280 



SIERRA NEVADA ECOSYSTEM PROJECT (SNEP) 



Study Objectives 

 (As outlined in H.R. 6013) 



1. Delineate the various ecosystems of the Sierra Nevada Forests. 



2. Inventory the land and resources of each ecosystem. 



3. Evaluate the health conditions and trends of each ecosystem. 



4. Identify the factors affecting the health conditions and trends of each eco- 

 system. 



5. Recommend alternative management strategies with associated risks and eco- 

 nomic analyses. 



6. Examine the Mediated Settlement Agreement and recommend scientific map- 

 ping and management of sequoia groves. 



A draft report is due December 31, 1994, and a final report is due March 31, 1996; 

 each requiring peer review. 



STUDY CONCERNS 



(Progress to date) 



1. It is the intention of the SNEP team to submit an interim report by April 15, 

 1994, delineating only potentially late successional forests. The requirements of H.R. 

 6013 do not include such an interim report, and require reports to be peer reviewed. 



2. The late-successional forest inventory process for the preliminary mapping and 

 interim report was piloted on the Eldorado National Forest with the following con- 

 cerns identified. 



a. The congressionally mandated, peer reviewed Forest Service definitions of old 



growth were not used. Instead, attributes were developed by the Eldorado Na- 

 tional Forest ecologist. 



b. Using only orthophotos, a topographic map and memory, mappers were unable 



to identify most attributes. 



c. Maps represent the mappers' individual feelings and any two people will not 



produce comparable maps. 



d. The absence of a definition and failure to identify the attributes prohibit proce- 



dure replication, data stratification and field verification. 



e. Minimum size polygons are 50-100 acres located on a half-inch-to-the-mile scale 



map, or approximately 1/8" square. A range of nearly every attribute will be 

 found in each polygon due to the forest diversity at the scale. 



3. Mapping will be expanded to all Sierra Nevada forests March 12-19 with the 

 assistance of two mappers fi-om each district. Mapping will follow the same proce- 

 dures outlined in the Eldorado pilot project, despite concerns of pilot project map- 

 pers and without ground-truthing or statistical sampling of the pilot project. 



a. Mappers were directed to come prepared to follow directions, not with a knowl- 



edge of the forest. 



b. Was the Eldorado project a pilot or demonstration? 



c. Will the results be science or feelings and guesses? 



