Introduction Overview Role of Analysis Inventory & Monitoring Types of Monitoring Components of a Plan Setting Up a Plan Monitoring Methods What Worked? Glossary & References Contributors Links Forms & Tools

Designing a Road Decommissioning Effectiveness Monitoring Plan Complete draft (*.pdf) The following section is a reference for monitoring teams that are writing a monitoring plan. This document provides a menu of different monitoring techniques from which each forest or district can select what is most appropriate to their needs. A series of tables is provided to show examples of goal and objective statements. Subsequent tables illustrate the links that can be created from watershed analysis and roads analysis findings to restoration objectives, restoration treatments, and finally measurable indicators for monitoring treatment effectiveness. The majority of this section contains information and examples of the four most common monitoring methods being used by forests to monitor road decommissioning. These include the following: Measurements of channel cross section, vegetative response, and erosion rates. Qualitative measurements using Best Management Practices for implementation and effectiveness monitoring. Photo-point monitoring using before and after photographs to evaluate treatment effectiveness. Tracking spreadsheets that quantify the amount of material removed, length of road decommissioned, and treatment type. The last two topics include information on what has worked well in other monitoring plans and why; and links to online references available.

Table 2 identifies both goal and objective statements for building a monitoring plan. These goals and objectives were included because they are well written and serve as good examples. Remember that goal statements will be very broad, and objective statements are very specific, concise, and measurable. In some cases, interdisciplinary teams have to write objectives based on the best science available at the time. Monitoring helps to answer questions that clarify our understanding of how complex ecosystem processes work. Table 2. Tools for selecting goals and objectives for your monitoring plan Select the appropriate goals for your situation: Maintain and restore the sediment regime under which aquatic ecosystems evolved. Elements of the sediment regime include the timing, volume, rate, and character of sediment input, storage, and transport. Improve juvenile steelhead habitat to restore runs of summer steelhead. Restore spawning and rearing habitat for summer steelhead in the subwatershed. Restore hillslope hydrology and improve infiltration on compacted road prisms. Restore watershed functions to improve water quality, fish and wildlife habitat, and scenic value. Maintain and restore species composition and structural diversity of plant communities in riparian areas and wetlands to provide adequate summer and winter thermal regulation, nutrient filtering, appropriate rates of surface erosion, bank erosion, and channel migration and to supply amounts and distributions of coarse wood debris sufficient to physical complexity and sustain stability. Maintain and restore habitat to support well-distributed populations of native plant, invertebrate, and vertebrate riparian-dependent species. Maintain and restore the timing, variability, and duration of floodplain inundation and water table elevation in meadows and wetlands. Maintain and restore the physical integrity of the aquatic system, including shorelines, banks, and bottom configurations. Maintain and restore spatial and temporal connectivity within and between watersheds. Lateral, longitudinal, and drainage network connections include floodplains, wetlands, upslope areas, headwater tributaries, and intact refugia. Select the appropriate objectives for your situation: Keep ground-covering litter, duff, and/or vegetation on at least 90% of non-rocky riparian areas. Roads occupy less than 3% of all near-stream areas within a subwatershed. Remove identified unneeded crossings to achieve < 2 crossings per mile of perennial stream. Increase Channel Bank Stability to obtain an upward trend in stability, with target of 85% stability for reaches. Upward or stable trend in W/D measures, as compared to reference stream data, measured at flat water habitat types. Increase structurally complex rearing habitat for juvenile steelhead as measured for deep pools and woody debris frequency in the current administrative policy. Increase the numbers of juvenile steelhead to meet downstream migrant numbers defined as optimal in State management plan. Decrease the percentage of fines in spawning gravel to less than 10% during spawning and incubation. Decrease near-stream road density to 1 mi/sq mi in key watersheds. Roads occupy less than 3% of all near-stream areas within a subwatershed. Decrease soil compaction to less than 5% in near-stream areas within a subwatershed. Upward trend in bank angle, with target of 100° average for reaches. Maintain streambanks to ensure the protection of the aquatic systems to which species are uniquely adapted. Indicators The term indicator is used in this document as a measure or record of change. The teams’ selected indicators are the specific attributes that are observed and measured for their objectives. The following indicators are the most prevalent for determining the effectiveness of road decommissioning projects. Channel adjustment. Erosion rate changes from both existing road prisms(surface erosion) to changes in mass wasting frequency and extent (landslides). Sediment Sources associated with roads (chronic vs. pulse). Revegetation of hillslopes and riparian areas to desired species. Amount of material removed from crossing, and miles of road decommissioned. Some of the above indicators are direct indicators of change and others are indirect measures. The interdisciplinary team may select direct or indirect indicators based on resource availability, priority, and treatment type. The interdisciplinary team may have other indicators included in the monitoring plans that are not listed above. The goals and objectives of the monitoring plan will determine what indicators are included. Remember to select an indicator that will change and it is measurable or observable. Table 3 provides a template for tracking watershed analysis findings, linking restoration objectives to treatments and eventually to indicators. The table focuses the monitoring team on determining which process or processes are modified by a road. In the first case, channel morphology is modified at stream crossings with the removal of a culvert, ford, or bridge. In addition roads paralleling a stream channel can modify the channel morphology by constricting the channel. Other changes to processes occur with roads crossing meadows. In many cases channels have aggraded above culverts and degraded at the culvert outlet. In meadow situations this can affect channel and floodplain functions. It is not uncommon for channels to change from a Rosgen C Type channel to an incised gullied channel. The restoration and monitoring team faces the task of determining how the road should be decommissioned and what type of channel stabilization is required. Monitoring of the effectiveness of the treatment may focus primarily on the recovery of the stabilized channel and floodplain. It is up to the interdisciplinary team to determine what the best indicators are. Table 3. Linking watershed process to treatments and monitoring indicators Process or Attribute WA findings and Results Restoration Objectives Restoration Treatment Monitoring Indicator Channel morphology (width to depth ratio) Identify the appropriate goal based on findings from WA, RA, and previous inventory or monitoring records. Identify the specific objective based on channel type classifications. Link WA, objectives, to identify priority areas. Select decommissioning level that obtains objective Channel cross sections Sediment regime Identify existing sources and change to temporal and spatial scale Consider direct and indirect indices to include onsite and offsite effects. Link to regulatory agency direction. Onsite cover techniques including natural mulches and large woody debris Change in contributing source areas; In stream pool fines; amount of material removed at stream crossing. Channel and floodplain function Identify change in channel type as a result of management inputs. Determine restored channel classification May include channel stabilization through redesign -channel cross sections -streambank erosion -amount of material removed at cross section. Species composition and structural diversity Locate PNV information to determine natural species composition. Identify composition and time frames to achieve goal. Identify seed and cutting sources for vegetation establishment. Consider risk associated with noxious weeds. Vegetation monitoring (Releve plots, line or belt transects) Erosion and mass wasting processes Identify existing sources, and change in frequency and magnitude. Determine “natural triggers” and reduce management induced triggers. Restore hillslope hydrology and vegetative recovery. Change in contributing source areas; in stream pool fines; amount of material removed at cross section