoth Gap/Minaret Vista for
mammal migrations including
Deer, and conifers: Jeffrey Pine
And Red Firs.
Location is Everything: One of major CA Rivers, only N/S orientation of
headwaters, and located at lowpoint along the Sierra Divide.
Peaks and Passes of the Central and Southern Sierran Crest
Elevation (ft)
Elevation (m)
North
South
Know at Mammoth Pass relative to other areas, lots more snow.
Average snowpack for last 50 years on April 1 at Mammoth Pass
nearly 4 feet.
Peaks and Passes of the Central and Southern Sierran Crest
Elevation (ft)
SWE (in)
North
South
Icebox Canyon: Colder, Darker, Less ET Loss
Temperatures in UMSFSJ canyon feel colder both for night time lows and day time
highs compared to areas of similar elevations. Late Oct, with thanks to Jessica
Lundquist, Mike Dettinger, and Dan Cayan and DEPO staff, 40 data loggers installed
to begin collecting data to analyze if this temperature inversion indicates cold air
pooling. The north-south orientation of the UMFSJ and high canyon walls that produce
more shadows in and decreased solar radiation, are part of this effect. Additionally,
the middle elevation of 8000 also creates a buffer to increased evapo-transpiration.
The UMFSJ has an extensive history of volcanic events including
eruptions of the Mammoth volcano and less dramatic lava flows like
the one that created the Devils Postpile. These events rock types
vary from basalts, andesites, rhyholites, and even the Bishop Tuff.
Geologic history creates diverse soil
types and uplifted SJ River with N/S axis.
The Minarets near the headwaters of the San Joaquin
River reveal the remnants of the ancestral Sierra range.
Millions of years ago, ancient sea floor sediments were
uplifted to from the mountains creating metamorphic
rocks. Later granitic rocks would also be uplifted to
combine with this landscape.
Explore DEPO as a CORE Refugium Concept as
Minimally Disturbed
A) Definition: Physical environments
that are less affected by climate
change than other areas (e.g., due
to local currents, geographic
location, etc.) and are thus a
“refuge” from climate change for
organisms (June 4.4 SAR- report)
B) Chapter 4: Management concept:
The value of National Parks’s as
minimally disturbed refugia for
natural processes and biodiversity
becomes more important as
surrounding landscapes become
increasingly altered by human
activities.
Results of passive sampler
monitoring
Ammonia - Yosemite & S. Joaquin River transects
7
6
5
μ g/m
3
4
3
2
1
0
El Portal
Crane
Flat
Tenaya
Lake
Tioga
Pass
Mono
Lake
Redinger Mammoth Devils
Lake
Pool
Postpile
SNARL
Results of passive sampler
monitoring
Ambient ozone at Devils Postpile N. M. - 2008 season
60
50
ppb
40
30
20
10
0
7/10-7/22
7/22-8/5
8/5-8/18
8/18-9/3
9/3-9/16
Weeds heed no boundary ,
but manageable scale in UMFSJ
Interconnections: Weeds, Hummingbirds,
Pollinators, Migration
Migratory Pollinators Program
RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRDS (Selasphorus rufus)
Rufous Hummingbird
Summary
Rufous hummingbirds (Selasphorus rufus) travel from Mexico to Alaska and back,
making the longest bird migration on earth as measured in body lengths. Habitat
conversion and fragmentation threaten rufous hummingbird stopover sites along
their migratory corridors. Knowledge of migration routing and timing is essential
for insuring the persistence of this important pollinator and the pollination services
it provides.
Relatively Pristine: ,
Examples: Noxious weeds,
nearly eliminated
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
Acres
313.91 879.08
Inventor
ied
1404.8 500
700
5
800
Acres
18.66
Treated
4.4
7.02
5.
1
Negligible
1
Approx 5000
# Plants
pulled
1000
2500
1000
300
50
300
Further research Needed:
The loss of native pollinators could strike a devastating blow to the
ecosystem, economy and food supply. Need to identify ecological
relationships, and manage for protection of their food sources.
Native bumblebees observed in hundreds in certain areas of DEPO.
• .
Specifics
of what
National
Park Service
U.S.
Department
of thewould
Interior be
Management actions
needed for proactive adaptive clim
change management:
Development of more intensive
inventory and monitoring program
Surface and Groundwater.
Develop hydrological model to
determine if interbasin connectivity
groundwater could be impacted b
current or expanded groundwater
pumping.
Explore whether to pursue Wild an
Scenic River protection for further
protection to prevent possible futu
dam proposals.
Manage for Meadow Preservation:
*Removal of encroaching PICO,
*Inventory and Monitoring Meadow Functions,
*Implement Adaptive Management when needed
Gravel Bank
N
To Ranger
Station
N
River
Forest
Ranger
Station
Housing
Map 2
Eastern Meadow (East Side)
Map 3
River Access Area
Map 1
Eastern Meadow (West Side)
Meadow
To Devils
Postpile
Map 4
2005 Western DEPO Meadow Tree Map (Northwestern Area)
Age of Tree Determined by Whorl Counting
Map 6
Western Meadow
(Eastern Area)
Map 7
Gravel Bar
Detail Area
Map 4
Western Meadow
(Northwest Area)
Age 1:
Age 8:
Age 2:
Age 9:
Age 3:
Age 10:
Age 4:
Age 11:
Age 5:
Age 12:
Age 6:
Age 13:
Age 7:
Age 14:
Age 15+:
Map 5
Western Meadow
(Southwest Area)
Meadow
Continued On
“Southwest Area” Page
Eastern and Western Meadow Overview Map
Picture Taken In Late Summer of 2005
Continue Restoration Efforts on
at DEPO and move upstream
Develop better understanding of role of UMFSJ
as link and/or corridor to species nestings and
migrations, and apply adaptive mgmt needed.
•
Bird species richness and diversity is high at
DEPO, when compared to other riparian bird
monitoring sites in the eastern Sierra Nevada
region. Bird species richness and diversity is
particularly high at Soda Springs meadow.
•
Within the Monument and in close proximity,
100 bird species have been documented and a
breeding status determined for each.
•
Eleven species of concern occur within the
Monument.
•
Frequency of occurrence and relative
abundance were determined for 35 breeding
species. The most abundant species were the
Oregon Junco, American Robin, Warbling
Vireo, Steller’s Jay and Song Sparrow.
•
Need to increase knowledge of the important
migratory link for birds such as the Rufous
Hummingbird and who else?
48
Manage Fuel Hazards to
Prevent Catastrophic Loss
Increase understanding of role of UMFSJ as a
current and future migratory corridor for species.
Unprecedented Challenges, Extraordinary Opportunities
to Address Climate Change in Planning and Management
*Manageable size landscape UMFSJ
*Biogeographic location and richness
*Broad public and partner Support
*Long history of USFS/NPS working together in valley
*Strengths of agencies and partners expertise to
complement efforts
*DEPO/UMFSJ appreciates public involvement and
research contributions, and encourages participation
in our planning

Devils Postpile National Monument

Transcription

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