By Richard B. Standiford and James Bartolome

Spanning 10 million acres, California’s hardwood rangelands provide wildlife habitat, esthetics, recreation, and watershed protection. Three hundred thirteen wildlife species inhabit this unique and diverse California habitat. About 85 percent of this area is privately owned, with private ranchers supplying most of this open space. The important public values from these privately owned wildlands have created pressure for the state to regulate oak harvest and conversion. However, current policy calls for a program of educational outreach, research, and encouragement of local policy making. Started in 1986, the Integrated Hardwood Range Management Program (IHRMP) is a partnership with the University of California (UC), California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF), and California Department of Fish and Game (DFG).

Development of lHRMP

Through UC and CDF, the IHRMP has funded 66 research studies over 10 years, which in turn has stimulated additional research on various aspects of hardwood rangelands. Specific investigations with IHRMP funding include oak regeneration; wildlife habitat; soil, water, and land use issues; hardwood rangeland management strategies; and monitoring trends and status of hardwood rangelands. Additional research has been conducted at various UC, California State University, and private university campuses, as well as at private research and consulting firms.

Surveys were implemented to evaluate the effectiveness of education as a conservation policy. These showed that individuals who participated in IHRMP educational programs were more likely to carry out oak enhancing management activities than non-participants were. Enhancements include protecting sprouts, maintaining a particular oak canopy level, thinning softwoods to promote oak growth, and planting new oaks. After a seven-year period of intensive educational outreach, oaks were more valued by landowners selling firewood or cutting trees for forage enhancement decreased. During this same time, the number of owners who conducted wildlife habitat improvements increased. Strong attitudes against statewide regulation of oak woodlands continued to exist by most landowners.

Local Policy Initiatives

In May 1993, the Board of Forestry (BOF) held hearings on hardwoods to evaluate the effectiveness of research and education as an approach to hardwood rangeland conservation. These hearings showed that there was strong support for the continuation of research, outreach, and monitoring, and that the kinds of threats facing hardwood rangelands vary greatly throughout California. Firewood harvesting was a concern in the northern Sacramento Valley, conversion to subdivisions was important in the central Sierra Nevada and southern California, and conversion to intensive agriculture was an issue in the North Coast. These findings confirmed that statewide regulations would not be able to effectively address the wide diversity of conservation issues. The BOF decided to intensify its outreach to local governments and encourage their participation in local policy development with the assistance of the IHRMP. Following a period of outreach, the BOF will evaluate progress by local governments in providing policies which protect hardwood rangelands and determine where statewide policies might be needed to address continuing problems.

The IHRMP, consistent with the BOF resolution, has worked closely with local governments to encourage the development of local policies to conserve hardwood rangelands. At this time, 37 counties have adopted, or are in the process of developing, local oak conservation strategies. The different approaches fall into three general categories: voluntary guidelines, general planning process, and local ordinances.

County Voluntary Guidelines

At the 1993 BOF hardwood hearings, political and agricultural leaders from Tehama County volunteered to initiate a broad-based effort to address concerns about extensive firewood harvest in their area. This resulted in the appointment of a county oak committee composed of various resource agencies, environmental groups, and agricultural groups. They developed a set of voluntary guidelines for oak retention designed to maintain economic viability of grazing and ecological values. This set of guidelines was passed by the county board of supervisors and mailed to all landowners in the county. The success of this pilot project encouraged several other counties to develop voluntary guidelines. There are currently 12 counties in various stages of developing voluntary guidelines. The leadership for drafting guidelines varied in different areas of the state. The local chapter of the California Cattleman’s Association, the County board of supervisors, the county planning department, or the resource conservation district facilitated some. Each effort addresses important local issues and includes education and monitoring.

General Planning Process

The county general plan sets policies governing land use. The California Oak Foundation, working with the BOF, put together sample language on the importance of oak woodlands for the general plan and mailed this to all county planning departments. Pilot educational activities have started in several central coast counties to utilize overlays of the CDF hardwood maps and parcel maps to implement landscape-based oak conservation strategies in the county planning process. A Bay Area county compiled all existing oak policies for the county into a general booklet to be used for review of specific project plans which impact oak woodlands and to suggest mitigations. Another project between the county office and the planning department reports on the state of knowledge about riparian hardwoods in the county and develops project guidelines to implement the general plan policy to protect and restore hardwood riparian habitats. In southern California, the IHRMP has worked closely with three county planning offices and Boards of Supervisors in the design of a corridor system to minimize the effects of habitat fragmentation. General regional and countywide habitat conservation plans (HCP) have been coordinated with the goals of the IHRMP in southern California.

Ordinances

Some areas have used ordinances as a mechanism to protect oaks. Ordinances create a regulatory environment at the county or city level and usually involve a permitting process for the removal of any tree over a certain size class and mitigation standards where tree removal is allowed. Most tree ordinances have focused on the single tree rather than at a broad habitat scale. CDF has developed an educational book on ordinances, which describes the importance of setting objectives for an area before writing an ordinance and monitoring whether the objectives have been accomplished. This book has been distributed to all counties in California. At this time, 11 counties have ordinances designed to protect oak trees.

Conclusion

Education and research have played a major role in conserving hardwood rangelands. Sociological and biological monitoring shows that diverse audiences have accepted and acted on information provided by IHRMP programs. A large number of counties, for example, have started the process of adopting local conservation strategies to conserve hardwood rangelands. Major accomplishments have been made in the more rural areas of California,

Growth in the application of geographic information system (GIS) technology should help local pplanners and developers to assess impacts on oak woodland values.

However, the IHRMP activities have also shown that, for much of California, conversion of hardwood rangelands to urban or suburban land use is having the largest impact on sustainability of resource values. The IHRMP has initiated education and research activities to address this concern. Growth in the application of geographic information system (GIS) technology and availability of oak resource data layers should help local planners and developers to assess impacts on oak woodland values. Educational materials have been widely accepted by professionals working in the land use arena. However, success will be demonstrated only by a significant effect on the rate or pattern of development.

Conversion to residential, intensive agriculture, and industrial uses is a land use decision that is determined through a political process involving action by elected officials with input from different constituencies. Political and economic forces vary greatly across California, and “success” in land use decision-making involves individuals agreeing on a political course of action. Conserving hardwood rangeland values in this kind of decision-making environment presents a new and important challenge for a research and education strategy.

Several cooperative extension regional offices of the IHRMP are in various stages of setting up local information centers to assist in monitoring hardwood rangeland habitat and land use change. This effort has been closely coordinated with various bioregional planning groups. Additional information on IHRMP is available on the web at:
http://danr.ucop.edu/ihrmp/