News

Judge M. C. England has found in favor of the Forest Service and HFQLG Pilot on 11 out of 12 points in the challenge of the 2004 Sierra Nevada Framework and the Basin Project on the Plumas National Forest.
The Decision Document and some content from the document are posted on the discussion site.

Our Summer 2008 Update to partners has been posted. This document includes information on:

• Funding update;
• Fires near SNAMP sites; and
• Research progress from each team.

For both documents, go to the Documents page.

The Discussion page has a new feature! You can now add a comment that is tied to a place on the map: a point, a line or a polygon. These posts will still be associated with a topic, but they will also show up on the map. On the Discussion Page, go to the "Map" tab and add your comment. Give it a try!

New SNAMP Staff
Kim Ingram has joined the Public Participation team and is working directly with SNAMP in the northern site. She is based in Auburn, and her role is to work at the community level, developing local opportunities for public participation and fostering communication. She will help keep the public informed in regards to the scientific study and landscape level work being done in the forest for this adaptive management study. She will assist the project by remaining transparent to the public, keeping them abreast of what is going on and seeking their input as we proceed.

Who to Contact: For more information about SNAMP, you can contact

• (in the south) Anne Lombardo at amlombardo@ucdavis.edu and
• (in the north) Kim Ingram at kcingram@ucdavis.edu.

The locations of grids in which fisher cameras are located, with fisher presence and absence noted per grid. These are from Rick Sweitzer of the Fisher Science team.

• 
  Fisher map, July 24 2008.

This meeting, on July 25 2008, will include presentations on the current spotted owl research on the Tahoe National Forest and an opportunity to interact with the University of California/University of Minnesota Owl Science Team. Desired outcomes of the meeting are to increase knowledge about methods of spotted owl research and how this research will inform future management decisions. Members of the public are encouraged to attend. See the Meetings page for more information.

We are also hosting a Owl Field Day on July 29th, where you can learn more about these creatures. Space is limited for that event, so if you are interested, see the notice on the Meetings page.

Here are a couple of relevant snaps of fire perimeters and our sites:

• FIres in the northern site vicinity as of 7-14-08. The Peavine fire was burning in our southerly control area; the Government Springs/Westfall fire is due north of our sites and burning in the owl buffer area.


• Fisher and fire status as of June 8 2008 from Rick Sweitzer. This map shows our fisher areas, and various nearby fires.

• NOAA fire detection: fires with smoke plumes plotted


• U Maryland Fire Information: get latest perimeter shapefiles from MODIS


• USFS Current Fires: named large incidents

Here's the latest view from NASA of CA and the fires.

Here is the latest fire update (as of 7-8-08):

• In the north: The Peavine Fire was contained this weekend. It totaled 522 acres. The Westfall and Government fires are still outside the study area but just north of the Owl buffer zone. See site for more information on the Westville and Government fires.



• In the south: There have not been any fires in the core study area, but many (Oliver, Westfall, Silvernob, and Star fires) in the fisher study area. From Rick, “All fires in this area have been controlled/extinguished and are no longer a problem for continuing the research activities. We have taken photographs from the air of the Westfall, Silver Knob and Oliver Complex fire areas.” Photos of the southern site fires are posted on the photos page, under southern site.

We've made some changes to the site design and layout. There will be some transitions until we get all files migrated; in the meantime, if you have any questions, you can email me at mkelly@nature.berkeley.edu.

- Northern site: all fires in the American River Complex are contained except Peavine, Government, and Westville. Peavine fire is 320 acres, 0% containment, 3 crews, 3 engines, 1 dozer (75 people). A fire weather watch is in effect from Saturday morning through late Sunday night for dry lightning. They are hoping the inversion layer stays in place. Storms are expected to become wetter by Sunday morning. See yubanet.com for more info on weather.

- Southern site: all fires are contained except the Star fire, which is 8 miles SE of Wawona in the south fork of the Merced River drainage and the Oliver fire which is 2200 acres, 20% containment. They expect full containment by July 5. 1200 people on this fire, managed by Calfire.

See a map of the current fires (fires are derived from the MODIS satellite 6-26-08).

We have posted a number of documents for you:

• Revised Science Team Workplans:
  
  • Fisher workplan, Owl workplan and field protocol, FFEH workplan and revised Water protocol in the Documents section of the site, under proposals and workplans;
  
  
• New maps showing the updated field areas, and a guide to all the study site names are posted in the Documents > Maps section; and
  
• Our 2008 Q1 report to the MOU Partners is posted under the Documents section.

We've also added notices on our SNAMP science team meetings and other meetings on the Meetings page.

Upcoming SNAMP meetings/events (more information can be found on the Meetings page:

Integration Team Meeting - May 27 2008

• We will be having an Integration Team meeting in Davis, CA 9am - 1pm. The goal of the meeting and the Integration Team is to further define the left hand side of the adaptive management loop (or feedback to managers so adaptation can happen).

UC's Forest Science Team Fieldtrip in Oakhurst. June 21, 2008, 10am to 1pm

• Here’s a chance to join some of the UC science team members that have been collecting local forest inventory data for the SNAMP. RSVP: amlombardo@ucdavis.edu by June 10. More information can be found on the Meetings page.
  

Annual SNAMP Public Meeting. November 5, 2008

• Our next public meeting will be November 5 at 650 Capitol Mall in Sacramento. More details to follow.

We've posted some new photos on the Photos tab: check out the great new fisher shots from the camera traps from Rick Sweitzer and the Fisher Team (in the wildlife album), and some nice new oblique areal views from the fisher aircraft taken by PhD student Marek Jakubowski (in the southern site album).

Quarterly Public Meetings

• April 17th quarterly meeting has been canceled.


• We will hold one public meeting per year, the next one is scheduled for Nov 5th 2008 at 650 Capitol Mall, Sacramento. Room and directions to follow.
  
• Comments? Go to the “Discussion” page, and comment under the "Meeting Scheduling" tab.

University Science Team’s Public Outreach/Southern Site

• The Pacific Fisher Team presentations: Yosemite High School’s AP Environmental class May 21st at 11:30 and 2:00pm. Attendance is open. Please RSVP at amlombardo@ucdavis.edu.


• The Forest and Water team fieldtrips out of Oakhurst will also be in May, we will post dates.

Important Dates

• The UC’s Public Participation Team will be conducting all day Facilitation Trainings workshops. The first will be at the Southern Site on April 24th, location TBA. The second will be in the north on April 29th at the UCCE office in Auburn at 11477 E Ave.


• The Integration Team (previously known as Triggers and Thresholds Group) will hold their first meeting from 10am-1pm on May 27th in Davis.


• If you would like more information or are interested in being a part of either meeting please contact Anne Lombardo at amlombardo@ucdavis.edu

Our third quarterly public meeting was held February 26 2008 in Merced. All information (agenda, directions, presentation, meeting notes, key agreements and latest SNAMP Newsletter) can be found on our Meetings page on Q3 Meeting tab.
New Documents:

• Our second newsletter is posted on the Documents page, under Newsletters


• Latest updated maps are posted on the Documents page, under Maps.


• The Spatial Team has posted a DRAFT review of LiDAR data on the Proposals and Workplans page, under Team Workplans.

We hosted a Triggers and Threshold Structural Facilitation Workshop, February 20, 2008 in Davis CA. The overall goals of the day were to:

• raise awareness regarding successful methods and processes that are needed to support Adaptive Management in SNAMP;
• practice using the methods to design the next T/T meeting, and
• get feedback on what elements seem most important to the participants.

Next SNAMP Public Meeting (Q3) will be February 26th, in Merced CA. Directions are now posted on the Meetings page. We've posted our meeting notes from the Q2 public meeting on the Meetings page.

The Q2 meeting in Auburn has finished; our presentation, report to MOU partners, notes from the public meeting and our first SNAMP newsletter are now posted on the Meetings Page. Plan to attend Q3, planned for Feb 26th 2008 in Merced.