Wallowa Canyonlands Weed Partnership
Statement of Work and Budget FY2005

BPA Project Number:  1992-026-01
BPA Project Title:  Grande Ronde Model Watershed ProgramContract Number:  New
Contract Title:  Wallowa Canyonlands Weed Partnership
Performance/Budget Period:  May 1st, 2005 - December 31st, 2005

Technical Contact Name:  Mark Porter
Technical Contact Title:  Rangeland Stewardship Coordinator
Company / Agency Name:  Wallowa Resources
Street Mailing Address:  PO Box 274/200 W North Street
City, ST Zip+4:  Enterprise, OR  97828
Technical Contact Phone / Fax:  541-426-8053/541-426-9053
Technical Contact email:  mark@wallowaresources.org

Contracting Contact Name:  Mark Porter
Contracting Contact Title:  Rangeland Stewardship Coordinator
Company / Agency Name:  Wallowa Resources
Street Mailing Address:  PO Box 274/200 W North Street
City, ST Zip+4:  Enterprise, OR  97828
Contracting Contact Phone / Fax:  541-426-8053/541-426-9053
Contractor Contact email:  mark@wallowaresources.org

Financial Contact Name:  Kathy Reynolds
Financial Contact Title:  Financial Manager
Company / Agency Name:  Wallowa Resources
Street Mailing Address:  PO Box 274/200 W North Street
City, ST Zip+4:  Enterprise, OR  97828
Financial Contact Phone / Fax:  541-426-8053/541-426-9053
Financial Contact email:  kathy@wallowaresources.org

Background

Project Location:
Project will focus on the Lower Grande Ronde River, Lower Joseph Creek, Snake River, and Lower Imnaha River.

Project Objectives:  
This project will protect long-term water quality across the above watersheds considered.  Noxious weeds degrade water quality by contributing to increased sedimentation rates and diminished riparian structure and function.  Lacey et al. (1989) found that rangelands invaded by spotted knapweed had twice the soil erosion than areas uninfested.  Soil productivity is very much affected in this area even by modest erosion, as we have very shallow soils.  The rapid growth of invasive plants allows them to out-compete, resulting in the loss of functional riparian communities, loss of rooting strength and protection against erosion, decreasing slope stability and increasing sediment introduction into streams, as well as impacts on water quality (Donaldson, 1997).  Without action to locate and rapidly treat noxious weeds, much critical habitat will be degraded.The Grande Ronde Model Watershed Action and Operations Plan specifically list noxious weeds as a "potential water quality problem".  The Imnaha Subbasin Plan Draft (April 2004) states, as one it's two top priorities for terrestrial sites: "reduce risk of noxious weed invasion in grassland habitat".   The Wallowa County-Nez Perce Tribe Salmon Habitat Recovery Plan states on page 17, in the countywide issues section: "Noxious, non-native weeds are present and scattered throughout the County.  These weeds are highly competitive and can completely displace native plant populations.  Many of these weeds have shallow root systems that do not provide soil stability.  This can result in increased sedimentation.  Invasive noxious weeds limit habitat diversity."  The Salmon Plan goes on to say: "Identify, map, and monitor noxious weeds on an ongoing basis.  Use whatever combination of herbicides, biological, and mechanical controls as necessary to control or eradicate weeds."  This section of the Salmon Plan states very well the objectives for this project.     We intend to inventory and treat the highest priority weeds, based on the Wallowa County "A" listed species and according to the priorities elucidated in the Wallowa County Weed Management Plan.  These weeds include, but are not limited to:  yellowstar thistle, common crupina, rush skeletonweed, whitetop, spotted knapweed, Dalmatian toadflax and leafy spurge.  These species currently exist in the project area, but only in low numbers and in scattered locations.  By far the most cost effective way to protect watershed health from the sedimentation and habitat diversity loss due to weeds is to inventory and aggressively treat these infestations while they are small.  The project area will be greatly affected if no weed action is taken.  The exact level of impact would vary, due to the nature of the weeds present and each subwatershed effected.  A likely scenario is that with no action, many upland sites will be infested by several different species of weeds.  In turn, most of the riparian areas will be infested.  The impacts will be those described above-increased sedimentation and erosion, not to mention effects such as lack of forage for wildlife and domestic livestock (in some cases) and diminished recreational value.  This project will prevent at least some of those effects across the key watersheds listed and will engage the many partners in these watersheds in a coordinated effort to inventory and treat the highest priority weeds.

Project Description:

Introduction
The purpose of the Wallowa Canyonlands Weed Partnership (WCWP) is to maintain and protect the plant communities of the canyon lands within and around the north and east sides of Wallowa County from noxious weed invasion, completing the regional network of weed control.  The Project area encompasses lower Joseph Creek, the Lower Grande Ronde, Imnaha, and the Snake River Canyons (see attached map).  This project is designed to implement early detection for high priority weed species in the highest risk sites within the project area.  Treatment of these sites will follow at the first effective window for that particular species.  Education efforts will be geared toward production of three profiles of the highest priority weed species and newspaper publication of the same.

Existing condition
The WCWP area consists of very rugged canyons and benches.  These steep, semi-arid native grasslands are very dynamic systems in constant flux: they are naturally subject to heavy localized rainfall, fire, flood, and constant erosion.  Their young and unstable soils (especially on southern aspects) support bunchgrass climax communities that have natural interspaces between plants.  Early settlers were attracted to the availability of bunchgrass communities for livestock forage, farmable bench lands, and forested north aspects for timber supply.  A century of intensive use left some places in poor condition. Noxious weed managers in the NE Oregon, SE Washington, and Eastern Idaho have long recognized the high potential for noxious weed invasion in the local canyon lands.    Many areas, like the Whitebird area of the Salmon River, which has been converted to annual grasslands, are dominated by Yellow Starthistle or, in the case of the Payette River Country, by Rush Skeletonweed.  Our WCWP area is unique in that it is still relatively uninfested, but our proximity to the aforementioned places makes us vulnerable.   Few people visit these regions for work or recreation, thereby allowing weed infestations to grow unnoticed.  Furthermore, property boundaries and jurisdictions (i.e. Oregon, Idaho and Washington) have hampered past weed control efforts. Weed inventories for this area are very out of date.  New invaders, particularly rush skeletonweed, spotted knapweed and Dalmatian toadflax, are capable of spreading large distances in high quality habitat.   Once weeds become well established, control is very expensive (see chart below). Ground based weed inventories in the rugged terrain of the project area are time consuming and very expensive.  Therefore, early detection of priority species will primarily be accomplished by digital aerial sketch mapping.  These techniques combine helicopter reconnaissance with real time touch-screen mapping in an Arcview format.  This allows for immediate and accurate recording of weed locations and characteristics.  The cost for these mapping efforts is quite low, considering the very rough ground being covered in the surveys.  Recent digital aerial sketch mapping surveys have proven extremely effective at picking up small weed sites and they are also very cost effective at approximately $0.30/acre.  Project staff helped to design and implement the initial digital aerial sketch mapping of noxious weeds during the 2004 field season.  These inventories revealed hundreds of new high priority noxious weed sites.  Riparian weed assessments will be primarily done on the ground.

Specific Actions:
The Wallowa Canyonlands Weed Partnership will deliver the following products:
1. Upland Weed Inv./Assess -38,000 acres
2. Riparian Inv./Assess - 40 river miles
3. Yellowstar biocontrol Assess. - 2,000 acres
4. High Priority Treatment - 50 net acres (this area will be spread over many hundreds or thousands of gross acres)
5. Revegetation  - 20 acres (currently non-native and native seed is available for this project use)
6. Bio-Control Releases - 30 sites for 2 weed spp.
7. Edu. Materials -3 new profiles, 500 copies each plus newspaper advertising

Based on past inventory data, several sites within the project area are highest priorities, and will be the initial focus of the expenditures.  The Imnaha drainage downstream of the town of Imnaha, portions of the Lower Grande Ronde, and Hell's Canyon between Kirkwood and the confluence with the Grande Ronde are all focus areas.  Following ground-based and helicopter aerial sketch mapping, treatment crews will be sent out to treat and further inventory priority species within these areas.  Other sites may be identified as a result of these surveys and others done by team members or permittees, public, etc.  These sites will be added to the database and treated as soon as possible.

Target weeds are Rush Skeletonweed, Yellowstar Thistle, Dalmatian Toadflax, Leafy Spurge, Spotted, Diffuse, Russian, and Meadow Knapweeds, Whitetop, Common Crupina, Common Bugloss, Meadow and Orange Hawkweed, Japanese Knotweed, Purple Loosestrife, Perennial Pepperweed, Whitetop, Scotch Thistle, Sulfur Cinquefoil, Italian Thistle, and Tansy Ragwort.

Benefits
Successful weed control is integral to maintaining the multiple economic and ecological values that these lands provide.  The WCWP area has a unique ecology that provides many habitat types for game and non-game wildlife, endangered plants (two species) and fish (three species), as well as providing generous opportunities for recreation and wilderness experiences.  The project area is also home to ranching operations that depend on healthy native plant communities for their livelihood.  Jerry Asher, stated  "With weeds spreading at about 4600 acres per day on western federal lands alone (outside of Alaska), the overarching goal becomes keeping relatively uninfested land from becoming seriously infested" (California Exotic Pest Plant Council Proceedings. Volume 5:1999).  The WCWP area is still relatively weed free - by funding this project the GRMW will help ensure that it stays that way.

Project Maintenance
This project involves the inventory, treatment and restoration of many acres across a vast area.  However, no actual structures or permanent facilities will be constructed as part of this grant.  As such, maintenance is limited to monitoring of effectiveness and continual future mapping.  These activities will be carried out in the future and the entire project team is strongly committed to this outcome.  In fact, Wallowa County recently passed a weed levy, providing stable funding to treat priority weeds and cost share this treatment with local landowners.  This, in spite of difficult economic times, demonstrates the support and commitment of the local community to effective treatment of noxious weeds.  We feel that the GRMW purpose and annual plan are clearly well aligned with the project objectives for this grant.  

Permits
BPA has an existing programmatic Biological Opinion from NOAA Fisheries, the Habitat Improvement Program, which covers application of herbicides to treat noxious weeds.  This proposal will follow those parameters and work with BPA and NOAA Fisheries staff to ensure that all guidelines are carefully adhered to.  If weed treatment is needed on lands managed by the USFS, there are currently five approved herbicides available for treatment, as well as biological and mechanical control.  Currently the Pacific Northwest Region Invasive Plant Program draft EIS is under public review.  It may be approved for use by next spring, which could eventually allow use of several other herbicide treatment methods.  A site specific EIS that would allow implementation of the recommendations from the Regional EIS has been initiated on the Wallowa-Whitman and is targeted to be completed by next summer.  Regardless of available treatment methods on USFS lands, high quality inventory is critical to development of the needed planning for future treatments to occur.

Monitoring Plan
Site specific monitoring of treatments will happen at three different levels: Transect plots, photo points and inspection of contracted work.  At selected representative treatment sites (between 2 and 5% of total sites) transect plots will be placed to measure the response of native and invasive species to specific treatment methods using photo points, point intercept transects, and modified Daubenmeier plots.  These monitoring plots will be observed for a minimum of five years each. Second level monitoring are photo points that measure vegetation responses in a less quantitative manner but one that adequately portray vegetation trends.  These sites will be more common and for a wider variety of species over the WCWP area. Third level monitoring is inspection of contracted work by WCWP staff. Wherever WCWP organizes project work on a contract basis the site will be inspected for quality control and this lends insight into the efficacy of the treatment itself.  In addition to these formal monitoring methods WCWP staff will use the local knowledge of long time residents, staff and weed experts to interpret results and modify treatment prescriptions as necessary.

Work Dates
Requested start date for this project is May 1st, 2005.  Requested end date is September 30th, 2005.

Project Methodology Appendix
Our Integrated Weed Management Plans dictate that each infestation is evaluated by the invasiveness of the weed, the size and density of the infestation, and its proximity to other sites of the same species.  Small infestations of weeds with a high potential for spread are rated as the number one priority for treatment with eradication being the goal.  Populations that have spread into large areas, but that are still assessed to be controllable are managed two ways, containment and eradication. Within the containment areas, management is calculated to prevent spread, to look at treatment across ownership boundaries and to use biological control as an essential tool for long-term management.  Weed populations that have surpassed our ability to contain them are labeled as landscape level problems and biological control agents, which are hopefully available, are the primary tool.  Chemical and Mechanical treatments for landscape level infestations are evaluated on a case-by-case basis in context of specific management goals.

Overall Context
The Wallowa Canyonlands Partnership will continue the work of the Lower Grande Ronde Noxious Weed Program and invigorate weed control efforts in the same coordinated manner in Hells Canyon.  Furthermore, nearby weed programs are jurisdictionally and geographically inhibited by their location.  Both the Tri-State and the Tri County WMA's include portions of the WCWP area.  Tri-State WMA is headquartered in Cottonwood Idaho and only incorporates a small northern portion of the Hells Canyon and none of the Imnaha.  Tri-State is an excellent partner to and has direct overlap with the Lower Grande Ronde Noxious Weed Program area.  Tri State will be essential to coordinating efforts with other Idaho and Washington WMA efforts.  Similarly, Tri -County WMA is a high-powered organization that includes all of Wallowa, Baker and Union County, but is located in Baker City and is not generally equipped to deal with the canyon backcountry.  They will also provide technical support, possibly some staff time, and coordination with the managers to our west.  The Lower Grande Ronde Noxious Weed Program is in there fifth year of this exactly type of effort and has excellent private landowner and agency participation. The WCWP has the experience, proximity, and backcountry know how will fill this hole with active treatment across ownerships and jurisdictions.

GRMW funding of this Wallowa Canyonlands Weed Partnership grant proposal brings together managers from different agencies and individuals that are committed to securing and maintaining healthy plant communities.

Education
The WCWP team will also produce three new user-friendly invaders profiles, and to conduct outreach through volunteer weed inventory and pulling projects.   The invader profiles will be published in the local newspaper as part of a weed awareness campaign, as well as available for numerous partners and public in the region.  500 copies will be printed for distribution throughout the region.

Inventory and Mapping
Inventory data will be collected by: formal inventory crews, crews who will do inventory and follow up with immediate treatment of high priority weeds or small population's new invaders, as well as by staff.  Some inventory will be conducted by helicopter, using digital aerial sketch mapping techniques developed and refined by team members over the last two years.  This method has proved to be very cost effective for survey of the rugged canyons that characterize this project area and can be quickly followed by treatment of the infested sites. The WCWP Project team is working to form a common database and GIS mapping system that is accessible to regional weed managers.  As a courtesy to foster cooperation private land data will be shared to the extent that the WCWP has explicit permission to do so.  Tri-County WMA is currently working to house this information for NE Oregon.  Wallowa County's GIS shop has cooperative agreements in place with all the WCWP partners to edit data, store maps and share them with Tri-County. Tri-State WMA will coordinate the sharing of data with out of state partners.   Also, WCWP partners are now able to report weed infestations to the USDA ARS Invaders Database, a national online weeds database and mapping system.

Biological Control
Biological control is a viable method for certain species in our area.  Releases of the best agents for both yellowstar thistle and diffuse knapweed will be made as part of this project.  Also, a release of a new biocontrol agent for spotted knapweed will potentially be made in 2005 as part of this project.

Chemical Control
In general, chemical control is our most effective method of treatment for all of the species of concern.  Chemical Control prescriptions will be as per attached Wallowa County Treatment Guide.  Most of these recommendations came from the Pacific Northwest Weed Management Handbook (OSU Press, 2003) or Sheley and Petroff's Biology and Management of Noxious Rangeland Weeds (OSU Press, 1999).  Any recommendations, or variations of them, that were not from these references have been developed in consultation with staff of Oregon Department of Agriculture, Weed Control Department.

Mechanical Control
Mechanical Control has been defined as any physical manipulation of weeds that does not involve spraying or biocontrol agents for the purposes of this document.  Pulling, mowing, burning, and cultivation are examples.  Mechanical Control will be used in sensitive areas including riparian areas, near T&E plant sites, and in areas where due to agency regulations spraying is not allowed.  Often in these situations it is not effective for long-term control but it can prevent spread by reducing seed production.  Mechanical control is extremely labor intensive and must be repeated regularly for success.  Mechanical weed treatments are also an extremely effective educational tool.

Revegetation
Revegetation is an essential prevention tool used to armor at risk sites against weeds before they are invaded or after weeds are controlled to prevent reinfestation.  Commonly, perennial grasses have been removed from a site by a disturbance factor leaving it open to colonization by annual grasses and mildly invasive non-natives.  These species often prevent natural succession but are not competitive enough to keep out noxious species.  Revegetation is most often associated with the seeding of perennial grasses into a site as a first step at reclaiming a desirable plant community. In most cases, reestablishing the native plant community is the goal but this can vary depending on the management objectives of the land manager.  The WCWP team and the land manager carefully consider species selection for revegetation.  Using carefully selected non-native species is often a quicker and currently a cheaper means of armoring against noxious weeds.  As managers become more adept at establishing natives and as seed and plugs become more available and less expensive, direct use of natives for reclamation will likely become commonplace.