Watersheds and Forest Management

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Watershed-based Forest Management and Restoration

Because of the important role that forests can play in protecting water quality and habitat, several projects have been initiated in targeted watersheds. Most of the projects have occurred in watersheds selected by the Maryland Clean Water Action Plan as priority watersheds in need of restoration. One project, CBIG Special Rivers, predated CWAP, but most of its focus areas were identified later as watersheds in need of restoration.

Potomac Watershed Partnership

The PWP is a large-scale, community-based watershed restoration partnership initiated by the USDA Forest Service (www.potomacwatershed.net) in 1999. MD DNR Forest Service is partnering with Virginia Department of Forestry, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Potomac Conservancy, Ducks Unlimited, and the George-Washington/Jefferson National Forest, as well as many local groups and agencies. The partnership has six major goals for restoring and protecting the Potomac River watershed:

Sharing watershed knowledge;

Restoring streamsides and wetlands;

Promoting land protection and stewardship;

Reducing wildfire and forest health risks;

Creating more livable communities; and

Sustaining and expanding partnerships.

The Potomac Watershed Partnership integrates forestry program efforts to focus on the targeted watersheds in Maryland, the Monocacy, Antietam, and Catoctin drainages. Stewardship, fire, and urban programs are coordinated to improve watershed condition, and additional resources are available to encourage greater implementation and technical assistance for watershed-friendly practices.

After three years, the PWP has resulted in substantial progress in watershed restoration and coordination in Maryland, including:

Created 2,500 acres/149 miles of riparian forest buffers in focus watersheds;

Prepared forest stewardship plans for acres of private forest land;

Drafted a characterization of natural resource conditions in Monocacy and Antietam Basins;

Initiated a new forest management plan for the Frederick City Watershed lands;

Established nineteen riparian forest buffer effectiveness monitoring sites;

Promoted WATER, Watershed Actions To Encourage Restoration, at local events in focus watersheds;

Initiated a Backyard Buffer program to encourage planting of suburban buffers;

Developed fire response plans for three high-risk fire communities;

Installed dry hydrants in critical rural locations, aided by the statewide fire risk mapping;

Rehabilitated 10 miles of fire roads;

Mapped urban forest canopy in Frederick and Hagerstown to assist in locating future planting projects; and

Assisted with new PWP initiatives like Growing Native (www.potomac.org/growingnative), a volunteer native tree seed collection effort that gathered over 15,000 pounds of nuts last year.

Special Rivers Chesapeake Bay Implementation Grant

The Special Rivers Project has been funded since 1983 by the US Environmental Protection Agency to improve water quality for the Chesapeake Bay by encouraging the restoration, enhancement, and management of forests (Chesapeake Bay Implementation Grant Clean Water Act Section 117(b)). Forests provide the greatest level of benefits for water quality and habitat of any major land use and are critical to sustaining watershed health. The project helps implement several important goals in the Chesapeake Bay Agreement, including riparian forest buffer restoration, watershed planning, stream corridor restoration, land conservation and stewardship, and community engagement. The Special Rivers Project was the first watershed-based forestry initiative for the MD Forest Service, and has helped stimulate the formation of the forest watershed management program now in place.

Goals include:

Restoration, monitoring and maintenance of riparian forest buffers that reduce nutrients in streams (at least 30 miles/year);

Forest stewardship planning that improves management of private and public forests (at least 1,800 acres/year);

Education and outreach on benefits of forests for watersheds and water quality (at least 600 people/year, including students, general public, and resource professionals).

Since 1983, the Special Rivers project has helped create over 5,580 acres of forest buffers, prepared forest stewardship plans for over 53,000 acres, and presented forest benefits information to over 45,000 people since inception. Additional displays and exhibits have reached over 330,000 residents of the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

The Special Rivers Project has four project areas that have been established since 1983: Susquehanna area watersheds starting in 1983, Monocacy area watersheds starting in 1986, the Anacostia watershed starting in 1991, and the Town Creek Ecosystem Management Project starting in 1994.

The Susquehanna area project now encompasses 2,125 square miles, from the Elk River in Cecil County to the upper and middle Patuxent watersheds in Howard and Montgomery County. It includes Deer Creek, Bush River, Gunpowder, Jones Falls, Gwynns Falls, and Patapsco watersheds, in Baltimore, Carroll, and Harford Counties.

The Susquehanna area project, with the diversity and extent of its project area, has been able to accomplish substantial afforestation in rural areas, reach urban audiences, and be involved in important watershed planning efforts. Special River foresters in the Susquehanna have helped over 850 people prepare forest management plans to improve forest condition on 16,493 acres. Over 1,500 acres on upland sites and over 2,000 acres along streams and shorelines have been planted. The project has helped coordinate with Tributary Teams , prepare exhibits on benefits of trees in local parks, and assist with watershed planning for the Gwynns Falls, Little Patuxent, Octoraro Creek, and Liberty Reservoir watersheds. The project has supported training for local students involved in the state and national Envirothon competition , helping to turn out some top-ranked teams at the national level. In addition, professional training for forest harvesting Best Management Practices, multiple-use forest management, and resource protection has been presented.

Future work will continue to focus on essential forestry actions that support Chesapeake Bay commitments, including riparian forest buffer restoration, survival monitoring, forest stewardship planning, watershed-level planning, and invasive species control. The project will continue to lead efforts for outreach and education that better inform citizens in the watershed on the ways that forestry can help improve the habitat and water quality in the Chesapeake Bay.

The Monocacy area project covers 1,300 square miles in Upper and Lower Monocacy, Double Pipe, Catoctin, Antietam, Conococheague, Licking Creek and adjacent direct drainages to the Potomac River. The project area is dominantly rural agriculture, although suburban development has expanded rapidly, posing additional stresses on the stream and watershed natural resources. The Monocacy project implements forest practices including riparian forest buffers, forest stewardship plans, and forest harvest evaluation to improve watershed condition. Extensive outreach and education efforts include training students in forestry and natural resource issues for the Envirothon competition. Some past accomplishments include:

Over 400 forest buffers on over 3,300 acres;

Over 700 forest stewardship plans on over 27,000 acres;

Over 850 acres of afforestation outside of streamside buffers;

Ongoing survival monitoring and maintenance practices;

Over 600 acres of timber harvest inspections for sediment and erosion control with local District Forestry Boards;

Presentations and exhibits reaching over 38,000 people;

Management plans for the Monocacy Natural Resources Management Area and Ft. Detrick;

Partnerships with local community associations and schools for restoration projects;

Frederick City Greenways Plan identifying afforestation opportunities.

The Anacostia/West Chesapeake project is a pilot for urban forestry efforts to improve water quality and habitat even in the most heavily developed areas, serving portions of Prince George’s, Montgomery, and Anne Arundel Counties. The Anacostia project is currently implemented in partnership with the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments and the Anacostia Watershed Restoration Agreement. Past accomplishments have included:

Over 50 acres of urban riparian forest buffers;

Plantings on commonly overlooked green spaces by stormwater management ponds and on golf courses;

Locating sites for stream restoration projects;

Detailed targeting mapping for riparian forest buffer establishment in the Sligo Creek subwatershed;

Outreach to landowners with unbuffered waterways;

Professional training on urban forestry techniques;

Over 200 presentations and exhibits on forest and tree care and benefits, reaching 15,000 people;

Coordination with a US EPA restoration grant to help produce a multi-media outreach package for the Anacostia, including a web site , poster, and video, highlighting the river’s history and efforts for recovery.

The Town Creek project, initiated in 1994, is a pilot project for locally-led ecosystem management. The Town Creek watershed is in Allegany County, Maryland and Bedford County, Pennsylvania. Watershed planning and restoration efforts cross jurisdictional and ownership lines, driven by the leadership of local community groups such as the Town Creek Steering Committee and the Town Creek Watershed Landowners Association. Some achievements of the Town Creek Ecosystem Management Project include:

The Long-Range Planning Guide for Town Creek and 12 guiding principles;

Regular newsletters to share progress and relevant information with landowners;

Annual field trips to share information on positive practices and projects;

Over 30 buffer sites covering more than 150 acres for riparian forest buffer sites;

Over 50 forest stewardship plans for more than 6,000 acres;

415 acres of stand improvement projects;

Presentations and exhibits reaching over 4,000 people.

The biggest success and most necessary step for the project has been building trust in the project and among the participants that it supports the mutual benefits and long-term interests of the community and resources. The Town Creek project is increasingly being seen as a model for local watershed and ecosystem management, with several surrounding watersheds initiating similar projects and capitalizing on the project’s experience.

Lower Eastern Shore Watershed Restoration

The Lower Eastern Shore watersheds are dominantly rural, but past patterns of land use have resulted in excess nutrients being delivered to the Chesapeake Bay and reduction of habitat quality, in-stream and out. Because forests have such a relatively low nutrient export rate, they can play an important role in reducing nutrient export over time. Streamside forests can help improve aquatic habitat in addition to filtering nutrients from other land use. Some of the historically important forest types, such as Atlantic white-cedar, have been dramatically reduced in extent, particularly in poorly drained areas subject to many challenges for natural regeneration. The Lower Eastern Shore Watershed Restoration grant has four objectives:

Restore 250 acres of wetland forest types, including Atlantic white-cedar, bald cypress, and bottomland hardwoods;

Identify forest management techniques for plantations that strengthen water quality and habitat objectives in working forests;

Create 10 miles of riparian forest buffers;

Expand technical knowledge for wetland forest restoration.

Substantial progress has been made on most objectives. Numerous sites have been evaluated for their potential for restoration to bottomland species. Atlantic white-cedar was planted on several sites in Spring 2003, including a 5-acre site in eastern Somerset County that burned in last year’s extreme wildfire season. Seedlings of bottomland hardwoods were provided to private landowners in Spring 2003 to encourage planting of wetland forest types. The Maryland Forest Service has worked with a forestry consultant, Vision Forestry, to collect forest community data to evaluate species response to lower rates of herbicide use in a thinned plantation. A field tour to five Atlantic white-cedar restoration sites in New Jersey was held January 9, 2003, attended by 25 natural resource professionals from around Maryland and Delaware. A summary from the trip, along with a techniques manual produced by the New Jersey Forest Service, was distributed to participants and is available for others interested in white-cedar restoration. Contact the Watershed Program Coordinator for more information.

Approaches, costs, and benefits of blending water quality and wildlife goals with managed pine stands were compiled into a fact sheet.

Coastal Bays Forestry Strategy

The Coastal Bays of the Atlantic Ocean have many stresses and conditions similar to the Chesapeake Bay, but are not covered by the Chesapeake Bay Agreement and are not eligible for Chesapeake Bay funding. Consequently, a separate Maryland Coastal Bays Management Plan has been developed with assistance from the Maryland Coastal Zone Management Program . The MD Forest Service, with financial assistance from EPA Clean Water Act Section 319(h) funding, undertook focused efforts to support forest-related goals for the Coastal Bays, including both environmental goals for forest extent and forest interior species habitat, and also quality of life goals for maintaining rural character and viable working forests.

The Coastal Bays Forestry Initiative was designed to improve the information basis for pursuing goals of the Coastal Bays Management Plan and enhance progress in forestry actions. The Coastal Bays Forestry Strategy compiled current forest inventory information, compared forest area and species composition to available historical data, and presented insect defoliation data for the five watersheds in the Coastal Bays. Trends in forest species distribution, harvest rates, and conversion to development were identified. Programs to assist private landowners in afforestation or forest management were summarized. This information was used to identify issues and opportunities relating to the forest-related goals in the Coastal Bays Management Plan as of 2001. The document was supplied to and benefited from the comments of the Coastal Bays Forestry Work Group, which was preparing a white paper on forestry issues in the Coastal Bays.

The grant also supported technical assistance for riparian forest buffers in the Coastal Bays watersheds, areas not included in the Chesapeake Bay Riparian Forest Buffer Initiative. From less than 3 miles per year prior to the grant, buffer planting increased to 5.3 miles (126 acres) in 2000 and 14.05 miles (216 acres) in 2001, substantially exceeding the 10-mile goal.

The northern Coastal Bays offer the greatest opportunities for integrating forests in a developing landscape. This can include greater attention in development design and retention of open space or afforestation, as well as the use of trees to ameliorate environmental stresses in a developed environment, using urban forestry. Urban forest benefits include temperature moderation and stormwater processing. Forest retention of buffers and corridors can contribute to habitat and water quality goals. State and federal easement programs are concentrated in the southern Coastal Bays watersheds, so opportunities to permanently protect key habitat areas in the northern portions could be increased.

The southern Coastal Bays watersheds offer the greatest opportunities to retain working landscapes in a sustainable fashion that supports a rural economy and lifestyle. These areas would be suitable for efforts to educate landowners on the value of retaining forest land uses and other methods of forest management that can meld their goals of returns on investment and wildlife, water quality, or aesthetics. Both the Forest Legacy and Rural Legacy Programs have priority areas in the Southern Coastal Bays watersheds. A Forest Legacy easement has already been obtained for a significant forest parcel in Chincoteague Bay watershed.