Last fall our Forest Field Specialist, Sam Israel, conducted monitoring on some of the commercial units in the Mission Restoration Project after preliminary concerns were voiced by the local community about how the Project was being implemented.

Read our Summary blog post about the results of the Post-Treatment Monitoring

Read the Full Monitoring Report for Mission Restoration Project

The monitoring was completed post-harvest on five, 3-acre monitoring plots within larger logged units in the spring and summer of 2022. The units were in different parts of the Project and had some variance in their treatment prescriptions. Across the monitoring plots the report found that:

• Post-harvest spatial patterns had low variability. Creating spatial variability of clumps and openings is important for creating forest structure and maintaining its ecological function and restoring its resilience to wildfire. In most of the units, the trees that were left were uniformly spaced.
• In all the plots the number of trees left per acre were below or at the lowest end of the prescription outlined in the Forest Service Environmental Assessment as well as the logging contract. Without enough trees per acre there can be a lack of forest structure that the Project is aiming to create.
• In many of the plots, the larger trees were not clearly favored and kept on the landscape.

In January, the Forest Service offered a response to our Post-Treatment Monitoring Report. We are encouraged by their willingness to engage in dialogue and address some of the concerns we have raised. Our hope is that this productive dialogue continues as our Project resumes this spring. You can read the Forest Service’s Response to the Mission Monitoring Report here.