FORECASTING FUTURE RIPARIAN FOREST STAND CHARACTERISTICS AND SUSTAINABLE CONTRIBUTIONS OF RIPARIAN TREES TO LITTORAL ZONE WOODY HABITATS I

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: COMPLETE
• Funding Source: MCINTIRE-STENNIS
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 0208306
• Project Start Date: Oct 1, 2005
• Project End Date: Sep 30, 2007
• Program Code: [(N/A)]- (N/A)

Recipient Organization
UNIV OF WISCONSIN
21 N PARK ST STE 6401
MADISON,WI 53715-1218

Performing Department
UWSP COLLEGE OF NATURAL RESOURCES

Non Technical Summary
Aquatic-terrestrial linkages have emerged as a critical area of research. This segment of the landscape has taken on added importance recently as more lake and river riparian areas are developed but neither the short- nor long-term impacts of these activities are known. The overall goal of this project is to forecast the composition and structure of the riparian forest around Katherine Lake, incorporating various land-use/forest management options including: riparian forest removal and maintenance, understory removal allowing for natural succession, understory clearing and maintenance, and unaltered second-growth forest succession, to predict future riparian stand characteristics and tree recruitment to the littoral zone of the lake. From this we can assess how current management practices affect the creation of future littoral zone woody structure habitats and what the effects on fish diversity and abundance are.

Animal Health Component

50%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

(N/A)

Applied

50%

Developmental

50%

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
123	0120	1070	100%

Knowledge Area
123 - Management and Sustainability of Forest Resources;

Subject Of Investigation
0120 - Land;

Field Of Science
1070 - Ecology;

Keywords

riparian forest

littoral zone

land use activities

fish communities

forecast forest composition

gis

jabowa

habitat complexity

model

course woody debris

clearcut

understory removal

shoreline development

Goals / Objectives
The specific objectives for this project are to 1) continue to develop data layers for use in GIS; at a minimum this will include riparian vegetation, housing developments, slope, soil depth, and property boundaries; 2) calibrate functions [equations] in JABOWA II to make them applicable to northern Wisconsin; 3) revise parts of the model so as to make it more ecologically realistic using additional ecological data from each site; 4) quantitatively forecast effects of 4 levels of riparian land-use/forest management on forest composition and corresponding littoral zone habitat into the future at 20 year intervals; 5) qualitatively evaluate changes in littoral zone habitat quality by linking pre-existing fish habitat probability-of-use resource selection functions to characteristics of littoral zone sites; 6) develop an interactive GIS-based, and visual model, using research results for both riparian forest stand composition and management options, and littoral zone habitat complexity; and 7) validate the full model using temporal and ergonic approaches through time and space-for-time analyses. This project will focus most heavily on objective 6.

Project Methods
This project will produce a realistic forecasting model that attempts to predict future forest stand composition and resulting littoral zone woody habitat based on various forest management options. The data collected and models developed in this project permitted us to spatially characterize the vegetative structure and composition of the entire riparian area of Katherine Lake. Because we will also have the location of all development, relations between current riparian development and vegetative structure/composition need to be presented visually and analyzed for the impact of development on forest stand dynamics and tree recruitment to lakes. As part of our extension of the terrestrial side of this research, we will use a current version of a long-standing, gap-phase succession model (JABOWA II) (Botkin et al. 1972) to simulate forest succession around Katherine Lake. This model, once parameterized for northern Wisconsin, will give us the capability to project the composition (e.g., species, age) of the current riparian forest, 50-100 years into the future. Achuff et al. (2001, 2002) have established the links between current forest structure and composition of riparian areas along Katherine Lake and coarse woody structure in the littoral zone. By projecting a range of current forest types (composition, degree of manipulation by landowners, etc.), we can assess future rates of tree recruitment. And more importantly, we can evaluate the impact(s) of riparian development on this critical ecological process. In this particular phase of the project, we plan to use more detailed land use scenarios and integrate regional weather patterns into the modeling. Moreover, we intend to develop an interactive visual GIS output that illustrates how dynamics in the riparian area and littoral zone change simultaneously across sites and through time.

Progress 10/01/05 to 09/30/07

Outputs
OUTPUTS: Data have been collected during two summer field seasons surveying the distribution and architechtural complexity of riparian trees that have recruited to Katherine Lake. Surveys included information on tree distributions, abundance, shoreline positions, architectural branching complexity, forest stand inventory, and both riparian and terrestrial site characteristics. In water, scuba and snorkel surveys were conducted to elucidate how fish communities partition submerged woody habitats. Data quantified the widths riparian areas most likely to contribute wood to littoral zones of lakes and at what rates. The Riparian Tree-Littoral Zone recruitment model developed in previous projects has been made more realistic by adding dynamic components that previously were static. In forecasting how land uses affects the recruitment of trees in the future, adjustments to rates of recruitment and tree decay were made more realistic using empirical data rather than just modeled values from the literature. Presentations of the research results were given to the Lake Katherine Lake Association Annual Meeting, the Trout Lake Field Station Fall Watershed Workshop, the Midwest Fish and Wildlife Conference, and the joint meeting of the Wisconsin Wildlife Society and Wisconsin American Fisheries Society. In addition, we have consulted with members of several lake Associations regarding current practices of "enhancing habitat" by dropping (chainsawing) trees into lakes. We will also be participating in the Kemp Field Station field visits this spring. The model and demonstrations of its use have been presented in two classes: Multivariate Statistics and Fish Habitat, Analysis, Design, and Modeling. Use of the model and its complete software package will be made available to Forestry faculty, the U.S. Forest Service, Lake Associations, and resource management agencies in other states. PARTICIPANTS: Dr. Michael Bozek, Co-Principal Investigator, U.S.G.S. Wisconsin Cooperative Fishery Research Unit; University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Dr. James Cook, Co-Principal Investigator College of Natural Resources; University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point ,Dr. Keith Rice, Research Support Collaborator Department of Geography; University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Ben Mann, Research Associate Wisconsin Cooperative Fishery Research Unit, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. The project supported one graduate student (M.S.) for two years along with three different undergraduate technicians during the same time period. Lake Katherine Lake Association TARGET AUDIENCES: Target audiences for this work were professional foresters, biologists and any riparian landowners for any lake in general, but Lake Katherine Lake Association in particular as the project was conducted on their lake. Other target audiences were County Zoning Boards, State Natural Resource Agencies and Extension offices, and other managers (foresters or biologists) and researchers. Efforts include contributing to a workshop on forest research through the UW Kemp Field Station and giving presentations to the Lake Katherine Lake Association. Materials developed are now included in University graduate courses including Multivariate Statistics and Fish Habitat, Analysis, Design, and Modeling. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.

Impacts
The tangible results of this project have been several. Biologists with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources are now incorporating our modeling results to encourage riparian land owners to allow trees to grow and naturally recruit into lakes. At a minimum, landowners can halt the decline in available trees in riparian areas from potentially recruiting into lakes. However, because of the time lag associated with tree growth and recruitment, the results of changes in landowner behavior where trees have been removed excessively may not be felt for decades. Likewise, the UW Lakes Extension program and the Wisconsin Association of Lakes will also be able to use the results and modeling work to educate landowners on reasonable management alternatives and apply Best Management Practices to their riparian areas. The modeling results are intended to be formally integrated into best management practices regarding buffers along lake shorelines. Different buffer widths have different consequences longterm, and we are working with the state Department of natural Resources and the UW Lakes Extension program in attempts to incorporate those findings into BMP's.

Publications

• No publications reported this period