Condition of Forests in San Diego County: Recent Conifer Tree Mortality and the Institutional Response

1. Condition of Forests in San Diego County:  Recent Conifer Tree Mortality and the Institutional Response Presented by California Department of Forestry Mark Rosenberg Visit our web site at: http://frap.cdf.ca.gov or http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/rsl/projects/mapping/zone-map.shtml

2. Tree Mortality Epidemic Begins Chronology Epidemic Begins • In 2001 a massive pine bark beetle epidemic became evident • Drought-induced • Approximately one million acres have experienced severe tree mortality • Adjacent to major metropolitan areas in San Diego, Riverside and San Bernardino Counties • Risks from fire and falling trees pose a major threat to public safety, private property, and ecosystem health Summer 2001 Local Emergency Declared Spring 2002 State Emergency Declared Spring 2003

3. Examples of Tree Mortality as of April 2003

4. Tree Mortality Mortality In San Diego • Tree Mortality is Dispersed across approximately 80,000 acres of public and private lands in San Diego County • 80% of the mortality areas are on State and Private lands • 40% of Mortality areas are residential in nature • Current Estimates of Conifer Mortality are 500,000 Tons but projections suggest mortality could reach as high as 2 Million BDT

5. Challenges • Too Many Hazard Trees to remove all at once • Rapidly evolving forest mortality • Increasing risk from falling trees and extreme fire events • Increased ignition sources from falling trees and increased fuel loading from dying vegetation • Many diverse assets at risk • Many different entities with responsibilities and liabilities

6. How are the Agencies addressing these Challenges? Public Response • Forest Area Safety Taskforce (FAST) coordinating overall public and private response • Identify and Prioritize areas for Tree Removal • Federal Funding for Tree Removal activities (FS, NRCS, and others) • New County Programs for Hazard Tree Removal and Fire Safe Clearance

7. Public Response Coordinated Strategy • Using decision support tools, including GIS, to provide Operational Support capabilities for tree removal, evacuation planning, treatment priorities, etc. • Conducting Monitoring activities using aerial survey, remote sensing and FIA inventory

8. Decision Support Activities Analysis support to Agencies Includes • Provide tree mortality estimates • Help Prioritize & Track treatments • Assess Wood Utilization and Disposal options

9. Treatment Priorities • High Priority Treatment areas • Within 150 feet of Electricity Transmission Lines • Within 200 feet of Primary Roads • Within 200 feet of Secondary Roads • Areas within Falling Distance of Homes, communication sites and other assets • Areas having a housing density of less than one house per 20 acres and slopes less than or equal to 30%

10. Monitoring Forest Recovery • Mapping Forest Mortality • Assessing Impacts to Habitats • Modeling Potential Fire Behavior • Monitoring Forest Recovery Using Remote Sensing, GIS and Ground based inventories

11. Mapping and Monitoring Activities • Mapping New Tree Mortality on public and private lands every 3 months • This year we will Update seamless vegetation/habitat data across all lands • Re-Measure approximately 100 ground plots on public and private lands • Assess impacts of mortality on key ecosystem Assets.

12. Ground Based Plots • Systematic random grid locations • 2.5 acre sample framework • 5 point cluster plot • GPS locations • Sample vegetation profile

13. Inventory Measurement and Analysis • Species Occurrence • Species Frequency • Species Cover/Layers • Mortality • Biomass/Volume • Growth • Condition

14. Habitat Total Conifer 99,591 Hardwood 141,357 Shrub 1,154,758 Grassland 161,975 Desert Shrub 553,941 Desert Woodland 954 Wetland 7,831 Agriculture 146,783 Barren 6,904 Urban 416,363 Water 19,294 ALL 2,709,750 Land Cover in San Diego County

15. Summary Remarks • There is a critical need to treat ALL fire hazards in urban interface areas • Forest Mortality, Shrub lands and Urban Areas are Intermingled with each other and therefore should be treated in an integrated fashion. • Public will AND a Coordinated response is required • Commitment to Long term Monitoring Needed • Adaptive Management Practices Essential

16. Thank You

17. Contact Information Visit our web sites at: www.frap.cdf.ca.gov www.fs.fed.us/r5/rsl/projects/mapping/zone-map.shtml Mark Rosenberg Email: mark.rosenberg@fire.ca.gov Phone: (916)445-5366