Restoration of

Unauthorized

Routes in Sensitive

Species Habitats

by Thomas B. Egan

Barstow Field Office (CA-680)

Bureau of Land Management

Background

A high priority recovery need for

the federally-listed desert tortoise

and other sensitive species occurring within the California Desert is

the restoration of unauthorized

routes, or road reclamation (refer to

West Mojave Route Designation,

Ord Mountain Pilot Unit,

Biological Resource Screening

Components; Bureau of Land

Management 1997). Such restoration allows for the protection of

large contiguous blocks of habitat

that are relatively unencumbered

by vehicle use impacts and related

activities. Restoring unauthorized

routes would significantly reduce

identified habitat fragmentation

occurring within designated tortoise critical habitat units and yield

tremendous positive benefits affecting recovery of this species. Of the

22 major threats to the tortoise

identified in recent research, ten

would be significantly reduced by

restoring unauthorized roads and

trails, including the following: fire,

off-highway vehicle recreation, animal collection, garbage and litter,

handling and manipulation, invasive

weeds, noise, vandalism, predation

(by ravens and similar subsidized

predators), and non off-highway

vehicle recreation.

The Barstow Field Office of the

Bureau of Land Management is

currently seeking support among

potential cooperators to use “desert

tortoise habitat compensation”

funds for road and trail restoration.

Such funds are occasionally generated, pursuant to guidelines in

BLM’s Desert Tortoise Rangewide

Plan, when habitat-impacting projects are approved within the range

of the tortoise that cannot be fully

mitigated on-site. In the past, these

“habitat compensation” funds have

typically been used to acquire private

inholdings within designated tortoise

critical habitat units. Recently, however, the Barstow Field Office

determined that compensation funds

generated by several large- scale

projects would enable cooperating agencies to protect/enhance a

much larger amount of tortoise

habitat if these funds were used for

route restoration, rather than habitat acquisition. Both methods of

offsite habitat compensation are

necessary for long-term recovery

of the desert tortoise and other

sensitive species in certain critical

habitat units, and these options

should be carefully evaluated on a

case-by-case basis.

To accomplish both tortoise habitat

restoration and route designation

objectives in critical habitat units,

BLM staff have developed a reclamation strategy commonly referred

to as “vertical mulching”. This

technique involves the placement

of structure (live vegetation,

rocks, dead shrubs and “snags”,

bunch-grasses, and various woody

material) within the confines of

the closed roadway surface, both

on the ground surface and in a

vertical manner, designed to conform with adjacent vegetation

and terrain. Use of this technique

is further described below.

Discussion

Lessons learned by BLM over past

decades have shown that route designation cannot be effectively

implemented by simply installing

red carsonite “closed to vehicle use”

signs on or adjacent to unauthorized routes of travel. Efforts must

include encouraging vehicle travel

on designated open routes, and

making designated closed routes

literally disappear into the landscape. To begin this “disappearing

act”, decompaction and mulching

techniques must be applied to

closed routes, extending at least to

the visual horizon, especially where

the closed routes intersect with

other routes.

The Barstow Field Office has

demonstrated that unauthorized

roads and trails can be economically

restored through use of vertical

mulching techniques. These

techniques involve placement of

boulders and organic structure, such

as live/dead and down vegetation,

within the disturbed soil portion of

affected roadbeds. Only vegetation,

rock and woody structure native to

the immediate closed route vicinities

are used. The estimated cost for

restoring tortoise habitat using this

technique is $500 per acre, using

current technology.

The target restoration areas consist

of roads and trails that facilitate a

variety of anthropogenic impacts to

designated desert tortoise critical

habitat. The specified collection

and installation of mulching material occurs under the supervision of

a qualified natural resource specialist, archeologist, biologist or

technician, to ensure a minimization of impacts to biological or

cultural resources. Areas adjacent

to where route closure/rehabilitation is planned may occasionally

be used to gather dead vertical

mulching material, in a manner

designed to avoid causing local dead

and down habitat loss, yet also

accomplish restoration objectives.

RESOURCE NOTES

NO. 16 DATE 05/30/00

Range

Threatened &EndangeredSpecies
In no circumstances are shrubs

that shade animal burrows or that

are located adjacent to cultural

resources, removed for use as

mulching material. However, live

and dead vegetation from the

immediate region, salvaged from

land clearing or road maintenance

operations, may occasionally be

used as mulching material in such

restoration projects. Memorandums

of understanding developed between

land management agencies and local

transportation departments, regarding salvage and storage of native

material for this application, can

facilitate large-scale projects.

The use of pitting, ripping, or

other scarification techniques within the confines of route or roadbed

soil disturbance is sometimes necessary for rapid site recovery. Such

scarification is done with handtools or through the use of heavy

equipment and machinery (toothed

rake, pitter, or similar device pulled

by a tractor). After scarification, the

live or dead vegetation is placed in a

vertical fashion within the confines

of route or roadbed soil disturbance,

in a manner designed to conform to

adjacent terrain and vegetation.

The Barstow Field Office is able to

restore Mojave Desert habitats for

about $500 per acre, due to relationships and agreements it has in

place with the California

Conservation Corps and other local

young adult labor groups. Under an

existing agreement, the California

Conservation Corps will match

BLM contributed project funds on a

dollar for dollar basis. As a consequence, funds generated by large

habitat-disturbing projects could also

qualify for matching by the State of

California, in the form of matching

labor funds available via the use of

the California Conservation Corps.

Conclusion

Vertical mulching can be an economical technique for restoring

unauthorized roads and trails in

desert tortoise and other sensitive

species’ habitats. In some circumstances it may provide much more

“bang for the buck” when compared to traditional forms of offsite

compensation. Its application in

selected areas of the California

Desert will reduce anthropogenic

impacts to the listed desert tortoise,

contributing significantly to the

recovery of this threatened species.

References

Bureau of Land Management

(BLM). 1997. West Mojave route

designation, Ord Mountain pilot

unit, biological resource screening

components. California Desert

District BLM Office, Riverside,

California.

Contact:

Thomas B. Egan

Barstow Field Office, BLM

2601 Barstow Road

Barstow, CA 92311

phone (760) 252-6032

fax (760) 252-6099

email tegan@ca.blm.gov

Range

Range

Range

Resource Notes are intended to be early

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Information in this Resource Note is based on the opinion and

experience of the author and has not been peer-reviewed. Conclusions

and opinions expressed herein do not

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