Mt Adams Resource Stewards

Collaborative land stewardship and fire adapted communities work occurs across various projects led by mt. Adams resource stewards, to include:stewardship crew and fire adapted communities - we continued our stewardship field crew program that works with area land managers and home owners to implement projects to improve forest health, reduce wildfire danger to local communities and enhance habitat.continued on schedule o.approximately 15 people were employed on 2023-24 projects included multiple defensible space/wildfire risk reduction projects, more than a dozen prescribed burns, five non-commercial thinnings, one tree planting projects, and five habitat improvement projects. We assisted in establishing and growing the mt. Adams prescribed burn association to assist private landowners in conducting controlled burns to protect their property and restore ecological processes. And we held our first prescribed fire training exchange that provided classroom and field coursework over a two week period to over 30 participants.south gifford pinchot collaborative group and capacity support for federal lands management - we serve as fiscal sponsors and one of the founding members of the south gifford pinchot collaborative group that works with the us forest service to plan projects that improve ecosystem health and rural community well-being. Our staff also work with the usfs to support them when capacity gaps emerge and during this time period mars employed two technicians that support a forest service pre-sales crew with field project implementation activities.cooperative land stewardship on wildlife refuge and other lands - the administration of ecological restoration and stewardship projects in partnership with the us fish and wildlife service by cooperative agreement to manage forestlands on a national wildlife refuge is another major focus. Accomplishments during the 2023-24 primarily involved monitoring efforts of past and future efforts involving the installation of 70 plots during the 2023 field season. These efforts are also extended to small forest land owners and land conservancies to provide them support to manage their forests for multiple values, including broader societal benefits such as improved wildlife habitat and ecosystem services. Work occurred with the yakama nation during this time period to implement watershed restoration efforts by constructing beaver dam analogues in two distinct watersheds.

Invasives control and native species recovery - this report spans the fourth and fifth field season involving this program to support the us fish and wildlife service in recovery of the federally listed oregon spotted frog by hiring personnel to assist with egg mass surveys and control of non-native predators of the frog. Oregon spotted frog egg masses have rebounded during this time period from as low as 200 to over 1400 indicating a strong benefit from the removal of over 80,000 invasive bullfrogs from the system. Additionally, we have been supporting beaver relocation planning efforts in s. Washington.