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United States

Department of

Agriculture

Forest Service

United States

Department

of the Interior

Bureau of Land

Management

Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project

This is not a NEPA decision document
November 1996

United States Department of Agriculture

Forest Service

Pacific Northwest Research Station

Portland, Oregon
ii

Abstract

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. 1996. Status of the interior Columbia

basin: summary of scientific findings. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-385. Portland, OR:

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station;

U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management. 144 p.

The Status of the Interior Columbia Basin is a summary of the scientific findings from the

Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project. The Interior Columbia Basin

includes some 145 million acres within the northwestern United Stales. Over 75 million

acres of this area are managed by the USDA Forest Service or the USDI Bureau of Land

Management. A framework for ecosystem management is described that assumes the broad

purpose is to maintain the integrity of ecosystems over time and space. An integrated

scientific assessment links landscape, aquatic, terrestrial, social, and economic characterizations to describe the biophysical and social systems. Fxosystem conditions within the Basin

have changed substantially within the last 100 years. The status of ecosystems is described

in terms of current conditions and trends under three broadly defined management options. The scientific information brought forward will be used in decision-making, and

may potentially amend Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management plans within the

Basin. The information highlighted here represents an integrated view of biophysical and

socioeconomic elements at a scale never before attempted. The risks and opportunities arc

characterized in the broad context of the Basin for managers and the public to use as a

foundation for discussion about future management.

Keywords: ecosystem assessment, ecosystem management, ecosystem integrity, risk analysis.
Preface and Acknowledgment

This report summarizes over 2,000 pages of scientific, technical methods and findings

produced by the project's Science Team. Summarizing this much material while also attempting to make it understandable and accessible to a diverse audience was a difficult

task. The result provides readers with an overview of the topics covered and key findings.

The original documents contain much greater detail and explanation, as well as covering

related topics not mentioned here. Readers are encouraged to consult those documents for

the full story of Basin ecosystems. We decided not to incorporate references or citations

into this summary document to keep it more readable for a broad audience; the full versions of the science documents contain references to all materials used. This report does

not summarize material contained in the project's two draft environmental impact statements, which were not released at the time this summary was printed.

This report was prepared by Stewart Allen from material contained in science documents

developed for publication by the Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project.

Tom Quigley verified the scientific accuracy of the summarized material and edited the

initial draft; Jodi Clifford and Liz Galli-Noble also edited various drafts. Many of the

authors of the science documents also reviewed a draft version. Del Thompson supervised

layout and printing. Photographs were taken by Larry Frank, Wendel Hann, Rod Johnson,

Mike Northrop, Jane Rohling, K.D. Swann, and Stewart Allen; historical photos courtesy

of Deschutes County Historical Society.

Il l
TABLE OF

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

The Project

The Basin

Ecosystem Principles

Ecosystem Management

Evolving Role of the Public and Institutions

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC SETTING

Human Settlement

Basin Population Today

Attitudes, Beliefs, and Values

Existing Benefits of FS- and BLM-administered Lands

Economic Efficiency

9

9

11

18

22

26

29

29

35

37

40

40
Equity 41

Economic Activity 41

The Basin 41

Counties 42

Communities 43

Characterizations of Specific Resources 46

Fish 46

Minerals 49

Grazing 49

Recreation 52

Special forest and range products 55

Timber 55

Implications for Ecosystem Management 57

AMERICAN INDIAN PEOPLES 61

Legal Context 63

Implications for Ecosystem Management 65

BIOPHYSICAL SETTING AND LANDSCAPE DYNAMICS 67

Regional Variation 71

Landscape Dynamics 75

Landscape Patterns 75

2
Vegetation dynamics

Roads

Fire

Implications for Ecosystem Management

80

85

87

92

TERRESTRIAL ECOLOGY

Species at Risk

Species-Environment Relations

Fungi

Lichens

Bryophytes

Vascular Plants

Invertebrates

Vertebrates

Biogeography, Endemism, and Biodiversity

Implications for Ecosystem Management

93

93

94

95

95

96

96

97

97

99

100

AQUATIC SPECIES AND HABITATS

Water Quality

Riparian Areas

Dams and Diversions

3

101

101

101

104
Roads

Pools

Status and Distribution of Fishes

Implications for Ecosystem Management

ECOSYSTEM INTEGRITY

Ecological Integrity

Forestland Integrity

Rangeland Integrity

Hydrologic Integrity

Aquatic Integrity

Terrestrial Community Types

Composite Ecological Integrity

Forest Clusters

Range Clusters

Social and Economic Resiliency

Economic Resiliency

Social Resiliency

Socioeconomic Resiliency

115

115

116

116

116

116

116

119

119

123

129

129

129

131

104

106

106

111

4
THE FUTURE OF THE BASIN:

ANALYSIS OF MANAGEMENT OPTIONS

Management Options

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

Resource-Specific Outcomes

Landscape Ecology

Terrestrial Ecology

Economics

Social

Aquatic Ecology

Effects on Ecological Integrity and Socioeconomic Resiliency

Summary of Outcomes

CONCLUSION: FROM SCIENCE TO MANAGEMENT

133

133

133

134

134

135

135

136

138

138

139

140

142

5

143
List of Tables

Table 1—Current and future benefits of FS and BLM lands 40

Table 2—Basinwide employment by economic sector 42

Table 3—Structural stage definitions 81

Table 4—Numbers of taxa by Federal listing status,

extirpated, and of special interest to American Indian tribes 94

Table 5—Water quality impaired waters reported by the states

and the EPA as miles of streams 103

Table 6—Flistorical and occupied range and habitat

status for key salmonids within the Basin Assessment area 112

Table 7—Characteristics of forest clusters 1 21

Table 8—Characteristics of range clusters 125

Table 9—Forest and Rangeland Clusters—primary characteristics,

risks to ecological integrity, and opportunities to address risks to integrity 127

Table 10—Habitat outcome analysis 137

List of Figures

Figure 1—Ecosystem model 18

Figure 2—Ecosystem Management model 25

Figure 3—Employment profiles by size of community 44

Figure 4—Landscape themes present across the Basin 52

Figure 5—Scenic integrity present across the Basin 54

Figure 6—Altered sagebrush cycle 78

Figure 7—Definitions of structural stage 80

Figure 8—Current and historic landscape elements 81

Figure 9—Road density diagram 85

Figure 10—Hydrologic hierarchy 102

Figure 11—Integrity Basinwide and for FS/BLM administered lands 1 19

6
List of Maps

Map 1—Basin topography 12

Map 2—Pleistocene events in the Basin 13

Map 3—Major ownerships within the Basin 16

Map 4—Counties in the interior Columbia Basin project area 17

Map 5—Counties experiencing high growth rates 36

Map 6—Status of mines and deposits 48

Map 7—Precipitation 69

Map 8—Current potential vegetation groups 70

Map 9—Predicted road density classes 84

Map 10—Areas susceptible to exotic weed invasion 88

Map 11—Historic fire regime for moist, cold, and dry potential vegetation groups 90

Map 12—Current fire regime for moist, cold, and dry potential vegetation groups 91

Map 13—Rural Population/Wildland Interface Fire Risk Areas 92

Map 14—Hotspots for biodiversity and endemism 98

Map 15—Historic key salmonid presence 108

Map 16—Current key salmonid presence 109

Map 17—Aquatic strongholds and low road densities 110

Map 18—Composite ecological integrity ratings 118

Map 19—Forest clusters 120

Map 20—Range clusters 124

Map 21—Socioeconomic resiliency ratings 130

7
8
INTRODUCTION

The Project

The Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project evolved from the current debate

over management of lands administered by the

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service

(FS) and U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of

Land Management (BLM) in the Columbia River

basin within the United States and east of the

Cascade crest, and portions of the Klamath and

Great basins in Oregon. This sparsely populated

145-million-acre area, referred to here as simply

the "Basin," contains a wealth of natural resources

and related opportunities.

The Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem

Management Project (ICBEMP) was established

by the Eastside Ecosystem Management Project

Charter in January 1994. The Charter, signed by

the Chief of the Forest Service and the Director

of the Bureau of Land Management, directed the

agencies to undertake work necessary to develop

and then adopt a scientifically sound, ecosystembased strategy for managing all FS- or BLMadministered lands within the Basin.

The Pacific Northwest has been involved in

controversy over the ownership and management of natural resources since descendants of Europeans began inhabiting the area 150

years ago. After World War II, the debate over

management of public lands focused primarily

on resource allocation, as commodity production

took precedence over early twentieth century

custodial protection of public lands. In the last

decade, however, concerns have grown about

issues related to species associated with old forest

structures, anadromous fish, forest health, widespread insect and disease mortality and fire, and

rangeland health. This broader concern for ecosystem conditions recognizes that such conditions

not only reflect the quality and extent of habitats

available for plant, animal, and fish species, but

also the ability of lands and waters to provide continued, predictable flows of resources that contribute to both traditional and current human values

and demands.

In the wake of studies addressing biophysical,

social, and economic issues concerning forest

management west of the Cascades, the need for

an integrated understanding of conditions on the

east side was recognized.

Although numerous

reports had addressed

many forest health problems on the east side, the

status of the Basin as a

whole had never been assessed.

9

Although numerous reports had addressed many

forest health problems on the east side, the status of

the Basin as a whole had never been assessed.
The Columbia River Gorge near Hood River, Oregon.

This work has had many components. First,

it was necessary to describe how ecosystems operate—the principles important to understand when

embarking on such an ambitious project. This was

the goal of one of the main project documents,

called A Framework for Ecosystem Management in

the Interior Columbia Basin and Portions of

the Klamath and Great Basins. The

Framework describes principles, goals,

and processes applicable to managing

ecosystems in the Basin.

The next step was to develop a

better understanding of the current

biophysical, economic, and social

conditions and trends in the Basin.

This information is summarized

in the document, An Assessment of

Ecosystem Components in the Interior

Columbia Basin and Portions of the Klamath and

Great Basins. The Component Assessment examines

ecosystems within the Basin, including their history, current status, and trends, and offers projections of future conditions. The Component Assessment included Federal, state, county, and private

lands and resources within the Basin. Though

direction is being developed only

for lands administered by the FS or

BLM, it is important to know how

these lands fit into the overall Basin

ecosystem.

Because the assessment was

conducted by resource area (biophysical, landscape dynamics, terrestrial, aquatic, economic, and social),

another analysis integrated those

resource-specific findings to develop

1 0
The inclusion of a decision

component, in the form of two

environmental impact statements,

is one of the aspects that makes the

project unique.

an overall picture of the status of Basin ecosystems. This analysis is reported in the project's

Integrated Scientific Assessment for Ecosystem

Management.

This summary report concentrates on material

presented in these three ICBEMP documents—

the Framework, the Component Assessment, and the

Integrated Assessment.

The Charter also called for preparation of two

Environmental Impact Statements (EISs), one

establishing direction for FS- and BLM-administered lands in eastern Washington and Oregon,

and the other for lands in the upper Columbia

basin (Idaho, northwestern Montana, and portions of Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming). The EISs,

which will identify and evaluate alternative ways

of implementing ecosystem management, are

designed to modify existing FS and BLM land

management plans. As part of the EIS process,

a scientific evaluation of the EIS alternatives

was conducted; it will be available as another

project document.

The inclusion of a decision component, in the

form of two environmental impact statements, is

one of the aspects that makes the project unique.

While other broadscale assessments are being conducted in the United States, such as those recently

completed for the Sierra Nevada and Southern

Appalachian ecosystems, they do not include a

decision component in the form of an EIS or

similar document. Another unique aspect of this

project is the sheer scale of the assessment area—

145 million acres, compared with 37 million acres

for the Southern Appalachian assessment, or

21 million acres for the core area of the Sierra

Nevada assessment.

The Basin

A quick snapshot of the Basin is a good starting

point. Basin lands are highly diverse, ranging from

the Cascades on the west to the continental divide

in the Rocky Mountains on the northeast and east

(map 1). Several mountain ranges in central Idaho

and western Montana commonly have elevations

over 10,000 feet. The Basin includes the extensive

basalt plateau of eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and southern Idaho as well the high desert of

the Klamath Basin in southwest Oregon and the

plains of the Great Basin in northern Nevada,

northern Utah, and southern Idaho.

Events during the Pleistocene epoch shaped

much of the Basin's landscape. Continental ice

sheets originating in Canada excavated and molded valleys in the northern portion of the Basin,

while alpine glaciers occurred in most of the

mountainous areas. As a result of a prolonged wet

climate, many large lakes formed, particularly in

southern portions of the Basin. Repeated breaching

Public Participation

The ICBEMP was committed to an open process with

numerous and diverse opportunities for public involvement during the project. The public was encouraged

to attend the workshops and regularly scheduled public sessions held throughout the Basin. At these briefings, project staff and management discussed the

latest scientific findings and provided updates on

progress, with time for interaction between scientists

and attendees. Reports from contractors and other

draft materials were made available to the public

through a variety of means. Much of the material was

available in an electronic library maintained by project

personnel, and data layers and maps were released

as they became final and documented. Other special

efforts to communicate with the public included a daylong conference on social issues and findings, held in

April, 1995, in Spokane, Washington.

1 1
Map 1—Basin topography.

12
Map 2—Pleistocene events in the Basin.

of ice dams by glacial Lake Missoula led to

cataclysmic flooding that carved the "channeled

scablands" of eastern Washington (map 2). Spillovers of pluvial Lake Bonneville into the Snake

River system modified the valley of the Snake

River and left large cataract complexes. Sedimentary deposits including glacial till, outwash and

loess, and valley fill, terraces, and scour features

occur over much of the

Basin. Soils developed

from loess deposits in

the Columbia Plateau

and Snake River plain

have enabled these areas

to develop into highlyproductive agricultural

areas, such as

the Palouse.

The Basin is in a transition-type climate zone

where climate patterns are dominated by topographic features. Type and distribution of vegetation varies with soils, long-term precipitation

patterns, and climate. Forested vegetation differs

among dry, moist, and cold vegetation types.

Grassland, shrubland, and woodlands are also

present across the Basin. These differ between

The Basin is sparsely populated, covering about

eight percent of the land area of the United States

while containing about one percent of the Nations

population.

1 3
Blue Mountains. There is a great deal of diversity in the Basin's landscape types. This is a landscape dominated by

foothill and mountain environments. Land uses include recreation, forestry, livestock grazing, wildlife, fisheries

and use as a watershed. Such landscapes have highly dynamic disturbance potentials. Fire and floods are common. These landscapes have relatively low productivity and are mostly in public ownership.

desert (very dry) areas and high elevation (very

cold) areas.

Most of the area is drained by the Columbia

River and its tributaries. The portion of the Klamath

Basin that occurs in the project area is drained by the

Klamath River and its tributaries; the portion of the

Great Basin that occurs in the project area has closed

basins. Stream modifications to facilitate navigation

on the Columbia River system began in 1876 with

construction of locks and canaJs. By 1975, the waterway between Lewiston, Idaho, and the Pacific Ocean

had become a series of reservoirs.

The Basin is sparsely populated, covering

about eight percent of the land area of the United

States while containing about one percent of the

Nation's population. This results in a population

density less than one-sixth of the U.S. average.

Like much of the rural West, the Basin has experienced recent, rapid population growth that is

expected to continue. The Basin contains nearly

500 small, rural communities of 10,000 people or

fewer that have been undergoing significant social

and economic change.

The Basin has a diverse economy that makes

up just under 4 percent of the U.S. economy. Six

metropolitan areas have been the centers of its

14
Columbia Plateau. This is a landscape dominated by plains (or valley) environments with mixed forest, range, and

agriculture. These types of landscapes are very productive and are mostly in private ownership. They are highly

dynamic in terms of disturbance, particularly climatic fluctuations (drought).

economic growth: Spokane, Yakima, Pasco/Kennewick/Richland ("Tri-Cities"), and Wenatchee,

Washington; Bend, Oregon; and Boise, Idaho.

The past two decades have seen the evolution of

what was a mature, resource-based economy into

a diverse economy oriented toward the technology, transportation, and service sectors. Economic

strengths of the Basin include agriculture and

agricultural services.

Of the 145 million acres in the Basin, 53 percent is public land managed by the BLM or the

FS through 35 National Forests and 17 BLM

Districts (map 3). The project area contains all

or significant portions of 100 counties across

seven states (map 4). This makes it clear, as will be

discussed later, that the Forest Service and Bureau

of Land Management will need help from

others to make ecosystem management work.

The Basin contains about 24 percent of the

Nation's National Forest system lands and 10 percent of the Nation's BLM-administered lands.

Designated Wilderness within the Basin, present

in 46 of the 100 counties, totals just over 10 million acres—about 29 percent of the Wilderness

acres within the contiguous United States.

15
Map 3—Major land ownerships within the Basin.

16
Map 4—Counties in the Interior Columbia Basin project area.

17
Ecosystem Principles

Understanding ecosystem management

requires defining ecosystems and the principles

under which they operate. An ecosystem is a

complete, interacting system of living organisms

and the land and water that make up their environment—the home places of all living things,

including humans (figure 1). Because humans

have developed the capacity to rapidly alter the

environment beyond the capacity of any other

species and because humans are dependent, like

all species, on the environment, humans are

included as a component of ecosystems.

Ecosystems

Ecosystems are places where all plants, animals, soils,

waters, climate, people, and processes of life interact as a whole. They may be small, such as a rotting

log, or large, such as an entire continent; smaller ecosystems are subsets of larger ones. All ecosystems

have flows of things—organisms, energy, water, air,

nutrients—moving among them. Ecosystems change

over space and time, so it is not possible to draw a

line around an ecosystem and try to keep it the same.

Instead, managing ecosystems means understanding

and working with the processes that cause ecosystems to vary and to change.

Concepts and principles underlying ecosystem

management are evolving. Four broad principles

guided the ICBEMP:

Ecosystems are dynamic, evolutionary, and

resilient;

Ecosystems are viewed spatially and temporally within organizational levels;

Ecosystems have biophysical, economic, and

social limits; and

Ecosystem patterns and processes are not

completely predictable.

Ecosystems are dynamic; they change with or

without human influence. Existing ecosystem

conditions are a product of natural and human

history—including fire, flood, and other disturbances, climatic shifts, and geological events such

as landslides and volcanic eruptions. Change is

inherent in ecosystems. An ecosystem is said to

be resilient if it tends to return to some developmental pathway when disturbed or otherwise

changed, or if its state is always changing within

some definable bounds. While ecosystem management can recognize the inherent resiliency

of natural systems, it should also recognize that

maintaining the status quo is difficult and not

necessarily a goal. Just as disturbances and the

actions of human generations shaped the ecosystems of today, actions of this generation will

transform ecosystems of the future.

Ecosystems and the links among them can be

studied at a variety of scales. Ecosystems can vary

in size, for example, from a small pond to an entire river basin. To describe the dynamic nature of

ecosystems, it is useful to view them as having

multiple organizational levels differing over time

and space. These levels can be organized within

Figure 1 —Ecosystems are places where biophysical and

social components interact as a whole. All ecosystems

have flows of energy, organisms, water, air, and nutrients and each element is affected by other elements.

All ecosystems change over space and time.

1 8
Ecosystems can vary in size and scale, as demonstrated by

these three scenes from the White Salmon River at the

Basin's western boundary.

19
hierarchies, in which every level has discrete ecological functions but at the same time is part of a

larger whole. Higher levels usually occupy larger

areas and are usually characterized by longer timeframes. Spatial extent can range from a few square

meters to millions of square meters, and timeframes can range from less than one year to millions of years.

The main purpose of the data collection portion of the ICBEMP was to gain an understanding of the Basin as a whole, but for individual

resource areas data were collected and analyzed at

many smaller scales as well. This is crucial because

the Basin is so diverse that "average" numbers

tend to be very misleading and fail to reflect the

vast differences present. Aquatics and other analyses, for example, were conducted at watershed,

subbasin, and basin scales. For other analyses, the

Basin was divided into 13 ecologically distinct

areas called Ecological Reporting Units. Social and

economic information was generally at the state or

county level of analysis. Bureau of Economic

Analysis reporting areas were used to characterize

centers of trade and economic activity. However,

measuring social and economic conditions only at

these scales would mask differences among the

many communities within the Basin, so the

project also collected information about hundreds

of small, rural communities. There is no "right"

level of analysis; the appropriate scale depends on

what question is being answered, and it is useful

to study ecosystem conditions at multiple levels to

understand how one set of conditions depends on

and affects another.

Ecosystem processes such as soil

formation that occur over long

periods (centuries or millennia)

hold little meaning for political

processes that operate biennially.

Organizational levels, timeframes, and spatial

extents that are significant to human decisionmaking often do not correspond to the same timeframes and spatial extents as biophysical systems.

Ecosystem processes such as soil formation that

occur over long periods (centuries or millennia)

hold little meaning for political processes that

operate biennially. In addition, people respond to

environments symbolically, and places important

to people cannot typically be defined by using

biophysical hierarchies alone. To some extent, the

selection of hierarchies represents a compromise

among the various disciplines involved in an

assessment.

Ecosystems have biophysical, economic, and

social limits. 1 he environment is constantly in a

state of flux, causing ecosystems to change. Given

this, human populations recognize that the ability

of an ecosystem to provide goods and services has

limitations. Unfortunately, people also often make

demands on ecosystems that exceed the system's

biological or physical capabilities. Science provides

information about ecosystem limits; society uses

this shared information to make choices about its

behavior. Land managers then use this inform

ation as they develop ways to allocate finite

resources. People can choose to modify their

behavior and organize their institutions to be

consistent with the capabilities of ecosystems,

or they can pursue actions inconsistent with

the capabilities of ecosystems. People can also

improve ecosystem productivity on some sites

through investments in management practices.

Societal choices regarding the use and allocation

of resources have implications for inter-generational equity and tradeoffs.

There are limits to our ability to predict how

ecosystems may change. Even the best modeling

systems that try to predict what will happen to an

ecosystem are only guesses, subject to a variety of

assumptions and uncertainties. This is true for

both human and nonhuman components of ecosystems. The events that influence ecosystem

20
patterns and processes are usually unpredictable,

and predictability varies over temporal and spatial

organizational levels. For example, from year-toyear wildfire occurrences are associated with particular seasons and environmental conditions, but

a fire may occur in any season and under many

different environmental conditions. Similarly,

eruptions of volcanos in the Cascade Mountain

Range have occurred, on average, twice each century for the past 4,000 years; however, neither

when the next eruption will occur, nor its size and

effects, can be predicted. In the social dimension,

predicting crime rates at the regional or community level is possible, but it is much more difficult

to predict the occurrence of a crime at a particular

household.

The limited predictability of ecosystem outcomes has several important implications. Land

management policies and practices should give

managers sufficient flexibility to respond effectively to any unanticipated effects of previous

decisions. As knowledge increases, managers are

better able to predict outcomes, yet long-term

yields of goods and services may remain unpredictable. Finally, although models are simplistic

representations of real world systems, they may

improve the predictability of outcomes.

Salmon River in the Frank Church River of No

Return Wilderness Area. Society has already chosen

to set aside some resources from many types of uses by

humans. This does not mean, however, that the landscape will remain the same; successional and disturbance processes continue to operate.

2 1
Ecosystem Management

The institutional framework and societal desires

surrounding public land stewardship continuously

evolve. In the course of U.S. history, major land

management themes have changed from privatization (1800-1891), to conservation and scientific

management (1891-1945), to commodity production (1945-1960), to increasingly complex and

contentious demands (1960-present). Today, the

agencies are faced with attempting to balance these

traditional issues with demands for and greater concern over ecosystem health and fire management.

It is not just Basin ecosystems that have changed, but

how society views resources

and makes decisions about

their use. The 1990s are characterized by public concern

over ecosystems and their

physical, biological, economic,

and social conditions. There is

widespread concern for forests,

rangelands, rivers, and the

species dependent on themincluding humans and in

particular the residents of

small, rural communities in

the Basin. The costs and benefits of activities such as salvage logging and its

appropriate role have emerged as national issues.

Aggressive fire suppression policies of Federal

land-managing agencies have been increasingly

criticized as more has been learned about natural

fire cycles. Rangeland ecosystems in large areas of

the Basin have been altered dramatically by land

use conversion and the accidental and deliberate

introduction of non-native species. Noxious weeds

threaten rangeland vegetation upon which both

wild and domestic animals depend. The costs of

these and other changes have been measured not

just in the listing of endangered species but in

appeals, court decisions, and regulations that

have decreased the availability and predictability

of public land management outputs such

as timber.

The Forest Service and the BLM response

to these emerging social and environmental issues

is ecosystem management, a relatively new term

that has been given varied definitions and has a

wide variety of connotations for people. Ecosystem management is scientifically-based land and

resource management that integrates ecological

capabilities with social values and economic relations to produce, restore, or sustain ecosystem

integrity and desired conditions, uses, products,

values, and services over the long term. 1 he Chief

of the Forest Service has described ecosystem

management as the next intelligent evolution

One of the main distinctions of ecosystem

management is that it concentrates on overall

ecosystem health and productivity through an

understanding of how different parts of the

ecosystem function with each other; rather than

on achieving a set of outputs.

of multiple use. One of the main distinctions of

ecosystem management is that it concentrates on

overall ecosystem health and productivity through

an understanding of how different parts of the

ecosystem function with each other, rather than

on achieving a set of outputs. Human activities,

including social values about demands on public

lands and biophysical ecosystem components,

are part of the total picture.

Federal land management agencies have

legal and social obligations to sustain the health,

diversity, and productivity of ecosystems for the

benefit of present and future generations. In addition, they are obligated to fulfill responsibilities

assumed from treaties with American Indian tribes

including maintaining or restoring viable, and in

some cases harvestable, populations of plants and

22
Owyhee River canyon in southeastern Oregon. Fxosystem management attempts to look at the total picture and

manage with an understanding of how ecosystems function.

animals. Satisfying these obligations is often

complicated by changing and competing public

values, the constant march of science, and land

ownership and jurisdictional patterns that do not

correspond to ecosystem patterns.

Ecosystem management, in this sense, is another stage in the agencies' evolving efforts to satisfy

their obligation to stakeholders while striving to

resolve these complications. Stakeholders include

tribal, state, county, local governments, private

land holders, and individuals or groups representing local and national interests in land management. Stakeholders also include all of the citizens

of the United States who use, value, and depend

on the goods, services, and amenities produced by

federally administered public lands.

The meaning of ecosystem management as it

applies to FS- and BLM-administered lands in the

Basin would be better understood if accompanied

by a broad set of goals that describe its overall

intent. However, ecosystem management goals

will be chosen and implemented by land managers, because identifying goals is a policy decision,

rather than a scientific one. The ICBEMP's two

environmental impact statements will identify

draft goals. In the absence of the actual goals, scientists working on the project developed a list of

illustrative management goals (fully described in

the Framework) to help examine the status of eco23
The Role of Science

The role of science in the ecosystem management

model is to provide information for the decision-making process. Such information helps to identify the

current status of ecosystems as well as potential

options for addressing issues; the social, physical,

economic, and biological consequences of those options; and tradeoffs among options. Science, however, cannot choose among the options; that is the

role of decision-makers. Recognition of these distinct responsibilities led the project to establish two

main teams of staff: scientists, who wrote the science documents summarized here; and management, who will ultimately make decisions (through

the EIS process) about how to carry out ecosystem

management on FS- and BLM-administered lands in

the Basin.

systems within the Basin. These goals reflect the

diverse views that humans have about ecosystem

management:

• Maintain evolutionary and ecological processes

• Manage in the context of multiple ecological

domains and evolutionary timeframes

• Maintain viable populations of native and

desired non-native species

• Encourage social and economic resiliency

• Manage for the human sense of "place"

• Manage to maintain the mix of ecosystem goods,

functions, and conditions that society wants

These are reasonable assumptions about management goals because they explicitly recognize

the ways in which humans depend on and interact

with the environment in our modern world. They

seek to reduce risk from ecological surprises and

acknowledge important social values derived from

commodity and non-commodity use of natural resources. The goals are therefore assumed to provide important benchmarks against which to

measure the progress of ecosystem management. If

adopted, they would force decision-makers to explicitly consider the extensive range of values and

choices involved in ecosystem management.

The goals and the four ecosystem principles described above suggest the need for an adaptive approach to management—an approach that can be

adjusted in response to new information. A general planning model for ecosystem management has

four iterative steps (figure 2); monitoring, assessment, decision-making, and implementation occur in a cyclic process. Each step has considerable

room for both formal and informal public participation.

In the model, monitoring is the process of collecting and evaluating information to determine

baseline conditions or to determine if planned activities have been accomplished, if assumptions

are correct, and if management objectives have

been met. Assessments, which begin by recognizing who the clients are and what questions they

have, describes biophysical and social ecosystem

components at various timeframes and scales. The

decision-making step involves the full range of

decision components, from identifying alternatives to selecting one for implementation. The

implementation step is the process of turning

plans and decisions into projects and practices

on the ground.

This general planning model provides a context

for integrating social, economic, and ecological information with management goals. It is not fundamentally different from existing ways that FS or

B L M plans are developed, but the emphasis on

monitoring—learning more about the effects of

management actions—is greatly increased, as is

the ability to respond to new knowledge as it is

gained.

24
Figure 2—Each step of the General Planning Model for ecosystem management has several parts. Because the

model is iterative, external or internal influences can initiate any step in the process and the process never ends.

25

CONTINUED
Evolving Role of the Public

and Institutions

Determining societal expectations for outputs

(goods and services) and ecological conditions is

a key feature of the planning model. In adaptive

management, decisions are made as part of an

ongoing process in which actions are tested, their

effects monitored, and the resulting knowledge is

used to modify management plans and practices.

Interaction with the public, elected officials, and

Indian tribes, takes place on a continual basis,

rather than being solely project-driven.

Previously, public participation often meant

reacting to predetermined agency proposals on a

project-by-project basis. In adaptive management,

changes to this process are driven by a desire to

improve understanding about and confidence in

agency policies and actions, including ecosystem

management, among stakeholders. Interagency

coordination and intergovernmental (and sometimes international) cooperation are essential to

the success of an ecosystem approach to Federal

land management.

Many public/private collaborative groups

have formed in the Basin over the past few years

to jointly address natural resource issues. These

groups, which typically strive to include a balanced range of stakeholders regarding a given

piece of land, natural resource, or decision, have

yielded many benefits, including opportunities

for mutual learning, increased ownership in decisions, and improved agency ability to implement

plans. Such groups provide models of collaboration for use in ecosystem management strategies.

On the west side of the Cascades, the Northwest Forest Plan's creation of Province Advisory

Committees was a move toward a new

approach to public participation. Each

of the 12 Provinces created as management units for the plan has an advisory

committee made up of Federal

employees and members of the

public. The plan also established

Adaptive Management Areas that called for new

forms of ongoing collaboration in the planning,

management, and monitoring of public lands.

A similar effort began in 1995, when the

BLM and FS formed Resource Advisory Councils

(RACs), each covering a distinct geographic area

in eastern Oregon and Washington. The RACs,

which eventually will cover much of the western

United States, are designed to make recommendations to the FS and BLM on ecosystem management, watershed planning, and other local or

regional natural resource issues. The list of objectives for RACs includes collaborating in resource

management across jurisdictions, promoting partnerships and working groups to develop regional

solutions to management issues, assisting with

educational efforts, sharing science and other

information, and encouraging and supporting

local groups to help implement ecosystem

management.

A key aspect of these two recent efforts is

that they are ongoing rather than project-specific.

People have the opportunity to become more

involved in the entire flow of agency ecosystem

management activities, rather than having only

piecemeal involvement. Because these efforts are

relatively new, their success has not yet been measured, but adaptive management includes tracking

public participation and the social acceptability

of management actions and their effects.

Ecosystem management calls for agencies and

people to work together effectively in managing

resources and opportunities that cross jurisdictional boundaries. The Federal Government, state

governments, local governments, and the public

all have their roles—some of which may differ

from roles they have had in the past. Relations

Ecosystem management calls for agencies

and people to work together effectively in

managing resources and opportunities that

cross jurisdictional boundaries.

26

This file was created by scanning the printed publication. 

Text errors identified by the software have been corrected; 

however, some errors may remain. 
The upper Klickirar River in sourhcentral Washington. A public/private task force reached consensus on a

management plan for the river in the late 1980s. Members of the group included federal and state agency

employees, American Indians, loggers, ranchers, private landowners, recreationists, county commissioners,

and conservationists.

27
between county governments and the

FS and BLM took on a new dimension

in the Basin during the Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management

Project. The Association of Oregon

Counties, the Washington Association

of Counties, the Montana Association of Counties, and the Idaho Association of Counties

created a new institution, the Eastside Ecosystem

Coalition of Counties, to observe activities of the

ICBEMP and communicate the interests of

county governments.

The multiplicity of agencies with conflicting

mandates and goals and the varieties of constituencies and legal authority, coupled with significant

transboundary management questions and short

timeframes, may challenge the agencies' ability to

implement ecosystem management. Studies of

previous cross-jurisdictional management efforts

have shown that tolerance for change is critical,

suggesting an approach that emphasizes incremental changes and places authority for managing

change in the hands of those most directly affected. An open information flow is another key factor because the success of institutions depends in

large part on learning gained from the trials and

errors of past practices.

A number of institutional challenges to implementing ecosystem management were identified

during the course of the ICBEMP. These include

A number of institutional challenges to

implementing ecosystem management were

identified during the course of the

ICBEMP.

poor communication and poor understanding

of the definition of ecosystem management, and

questions about how to implement it without

new legislation. Laws such as the Federal Advisory

Committee Act may pose a barrier to some forms

of desirable public participation, and aspects of

BLM and FS policies and procedures such as

budgeting and contracting may need modification. The money required to restore ecosystems

to more productive and desirable conditions is

another central issue.

Despite these challenges and complexities,

there is widespread agreement that existing management of public lands in the Basin should be

re-examined. The following sections summarize

some of the ICBEMP science findings regarding

existing conditions and trends in Basin resources

and opportunities.

28
SOCIAL AND

ECONOMIC SETTING

Human use of natural resources in the

Basin is one of the major determinants of

existing ecosystem conditions. The role

of humans in the ecosystem has changed dramatically over time, with equally dramatic effects on

the land, water, air, and other species. Human

values regarding ecosystems have changed as well,

as have the economic needs of an increasingly

complex society.

Understanding how people relate to and interact

with the environments in which they live (or in

which they have interest) is an essential component

of comprehending the functioning and therefore

the management of ecosystems. People are part

of the ecosystem, both in the sense of being another

species that depends on other ecosystem components

and because humans determine how ecosystems are

socially defined, studied, and managed. The public

and federal agencies agree that ecosystem management calls for consideration of what is sometimes

called the "human dimension" of ecosystems,

which includes peoples traditional and changing

perceptions, beliefs, and possible future influences

on ecosystems.

Human Settlement

The Basin has been occupied by people for at

least 12,000 years, when it is believed migration

occurred across the Bering Straits land bridge

from northern Asia. After continued warming

conditions caused greater glacial retreat, early

hunting societies diversified and began to fish and

gather foodstuffs, which created localized cultural

groups that followed seasonal patterns of flora and

fauna to support their needs. Although the lifeways of native cultures evolved with important

regional differences, the cultures of the Basin have

a number of common elements and are, for this

discussion, considered together.

Tribal groups within the culture area known as

the Columbia Plateau possessed knowledge of the

land gained over centuries of occupation. Within

a yearly rhythm of seasonal rounds, specific places

for fishing, hunting, and gathering became important to these groups. Favored areas for berry picking, root gathering, hunting, and the collection of

other necessary materials offered a familiarity and

continuity with the land and affirmed people's

spiritual beliefs that their lives were orderly

because of their "right" behaviors in association

with it. American Indians were

linked to their environment by

careful observation, economic

calculation, ritual monitoring,

and religious explanation.

Access to major rivers was

critical. The rivers provided

salmon, steelhead, sturgeon,

Tribal groups within the culture area known

as the Columbia Plateau possessed knowledge

of the land gained over centuries

of occupation.

29
Woman picking berries in a traditional use area.

lampreys, suckers, and trout. Fishing methods

were successfully adapted to habitats adjacent to

major waterfalls on the Columbia River, such as

Kettle Falls, Priest Rapids, Celilo Falls, Five Mile

Rapids, and the Cascades, as well as Salmon Falls

and rapids on the upper Snake River.

Contrary to the beliefs of non-Indian emigrants

arriving in the region in the nineteenth century,

the Basin and adjoining areas were not pristine

wildernesses, but ecological systems in which

humans had been an active component. American

Indians liberally employed fire as a tool to manage

The Basin and adjoining areas were not

pristine wildernesses, but ecological systems

in which hutnans had been an active

component

vegetation, fires that differed from those ignited

by lightning in terms of seasonality, frequency, and

intensity. The low-intensity, high-frequency fires

set by American Indians served many purposes.

They enriched forage for grazing, encouraged vegetation which provided browse for large mammals

and berries for human and animal consumption,

signaled other tribes or sent warnings, and were

used in ceremonial events.

Lewis and Clark's expedition from 1804 to

1806 offered Euro-Americans the first glimpse of

the potential of the American West, a seemingly

endless expanse of land, game,

and rivers that attracted adventurers, fur trappers, and homesteaders. The fur trade soon lured

many newcomers; by 1820, 450

vessels had sailed into coastal

30
waters to engage in it. The dominant

fur trader, the Hudson's Bay Company,

developed a policy aimed at trapping

the fur-bearing animals of the Snake

River plains to extinction in order to

discourage potential competitors.

Missionaries began traveling west in

search of converts, both bringing religion and promoting family-based agriculture. The 1840s brought profound change to

the American West as restlessness seized a generation of Americans. Based on the success of early

missions, families began making the nearly 2,000-

mile trek on the Oregon Trail from Independence,

Missouri, to the Willamette Valley in Oregon.

During the period from 1840 to 1860, most of

these overland migrants passed through the Basin

en route to the Willamette Valley's greener pastures and proximity to navigable waters.

A series of Federal Homestead Acts reflected

the era's Federal policy—to transfer public lands as easily as possible to citizens who could make

use of them. Federally-supported railroad developments

changed the shape of the West.

The "checkerboard" ownership

patterns of the lands in central

Washington and elsewhere are a

legacy of these land grants and

the railroads. By the 1880s it was

possible to arrive in the Pacific

Northwest in five days instead of

five months.

The discovery of gold in 1862

drew many to the Basin. Thousands of miners flowed to the

region, leading to development

of towns and the infrastructure

that in turn drew stock raisers

and farmers. Mining towns took

on an urban cast, with hotels,

restaurants, general stores, blacksmith shops, sawmills, laundries, and other service businesses that

supported mine workers.

Irrigation had been underway in parts of the

Columbia River basin as early as the 1880s. Most

of the nineteenth century projects were small,

After nearly a century of policies which

disposed of public lands, the Federal

government began to view the remaining

public domain as a storehouse which could

sustain productive values.

Early immigration to the Basin was

encouraged through Federal policies.

often consisting of hand-dug ditches that irrigated

bottom land of 30 acres or less. Passage of the

Newlands Reclamation Act in 1902 established

the Reclamation Service in the Department of

Interior. The Act deposited profits from the sale of

western lands into a reclamation fund to support

irrigation projects, allowing the Federal Government to underwrite the building of dams, canals,

and ditches beyond the capabilities of communities or the private sector. This made it possible for

more people to settle in the interior Basin. Cooperative ventures and Federal

projects mounted by the Bureau

of Reclamation grew rapidly in

the twentieth century. Today,

irrigation from both surface

and ground water sources is by

far the dominant off-stream

use of water in the Basin.

The U.S. Forest Service was

established in 1905 to manage

a growing inventory of Federal

forest reservations established to

conserve resources—especially

water. In Gifford Pinchot's view,

the reserves could protect water

supplies for irrigation and western cities, provide cheap grazing, and repay the Treasury with

timber sales while contributing

to national growth and the stability of local economies. After

nearly a century of policies

which disposed of public lands, the Federal Government began to view the remaining public

domain as a storehouse which could sustain

productive values.

Following on the heels of mining and agriculture, a third leg of the Basin's economy, the timber

3 1
Railroads made it far easier nor only for people to reach the Basin, but for timber and other resources to be deliv- ered from the Basin to broader markets.

industry, took off near the close of the nineteenth

century. The industry paralleled development of

mines and railroads—railroads needed wood for

ties and trestles and created links to markets,

mines needed timbers for shoring, and lumber

mills needed access to the woods to extract logs.

In the early 1900s, road construction began to

open the forests of eastern Washington and Oregon. Constructed mainly through river valleys,

riparian areas, floodplains, and adjacent hillsides,

the roads efficiently provided access but decreased

the land's effectiveness as wildlife habitat and provided a new avenue for erosion and discharge of

sediment into streams. In 1916, the region's first

paved, rural roadway, the Columbia River Highway, opened to link the western and eastern slopes

of the Cascades.

Automobile access gave people the means to

travel throughout the interior Basin for recreation.

In 1916, the National Park Service was created to

handle the administration of the growing set of

national parks and monuments. Although the

32
The automobile opened up a new era of tourism and recreation, in this case through an old forest of

single story pine.

early parks had been promoted for local economic

development, increased visitation and public sentiment to protect natural features led to the Park

Service's Organic Act of 1916, mandating a mission of limited development, "...which purpose is

to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic

objects and the wildlife therein and to provide for the

enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such

means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations."

Grazing was another land use that took hold in

the Basin, increasing the feasibility of homesteading and creating a lifestyle that remains today. In

the 1920s, ranchers and others recognized that

overgrazing of public lands, in combination with

drought conditions, was severely impairing the

ability of the land to support their operations.

Impetus for initial regulations also came from Frederic V. Coville's influential Forest Growth and

Sheep Grazing in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon,

published in 1898. His recommendations led to

33
an allocation and permit

system under which stock

raisers secured grazing

privileges within bounds

of regulations set by the

U.S. Forest Service.

The Taylor Grazing Act

of 1934 brought range

regulation to 142 million

acres in 11 western states,

removing the area from

potential sale and placing

it under the jurisdiction

of the Grazing Service,

which evolved into the

Bureau of Land Management in 1946. Range

improvement projects

were undertaken and

local advisory boards

established to allocate

and manage the rangelands. The condition of

rangelands in the interior Basin has generally improved since then, although with slower progress

in riparian areas.

The systematic exclusion of fire from ecosystems began in the early 1900s; fire was viewed as a

threat to forests as well as to the lives and property

of increasing numbers of settlers. The newly-created Forest Service believed that fires killed regeneration under larger trees, unaware of the increased

problems with wildfire control and forest health.

Thus while fire was being used west of the Cascades to reduce slash after logging, its general

occurrence was being excluded from the east side

of the Cascades where it had occurred frequently.

The systematic exclusion of fire from

ecosystems began in the early 1900s; fire

was viewed as a threat to forests as well

Near Burns, Oregon. Turn-of-the-century cowboys around the chuck wagon.

While this fire-exclusion policy was wellintended, the result over time was a change in forest stands from seral, fire-adapted species to more

fire-susceptible species that formed unhealthy

stands that were subject to larger-scale fires and

increased outbreaks of insects and disease. This

societal attitude, successfully perpetuated by

Smokey the Bear since 1945, prevailed until the

1980s, as the role of fire as a natural disturbance

came to be more widely understood.

This brief look at the history of interactions

between people and other ecosystem components

of the Basin explains some of the reasons why past

actions were taken. This is a prerequisite not

just to learning about how present

ecosystem conditions arose, but to

understanding the rationale behind

human uses of natural resources and

the basis for peoples' judgments

about the acceptability of those

uses and their effects.

as to the lives and property of increasing

numbers of settlers.

34
Basin Population Today

In 1990, just under three million people

lived in the Basin. The Basin is sparsely populated; the 100 main counties in the Basin

account for about 8 percent of the land area

in the United States, but only 1.2 percent of the

population. Nearly half the population is located in 12 of the 100 counties, although just six

of these (Ada and Canyon Counties in Idaho;

and Benton, Yakima, Franklin, and Spokane

Counties in Washington) are large enough to

be called metropolitan counties.

The age distribution of Basin residents is very

similar to that of the Nation, but contains a larger

proportion of people under 18 and a smaller proportion who are in the prime wage-earning years

of 25 to 49. The project area contains a larger proportion of Whites (92 percent) and American

Indians (2.4 percent) than does the United States

(80 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively), and a

smaller proportion of Blacks (0.6 percent, compared to 12 percent nationally), and Hispanics

(6.7 percent, compared to 9 percent nationally).

Population growth in the project area over the

last 45 years has reflected the dramatic changes

occurring nationwide. Between 1950 and 1970

there was a significant out-migration from rural

to urban settings; in the Basin, over one-third of

the counties showed population losses. During

the 1970s, Basin counties reported population

increases, while the 1980s demonstrated a return

to traditional urban migration and population

patterns.

In the early 1990s, population growth again

occurred throughout the Basin; 96 percent of

counties increased in population. In addition to

metropolitan counties, one type of county that

showed large increases were so-called recreation

counties, those in which recreation and tourism

play a large role in the economy, accounting for

24 percent of the population increase in the

project area (map 5).

Assumptions about migration rates affect estimates of future population growth patterns. A low

estimate, already exceeded in many areas, results

in a population by year 2040 of about 3.5 million

compared with the high estimate of nearly 6.5

million. Given recent swings in population settlement patterns, it is difficult to tell with certainty

which scenario is most likely. However, even

though overall population density would still

remain well below the national average, there is a

reasonable potential for greatly increased growth.

In the early 1990s, population

growth again occurred throughout

the Basin; 96 percent of counties

increased in population.

35
Map 5—Counties experiencing high growth rates.

36
Attitudes, Beliefs, and Values

Data from existing surveys and those conducted for the ICBEMP were used to examine

people's attitudes, beliefs, and values on questions

relevant to the project. This information is valuable because it suggests what aspects of ecosystem

management may be the most acceptable, contentious, or confusing. They also provide the public

and agency decision makers with greater understanding about why people feel the way they do.

Recent national surveys have found that a

majority of the American public continues to support the environment and believes environmental

issues remain a high social priority. However, support may be slightly lower than it was several years

ago. People tend to believe a balanced approach

to public land management is possible, but favor

environmental protection over economic growth

if forced to choose between the two (although

many believe that the future does not necessarily

involve this choice).

Attitudes, Beliefs and Values

Attitudes reflect peoples' evaluations of something

as favorable or unfavorable. They can be strong and

well-formed or weak and broad, and are generally developed through a variety of learning processes. Beliefs reflect what people think is true about

something—a person's subjective probability that an

object has one or more attributes. Values reflect the

things people hold dear to them. They are generally

regarded as important life goals or standards of behavior for a person, and toward which the person has

a strong, positive attitude; peoples' value systems

could be viewed as the building blocks of many attitudes and beliefs. Values, like attitudes and beliefs,

are dynamic but are more deep-rooted and resistant

to change. Part of a land manager's job lies in understanding attitudes, beliefs, and values, how they

change over time, and how they influence people's

perceptions of land management actions.

Support for endangered species laws and regulations remains strong among a public majority,

but the public is increasingly concerned with seeking a balance between species protection and costs

to society—a concern especially strong among

rural residents. Support for salmon recovery and

a willingness to accept resulting socioeconomic

effects seems to be stronger than that for endangered species in general, although most people

perceive that the major barriers to recovery are

dams and over-fishing rather than lack of suitable

habitat.

Disturbance events such as fire, insects, and

disease have negative connotations to many people. Many people understand that these occur naturally in ecosystems, but also see the results as

"a waste of good resources."

Many people say they have yet to hear a good

definition of ecosystem management, and how it

differs from the concept of multiple use. Many

who support ecosystem management doubt agency

ability or will to adequately implement it. Some

clearly believe that ecosystem management is an

excuse for the agencies to keep cutting timber under the guise of forest health. People who favor

passive approaches to management believe

Support for endangered species

laws and regulations remains

strong among a public majority,

but the public is increasingly

concerned with seeking a balance

between species protection and costs

to society—a concern especially

strong among rural residents.

37
that further human meddling

with ecosystems can only lead to

more unintended results. Others

are simply opposed to the idea of

ecosystem management for many

reasons, including effects on private lands, the cost of restoration

efforts, and perceived economic

effects on individuals, communities, and broader economies.

Survey research typically finds differences in

opinions between residents of small, rural towns

and residents of larger urban areas as well as the

national publics in general. National samples tend

to be stronger on environmental protection and

less sympathetic to local economic effects than are

local residents—perhaps because non-locals may

share more in the benefits than the costs. Residents of small towns in the Pacific Northwest are

less likely than urban residents to favor strengthening the Federal role in resource protection.

However, there are many issues for which the

opinions of these populations are similar, such as

favoring an increased role for the public in public

land management. Survey research suggests that

the public prefers to work with the Federal agencies and others having management authority,

rather than relying on legislation or court cases

to achieve mutually desirable conditions. People

often favor increasing the role of local or state

government.

The institution of land and property rights,

which plays a central role in ecosystem management, is a highly controversial social issue that

is increasingly being defined in the courts. One

aspect of this debate is the idea of "takings," based

on the Fifth Amendment statement that private

property shall not be taken for public use without

Survey research suggests that the public

prefers to work with the Federal agencies and

others having management authority, rather

than relying on legislation or court cases, to

achieve mutually desirable conditions.

just compensation. Advocates for private property

insist that government regulations, especially

those initiated for environmental protection, constitute taking because they reduce the opportunity

for property to be freely used at the discretion of

the individual. Another central issue is consolidation of private ownerships and the increased public reliance on Federal lands for access to valued

opportunities.

One important value that has implications

for ecosystem management is sense of place,

which refers to how people define ecosystems and

specific locations in the landscape based on their

meanings and images. Recreation visitors develop

attachments to places based on their past experiences—meanings that often pass from one generation to another. People who make their living

from public land resources and opportunities typically develop close relationships to places on the

land. Community residents and other social

groups tend to develop collective definitions of

places that are socially important, providing a

stronger sense of community.

The concept of place has not been widely or

uniformly used by Federal land management

agencies, yet the task of defining places has proven

to be a positive process, both involving community residents and spurring discussion about common visions for public land management.

One important value that has implications for ecosystem management is

sense of place, which refers to how people define ecosystems and specific

locations in the landscape based on their meanings and images.

38
Based on their experiences, people attach meaning to places in the landscape. Attachments can develop that last

through generations at places such as this hot springs near Sheep Creek in central Idaho.

39
Existing Benefits of FS- and

BLM-administered Lands

A fundamental tenet of land stewardship is

for managers to direct and maintain ecosystems

to fulfill the objectives of the owners. For the FS

and BLM, providing a broad array of ecosystem

goods, functions, and conditions is appropriate

because it is required by laws and regulations and

because demands from their constituencies are

extensive and diverse. The economic challenge of

ecosystem management for these agencies is threefold: to produce the bundle of ecosystem goods,

functions, and conditions that society wants (economic efficiency); with a distribution of benefits

according to societal wishes (equity); and without

adversely affecting economic activity.

Economic Efficiency

Under current management, FS- and BLMadministered lands in the Basin provide society

with a wide array of benefits. The current and

future importance of selected benefits that could

be measured and valued is shown in table 1. Of

the outputs and conditions evaluated, the existence of unroaded areas is a highly valued condition on FS- and BLM-administered lands in the

Basin today. Projections indicate that it will continue to be so in the year 2045, although to a lesser degree. The Basin contains 70 percent of the

unroaded areas of 200,000 acres or greater in the

United States (outside Alaska).

Projections indicate that by the year 2045 the

three most highly valued uses will be motor viewing, day use, and trail use. This suggests that the

objectives of land management activities might be

different in the year 2045 than they are today. For

the Basin as a whole, the relative importance of

wildlife viewing, motor and non-motor boating,

range, off-road vehicle (ORV) use, and snowmobiling provided by FS- and BLM-administered

lands are included in the category labeled "other"

(table 1).

Broad indicators suggest that forest acreage and

inventory at the Basin-wide level are being sustained. Given current levels of recreational activity

and harvest, publicly grown Christmas trees, firewood, mushrooms, and berries, as well as some

other Federal resources face potential overuse.

Because these valuable resources are available to

the public at little or no cost, there is little incenTable 1—Current and future benefits.

40
tive for users to conserve them. The

increases in human population predicted

for the Northwest suggest that demands

on ecosystems and public resources will

continue to increase. Establishing a fee

system for recreation and special products could protect ecosystem conditions

in recreational settings, maintain sustainable or

harvestable levels of species, and provide new

sources of revenue.

Equity

The benefits of FS- and BLM-administered

lands in the Basin are distributed widely. Consumers of beef or timber benefit because these

goods are traded in national markets. People who

enjoy knowing unroaded areas exist and who may

never visit the Basin also receive benefits. Millions

of people, mostly residents of the Basin and the

Northwest, recreate here; there is little difference

in participation rates among people with different

lifestyles.

About 220,000 jobs are associated with current

levels of range, recreation, and timber harvest on

FS- and BLM-administered lands. Range accounts

for 1 percent of these jobs, recreation 87 percent,

and timber 12 percent. In addition, jobs are associated with mining and the harvesting of special

forest and range products, but the exact number is

unknown.

Federal distributions to county governments

from revenue sharing are currently determined

from timber sales and grazing permits. Yet some of

these counties bear costs associated with recreThe increases in human population

predicted for the Northwest suggest that

demands on ecosystems and public

resources will continue to increase.

ation—infrastructure, road maintenance, and

emergency services, for example. If the value of

recreation on Federal lands was included in payments to counties, it could double or triple their

revenues.

Economic Activity

The Basin—Agriculture and agricultural

services remain economic strengths of the Basin.

The Basin has a large, diverse economy of 1.5 million jobs that is enjoying above average rates of

growth. Per capita income is growing faster than

the U.S. rate, and the poverty rate is generally

lower than the national average. The past decades

have seen rapid population growth, and the evolution of what was a mature, resource-based economy into a diverse economy oriented toward the

technology, transportation, and service sectors

(table 2).

The relative importance of various sectors

to the size of the Basin economy and its buying power include grazing (1 percent), mining

(0.5 percent), recreation (15 percent) and timber

(3 percent). The recreation counties have higher

per capita income than manufacturing counties,

indicating they are areas of higher economic wellbeing and fiscal capacity.

General economic growth in the

Basin is expected to continue, sustained

by in-migration in some areas. Growth is

expected in services, finance, insurance,

real estate, trade, and agricultural services.

Fastest growth is expected in the service

sector, which includes health, business,

educational, and legal services. The manufacturing, farming, and government sectors are expected to decline as a percent

of the economy over the next 50 years.

The past decades have seen rapid

population growth, and the evolution of

what was a mature, resource-based

economy into a diverse economy oriented

toward the technology, transportation,

and service sectors.

4 1
Table 2—The relative employment contributions by selected economic sectors comparing the Nation with the

Basin (percent of 1.5 million jobs in 1995):

Traditional regional economics views growth

as a function of expansion in basic manufacturing

industries. Contemporary challengers argue that

other industries should be considered to be part

of the economic base. The ICBEMP assessment

findings indicate that changes in management

strategies by the FS and BLM have little effect on

the economy of the Basin or its subregions using

either of these two approaches. However, the

effects of the agencies may be more pronounced

at specific local levels.

The nine regional economies in the Basin as

described by the Bureau of Economic Analysis

(BEA) are diverse, and thus resilient to changes in

FS and BLM commodity outputs. Overall, the

forest products industry has had a neutral effect

on recent economic growth. Analyses found no

relation between economic well-being at the

county level (expressed as per capita income)

and either the forest products processing facilities

or the presence of timberlands—whether Federal,

FS only, or private. Basin-wide, the cattle industry

accounts for 29 percent of agricultural sales, but

only 7 percent of the cattle industry is dependent

on BLM and FS forage. Recreation accounts for

14.6 percent of the jobs in the Basin. Mining

accounts for 0.5 percent, with an uncertain proportion attributable to FS and BLM resources.

Counties—The county is also a critical unit for

economic analysis. Counties grouped according to

a typology of income specialization or other characteristics exhibit different patterns of economic

behavior. Those dominated by the service sector

have consistently shown the highest rates of economic and population growth since 1970; they

have also exhibited high resiliency, rebounding

faster than other counties after the early 1980s recession. These include counties with trade-center

42
Rural community. This is a landscape dominated by a rural community in a plains (or valley) environment, sur- rounded by agriculture, range, and forest. Humans have typically settled in the most productive areas that have

available water and are close to the foothills and mountains. This often results in conflicts between humans and

the wildlands that surround their communities.

towns, and growing recreation and tourism economies. Counties dominated by recreation or retirees

have shown consistently high rates of growth in

population, total employment, and total personal

income over the last 20 years. Between 1979 and

1989, counties in which manufacturing income is

dominant showed the highest tendency to evolve

to a different kind of economy. Many of these did

so because of losses in the wood products or mining sectors.

Communities—The Bureau of Census recognizes 476 communities within the project area,

including 29 cities larger than 10,000 in population and 49 Census Designated Places—locations

that are unincorporated but have an identity to the

local population. Of the other 398 small rural

communities, 68 percent are communities of

1,500 or less (the smallest size class). These range

from 22 to 1,500 in size, with an average population of 520.

The status of communities within the Basin

is defined in terms of their capacity to adapt to

change. This ability, termed "community resiliency," is a function of economic structure, physical infrastructure, civic leadership, community

cohesiveness, and amenities. Information collected

about community conditions included employment profiles of nearly 400 communities in the

Basin with less than 10,000 people to develop

local indices of economic diversity. Figure 3

describes employment by sector for the Basin's

rural communities of 10,000 or less.

43
Communities

Community is an important scale for ecosystem

assessments because communities are where people

socialize, work, shop, and raise their children—the

focus of their social lives. In public meetings conducted by the Science Team and in scoping and other

meetings held by the EIS teams, people repeatedly

expressed concern that conditions and functions of

communities and related places used and valued by

residents be identified and considered alongside other ecosystem components. For the ICBEMP, many

types of information about Basin communities were

collected, particularly for those with populations less

than 10,000. An important source of primary data

was a series of Community Self-Assessment workshops—interviews with 1,350 community leaders and

residents held in nearly half (198) of the Basin's small

communities. In addition, a profile of the economic

structure of each community was developed, because

social and economic conditions in communities are

intertwined.

Self-assessment workshops were held in

nearly half of the Basin's small, rural

communities.

Figure 3—Employment profiles by size of community.

44
Shaniko, Oregon, not all that different from how it looks today. Some towns are resilient hy virtue of their small

size and social cohesiveness.

Agriculture dominates the smallest towns, but

more surprising is the relative diversity present

across communities of all sizes. Wood/paper products manufacturing, retail trade, state and local

government, and eating/drinking sectors all contribute substantially regardless of community size.

The role of some sectors, such as business and personal services, increases with community size. The

community workshops showed that people tend

to underestimate the diversity of their local economy and overestimate the importance of traditional

industries.

However, the economy is just one component

of overall resiliency. In general, more-resilient

communities tended to be larger, more autonomous, be rated by residents as having a local government responsive to the public, and have plans

for dealing with change—as well as having an

economy based on a mix of industries. The data

suggest that there is no one common formula for

achieving community resiliency; many strategies

have proven successful. Natural resource dependent communities that have been confronted with

significant challenges are among the most resilient

because they have successfully learned how to deal

with change.

Analysis of data gained through the community

self-assessment workshops suggest that it is useful

to think of three types or groups of communities

with respect to resiliency. The first group has the

highest scores on all five of the community characteristics that contribute to resiliency; these are

communities viewed by their leaders as attractive,

economically diverse, socially cohesive, and having

45
strong civic leadership. These communities also

tend to be larger in population and exhibit the

greatest economic diversity. This group tends to

contain a larger number of communities than the

other two groups. These communities presumably

have a number of different characteristics that will

allow them to meet new challenges successfully.

The second group of communities has comparably high scores on civic leadership and amenity

values, but much lower scores on social cohesion

and economic diversity. Towns in this group have

considerably less population than those in the first

group. The number of towns in this group is

slightly lower than the number in the first group.

This type of community may lack the economic

base to deal with change successfully, but this

could be compensated for by forward-thinking

civic leaders and the presence of amenities.

The third type of community tends to have

the lowest scores on all of the measures (although

scores on amenities were only slightly lower).

They are intermediate in population (though

closer in size to the smallest rather than the largest

towns). These communities may find it difficult

to cope with change because they have few current

strengths on which to build. From a Basin-wide

perspective, this group is by far the smallest, containing just a handful of communities.

The community is an important level of social

analysis, but within communities there are many

different sociocultural groupings that could be

affected differently by ecosystem management

programs and activities, such as occupational

groups that have identities strongly tied to natural resources. These are sometimes referred to as

"communities of interest." Changes in public land

conditions and outputs can have many significant

effects on the quality of people's lives, even if they

'live in a resilient community.

Characterizations of Specific

Resources

This section focuses on some of the economic

sectors most closely related to management of FS

and BLM lands, and begins with historical descriptions of those economic sectors initially most

important to settlement of the Basin.

Fish

When Euro-American settlers arrived during the early 1800s, salmon were abundant and

diverse. Spawning runs of chinook salmon made

their way up the mainstem Columbia to the Snake

River, and then up to the headwaters of the Owyhee and Bruneau Rivers and Salmon Falls Creek

as far as Nevada.

Estimates of historical run size for all species of

salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River range

from 10 to 16 million adult fish. Not only was

their course unimpeded by dams, but ample suitable habitat to support these populations existed.

Fur trappers and traders reported extensive stands

of willows and alders, and wide, wet meadows

along stream systems throughout the interior of

the Columbia River basin. The Ochoco Mountains take their name from an American Indian

word meaning "streams lined with willows."

Commercial harvest began in earnest when

the first cannery began operating on the Columbia River in 1866 and soon exceeded sustainable

levels. Commercial catches of chinook salmon in

the Columbia peaked in 1883 when about 43 million pounds of fish were landed. Coho, sockeye,

chum, and steelhead also were abundant in the

Basin. Catch of coho peaked at 6.8 million

pounds, and catch of sockeye and steelhead

peaked at 4.5 million pounds in 1895. By the late

1800s, overfishing was blamed for broad declines

in chinook salmon runs. By 1900, certain fishing

gear was banned to protect spawning runs, but the

effects from mining, timber harvest, livestock

grazing, and agriculture had begun.

46
Dams such as this one provide irrigation, while others generate hydropower. However, they are now part of a societal debate due to their impact on fish habitat and populations.

New Deal programs were critical in sustaining

and building infrastructure in the interior Columbia River basin. The river's mainstem dam construction began with the Bonneville Dam in 1938

and the Grand Coulee Dam in 1942. Later, however, the debate over dams came to symbolize new

types of emerging social values. After World War

II, as more citizens were affected by environmental changes, grassroots action and citizen demands

began to bring environmental values to the forefront. This set the course for conflict between

forces associated with large-scale management and

technology and those emphasizing protection of

environmental quality. This change was symbolized by debate over dams in Hell's Canyon, which

shifted from who should build them, and how

many, to the possibility, voiced by Supreme Court

Justice William O. Douglas, that maybe the river

had greater value in its free-flowing state.

The net result of these and a multitude of other

actions has been the virtual elimination of a valuable commercial fishery. It has also meant incalculable damages to American Indians for whom

salmon was a significant part of their economic,

cultural, and spiritual lives. The FS and BLM are

managing much of the last remnants of good

quality habitat for declining fish stocks. The burden on the FS and BLM to maintain habitats that

support strong fish populations will probably

increase with human population growth and

climatic influences on ocean habitat.

47
Map 6—Status of mines and deposits.

48
Minerals

Coal deposits had been reported as early as

1833 by an employee of the Hudson's Bay Company, and significant base metal and silver lodes

were discovered in eastern Washington during the

late 1800s and early 1900s. But it was the discovery of gold that drew many to the Basin. In 1862,

several placer deposits were announced, including

deposits on the John Day River near Canyon City,

Oregon; at Florence, Idaho, on the Snake River;

and at Pierce City and Orofino, Idaho, on the

Clearwater River. Strikes in the Boise basin and

other locations would soon follow. Thousands of

miners flowed to the region, leading to development of towns and the infrastructure that in turn

drew stock raisers and farmers. The General Mining Law of 1872, following the precedent of the

Mining Law of 1866, opened minerals on public

lands to all. Mining practices of the nineteenth

century also established the logic behind western

water law—first in time, first in right.

Mining practices of the nineteenth century

also established the logic behind western

water law—first in time, first in right.

Currently, the Basin produces 30 percent of

the nation's silver, 12 percent of the nation's phosphate, and 11 percent of the nation's gold. There

is a smaller percentage of mining employment in

the Basin than nationally (0.45 percent versus

0.66 percent), but mining is very important in

six of its counties.

Future mineral production will depend on

metal prices, laws, and regulations rather than on

changes in FS or BLM management practices.

The extent to which mining activity will affect

public lands is difficult to predict (Map 6). The

greatest probability for mineral development in

the long term is along three geologic trend-lines.

One is a northeasterly trend from southeastern

Oregon into central Montana in which the most

economically attractive targets include copper, cobalt, and large, low-grade deposits of gold and silver. In the western Northern Glaciated Mountain

and North Cascades areas, mining for gold and

silver will likely continue—first underground and

then in open pit mines. Considerable base-metal

resources lie in a northwesterly trend from southwestern Montana into northeastern Washington.

Large-scale open-pit mining and processing of

phosphate ore is likely to continue in the Snake

Headwaters and Upper Snake regions over the

long term.

Grazing

Historically, a wide variety of ungulates, including deer, elk, mountain sheep, antelope, and bison

occurred in eastern Washington and Oregon. Natural predators kept the numbers of ungulates in

balance. These animals had wide ranging mobility,

and their grazing and browsing were

linked with the vegetation cycles within

the Basin. Bunchgrass and other native

vegetation in Basin plant communities

are stimulated by disturbance from grazing, and plant abundance can be

enhanced.

The widespread presence of bunchgrass initially attracted itinerant herders

that could walk their stock to markets.

By the 1870s the goal of most ranchers was to

secure a base of operations with dependable water

supplies and the ability to cut and store sufficient

hay to feed livestock during the winter—a base

which has sustained many cattle operations to the

present day.

As Euro-American settlement began, not

only were many predators displaced, but sheep,

and then cattle, were introduced in numbers

large enough to result in overgrazing. By 1860,

200,000 cattle were settled in Oregon, along with

sheep and wild horses; the grazing practice of

the time was year-round open range. Anecdotal

reports and photographs showed summer ranges

49
Wild horses on the range in eastern Oregon.

50
so laden with sheep that they appear to be snow

drifts. Fescues and other bunchgrasses were irreversibly modified by extensive grazing in the late

1800s and early 1900s.

Overgrazing damaged stream and riparian

vegetation in many basins in eastern Oregon

and Washington. Overgrazing also facilitated the

spread of annual cheatgrass and reduced vegetation that had provided fuels for fires. When combined with later fire-suppression efforts, the result

was reduction of an important ecosystem disturbance. Another critical factor was climate, particularly drought, which affects how vegetation

responds.

Cattle have dominated livestock production

throughout the Basin at least since the first collection of agricultural data in the Census of 1870.

The number of cattle grew steadily throughout

the twentieth century to 4.1 million in 1969, a

level that has remained relatively constant. Horses

and sheep also played an important role in livestock operations in the Basin, although their

importance dropped significantly after the 1930s.

Currently, the BLM accounts for 45 percent

of the 2.9 million Federal animal-unit months

(AUMs) of forage in the Basin, with the FS providing the other 45 percent. The dependency of

the livestock industry on BLM and FS forage varies from 1 to 11 percent in the BEA regions, with

a Basin-wide average of 7 percent. Sales of cattle

dependent on BLM and FS forage average 2 percent of total agricultural sales across the Basin.

Analysis at the county level shows relatively few

counties (seven) that rely on FS or BLM lands

for 1/3 or more of their grazing acreage, while

67 counties had less than 10 percent reliance

on FS or BLM forage.

If current trends continue, forage use will

decrease on BLM lands by 18 percent, and on

FS lands by 19 percent, over the next two decades.

On average, holders of BLM or FS grazing permits run bigger operations that are more profitable than those of non-permittees. The largest

permit acreages and AUMs are skewed toward the

largest permit holders—held by a small number

of individuals, corporations, and partnerships.

51
Recreation

Environmentally-based amenities managed by

the Federal Government play many social and

economic roles in the Basin; they contribute to

the quality of life of Basin residents; attract new

migrants; and provide recreational settings for residents and non-residents. FS- and BLM-administered lands in the Basin provide over 200 million

recreation activity days per year, valued at $1.0

billion per year (in terms of willingness-to-pay).

At present, recreation on FS- and BLM-administered lands has a higher willingness-to-pay value

than the market value of timber or range outputs

across the Basin, except in the Klamath Basin area

where projected timber values will be surpassed

by projected recreation by the year 2005. Fishing

provides the greatest benefits of all activities ($300

million), followed by day use ($250 million),

downhill and cross-country skiing ($230 million),

hunting ($146 million), and camping ($75 million). By the year 2045, the most value to the increasing and older human population will be

provided by (in decreasing order) motor viewing,

day use, trail use, fishing, and hunting.

The FS and BLM manage over 90 percent of

the federally owned recreation acres in the Basin.

The Basin's abundant unroaded areas are an irreplaceable national resource; about 40 percent of

the Federal lands in the Basin provide primitive

or semi-primitive recreation opportunities.

Seventy-five percent of all activity days take

place in roaded natural settings (road densities

between 1.7 and 4.2 miles per square mile). Roads

and access to riparian areas are an aspect of recreation common to what will likely be the most

highly valued recreation activities for the next 50

years. If charged, recreation fees could be used to

finance road maintenance, and to offset other

potential decreases in road funds.

A tradeoff exists between access

for some types of recreation

and primitive/semi-primitive

recreational settings for others. In the lower 48 states,

70 percent of the unroaded

areas of 200,000 acres or

greater lie in the Basin; 56 percent of trail use in

the Basin takes place in the primitive/semi-primitive settings. An appropriate balance between

roaded natural and primitive/semi-primitive settings is a question that needs further study.

Purchases of food, equipment, lodging, transportation, licenses and other items associated with

recreation on public lands add up to significant

expenditures and support some 220,000 jobs in

the Basin.

Landscape appearance and scenery are also important environmentally-based amenities, not just as settings for recreation, but as components of the Basins

image both to residents and non-residents. The supply of scenery in the Basin is measured in terms of

landscape themes and degree of scenic integrity. The

five themes used to describe project area landscapes

are Naturally Evolving Forest and Shrub/Grasslands,

Natural Appearing Forest Lands, Natural Appearing

Shrub/Grasslands, Agricultural Lands, and Developed Areas. Just over 1/3 of the Basin currently is in

Naturally Appearing Forestlands, and just under 1/3

is in Naturally appearing shrub/grasslands; of the

remainder, the largest proportion is in agriculture

(figure 4).

Figure 4—Landscape themes present across the Basin.

The Basins abundant unroaded areas are an

irreplaceable national resource; about 40 percent of

the Federal lands in the Basin provide primitive or

semi-primitive recreation opportunities.

52
Middle Fork of the Salmon, central Idaho. River running is one of many activities for which management has attempted

to balance providing public opportunities with protecting the quality of the experience and the environment.

53
The Snake River in Hells Canyon National Recreation Area is a scenic landmark of regional and national

significance.

Scenic integrity is reflected by the "visual

intactness" or wholeness of the landscape. It

was represented by combining data on vegetative

structure, landform, and road density. Scenic

integrity is not the same concept as scenic beauty,

but research demonstrates that people often

equate the two when perceiving conditions on

public lands. Scenic integrity was described using

five categories ranging from low to very high. Less

than 1 percent of the acreage administered by the

FS or BLM was rated as very low in scenic integrity, 7 percent rated as moderately low, 17 percent

as moderate, 33 percent as high, and 42 percent

as very high; less than 1 percent was not

classified (figure 5).

54

Figure 5—Scenic integrity present across the Basin.
Special Forest and Range Products

Little is known about the special forest and

range products industry in the Basin because data

on jobs and harvest are not regularly gathered.

Relative to west of the Cascade mountains, the

industry in the Basin is small but growing and

focused around wild edible mushrooms and huckleberries. Rapid expansion in the special forest and

range products industry in the Basin is expected

to continue. Under the present permitting system

and without a fee system, some of these species

may be over-harvested.

Timber

By 1900, forests in the upper Midwest were

nearly exhausted, and the northern interior Columbia basin became the focus of a new scramble

for wood supplies. The rapid increase in harvest

was reflected in Idaho, where 65 million board

feet of lumber were cut in 1899. By 1910, Idaho

produced 745 million board feet and its markets

had shifted from local to national. Idaho employment of loggers, rafters, or sawmill workers

Rivers were commonly used to float logs closer to the mill.

increased from just over 300 in 1880, to more

than 8,000 in 1920, and to 14,900 in 1995.

Early harvesting concentrated on the largest

trees of the more important commercial species

(ponderosa pine and western larch) because smaller stems could not be processed efficiently. Eastern

markets in particular demonstrated a preference

for ponderosa and Idaho white pine, leading to

select cutting where other species in mixed forests

were left standing.

Growth of the timber industry continued in

subsequent decades, driven by demand for wood

products in growing urban centers, especially in

the Midwest and California. Development of the

skidder, caterpillar tractor, log truck, and chain

saw increased the efficiency of the industry, lowered costs, and increased production dramatically.

The timber industry, like other industries, took

many people on a roller coaster of fortune and

misfortune.

From 1945 to 1970, timber harvest on Federal

lands in the Basin increased about 5 percent per

year, or 50 percent faster than the growth of the

national economy. This increase was important

to the expansion of softwood and plywood production in the western

United States, supporting

many western communities. Nationwide, harvest

volume from FS lands

increased from 4 billion

board feet in 1950 to 11.4

billion board feet in 1970;

90 percent of this came

from western National

Forests, and 41 percent

from Washington and

Oregon.

Currently, softwood

timber harvest in the

United States is projected

to increase by 35 percent

(0.6 percent per year), to

14.6 billion cubic feet

by the year 2040. Since

1990, Federal harvests

55

CONTINUED
Timber harvest in the Basin currently

accounts for 10 percent of total United

States harvest, down from 17 percent

since 1986 and expected to decline to

5 percent by the end of the decade.

have declined in the West; other regions, including Canada, have increased their shares of the

U.S. market. In the Basin, 38 percent of the timberland is privately owned, and another 53 percent is administered by the FS or BLM. The

national forests contain 89 million acres of commercial forestland and the BLM oversees management of about 6 million acres. Timber harvest

in the Basin currently accounts for 10 percent of

total United States harvest, down from 17 percent

since 1986 and expected to decline to 5 percent

by the end of the decade. Public harvest is currently 46 percent of total harvest in the Basin.

In recent years, the number of timber jobs in

Idaho and Montana has slightly declined due primarily to technological improvements. Between

1985 and 1995, the number of

timber industry jobs declined from

8,400 to 7,300 in Montana, but

increased from 13,600 to 14,900

in Idaho. No such trend exists for

eastern Oregon and Washington.

Based on current harvest projections, modest employment

declines are projected to continue

due to related declines in timber

harvest. More than 80 percent of

the timber harvest in the Basin

occurs in four economic areas—

Spokane, Washington; Missoula,

Montana; and Redmond-Bend

and Pendleton, Oregon; this

includes both private and

public timber.

Much discussion in past years

has focused on communities having high rates of employment in

the timber industry. Maintenance of stability in timber-dependent communities

is often thought to be the responsibility

of the FS despite their having no specific

legal mandate to do so. No facts document a link between sustained timber

flow and community stability.

In 1987, the FS identified 66 Basin

communities as timber-dependent. Today, 29 exhibit characteristics indicating

their sensitivity to Federal timber sales. These are

isolated communities separate from fast-growing

populations and economies in the Basin. Communities in the Clearwater Valley of Idaho are an example of towns in such regions. Federal policies

toward such communities are more accurately

viewed as political, not economic, reflecting political preferences about equity or distribution of

wealth. Given that human populations in the Basin are expected to double over the next 50 years,

the notion that any community may maintain stability is questionable. The more appropriate question is, "What attributes of communities and their

economies contribute to quality of life and best

accommodate change?"

High wheel logging near Bend, Oregon circa 1922.

56

This file was created by scanning the printed publication. 

Text errors identified by the software have been corrected; 

however, some errors may remain. 
Implications for Ecosystem

Management

Peoples' uses and perceptions of Basin resources

have changed dramatically in a relatively short

time period. Initially viewed by Euro-American

settlers as unpriced, seemingly limitless supplies to

be disposed of efficiently, many natural resources

are now increasingly scarce and subject to highly

competing uses. Federal laws and policies regarding resource use reflect the changes in both the

supply of resources and public perceptions of their

values. The industries that led to settlement and

infrastructure development of the Basin—mining,

timber, ranching, and transportation—still play

critical roles in the social and economic functioning of Basin ecosystems, but those roles have

changed with time and new industries have

grown tremendously.

The rapid growth in the Basin's population

presents major challenges to the Bureau of Land

Management and Forest Service. Recent and projected population growth is most dramatic in metropolitan areas and locations with high levels of

environmental amenities. In these areas, the

growth and consequent development threaten

the qualities that make such places attractive for

recreation, retirement and new businesses. At the

urban-wildland interface, where such growth is

most dramatic and development most visible,

habitat fragmentation and fire protection are

critical issues.

The relationships between public land management and the resiliency of small, rural Basin

communities continues to be a critical issue. The

current pace and nature of changes in the Basin

suggest that the manner in which the Forest Service and BLM interact with communities be carefully reviewed. Old patterns of behaviors that

characterized land management priorities may

People are seeking to define a

variety of roles in decisionmaking and methods of

making sure their concerns are

heard and treated fairly.

no longer serve the interests of many community

residents. Policies to promote community stability

may be inappropriate under conditions where

there is little stability to be found in the social system. Economic analyses may be important to conduct not just at the regional scale but at a county

and community scale as well. Each level of analysis has its own most appropriate uses, but a different story is told at each scale—each a crucial part

of the ecosystem at that scale.

For example, at the Basin-wide or BEA region

scale, economies are diverse and growing, but that

growth is not shared equally among all communities in the larger regions, nor among all natural

resource industries and the people within them.

At larger scales, actions taken by the Forest Service

or BLM have little effect on regional economies,

but this is not the case at the community scale.

Multiple factors play into the economic status of

individual communities—including many that are

not determined by the agencies, or even by community residents themselves. This has led in many

cases to perceptions that a community's future is

outside its control, but a growing number of Basin

towns or groups of towns are dealing with this by

developing strategic plans and visioning processes

to become more economically diverse and socially

cohesive.

The industries that led to settlement and infrastructure development of the

Basin—mining, timber, ranching, and transportation—still play critical

roles in the social and economic functioning of Basin ecosystems, but those

roles have changed with time and new industries have grown tremendously.

57
The future of small, rural communities, both in the Basin and elsewhere, depends on a combination of factors, some within and some outside of the control of local residents.

Environmentally-based amenities managed

by the Federal Government play many social and

economic roles in the Basin. Despite the importance of amenities such as recreation opportunities

and scenery, systems to map and inventory these

values and requisite funding are not well integrated into current agency planning systems at ecoregion scales.

The public is assuming a more active role in

public land management, whether or not the

opportunity is provided by the Federal Government. People are seeking to define a variety of

roles in decision-making and methods of making sure their concerns

are heard and treated fairly. Natural

resource agencies frequently find

themselves in situations where goals

of resource management are contended, with a variety of potential futures

described by conflicting groups.

The emerging issues represent differing values

regarding what benefits society should receive

from public lands. At the same time, people are

looking to science to provide many of the answers

and seem willing to trust credible analyses of existing conditions and potential cures. People show a

willingness to trust the results of scientific study

of ecosystems, but they have varying levels of trust

in scientists employed by different institutions.

There is recognition that science can provide

There is recognition that science can provide

many types of data and analyses, but people

and the institutions we have created make

decisions about how to use those findings.

58
Field trips are a particularly effective technique for establishing dialogue to gain a common understanding of

ecosystem issues.

many types of data and analyses, but people and

the institutions we have created make decisions

about how to use those findings. Ecosystem management's explicit attempt to blend science and

values is both its strength and one of its greatest

challenges.

In addition, there is often little agreement

about cause-effect relationships; forest health is

an example of a debate among scientists about the

causes and effects of forest decline. In these situations, collaborative learning processes may be

more suitable as a planning paradigm than other

techniques. Public participation procedures for

ecosystem management could focus on learning,

recurrent interaction among participants, and

increased opportunities for working through complex problems to identify possible solutions. Perhaps one of ecosystem management's functions

will be to clarify the role of the public in public

land management.

Finally, ecosystem management may require

review of the adequacy of existing institutions to

support successful implementation. Institutions

such as laws and procedures for conducting and

evaluating public participation programs, coordinating across jurisdictions, and even conducting

internal agency procedures may need to be re-examined. This societal examination of institutions,

and how it is conducted, is expected to be a key

factor in determining the success of ecosystem

management.

5 9
Kootenai Falls in northwestern Montana is of utmost significance to the Kutenai Indians, who believe that the

Creator and his divinities reside there. The Falls area has been a vision questing site for generations.

60
AMERICAN INDIAN

PEOPLES

This section focuses on American Indians

in the Basin, their relationships with the

natural environment, and trends regarding

agency relations with the project's affected American Indian tribes. These topics have particular

significance for Federal land managers for two reasons: (1) Forest Service and BLM management

actions affect resources and areas of concern to

American Indians; and (2) the Federal Government holds certain trust responsibilities and

obligations to tribes based on various legal agreements, including treaties, which have implications

for ecosystem management. There is a great deal

of overlap between issues expressed by American

Indians and those voiced by the general public

regarding ecosystem management. However, the

legal status of American Indians, the sovereignty

of tribal governments, and the nature of reserved

tribal rights merits separate attention. There are

22 federally recognized tribes and a number of

off-reservation traditional Indian communities

that have interest in lands within the ICBEMP

assessment area.

The intense interest of Indian peoples and their

tribal governments in the region's

ecosystems and natural resources

is founded in their long-term relationship with and spiritual attachment to the land. Although

various Indian societies in the region differ in many ways, they

hold a common belief about their

relationship with the land and

water. All groups in the area stress the placement

of their peoples in this landscape by the Creator.

Thus, the Indian ancestry in the Basin extends

from "time immemorial," a long-term attachment

that is reflected in modern Indian culture.

The Indian peoples of the northern intermontane regions are part of a large, loose social web

strengthened by their shared experience of the

Columbia River basin and associated ecosystems.

The traditional subsistence economy is broadbased. It includes fishing, fowling, hunting, trapping, livestock grazing, and gathering of terrestrial

and aquatic resources, over very large geographic

areas encompassing a diverse range of important

places. The full range of resources needed to sustain families and Indian cultures was found in

their socially and culturally important traditionaluse areas. Living cultural traditions are embedded

in these older understandings of the land, resources, landforms, habitats, and landscapes. Consequently, Indian peoples have accrued a "detailed,

encyclopedic knowledge of their environment"

through the millennia.

The intense interest of Indian peoples and

their tribal governments in the regions

ecosystems and natural resources is founded in

their long-term relationship with and spiritual

attachment to the land.

61
The lower Klickitat River gorge near its confluence with the Columbia is one of the sites still used by American

Indians for dip net fishing from traditional wooden platforms.

The intimacy with and length of attachment

to the land and the totality of landscape importance has contributed to a strong sense of place for

Indian peoples. Places of significance are created

by an intersection of nature, cultural uses, social

systems and cultural meanings. Knowledge of

places is passed to each succeeding generation

through oral traditions, performance of rituals,

and personal experiences.

Resource acquisition activities such as fishing, hunting, and plant and mineral gathering

are usually done within the context of traditional

sociocultural and economic systems. For many

Basin tribes, a series of spring and summer root,

salmon, and berry feasts mark high points in

Indian religious calendars. In addition to these

substantial feasts, numerous other occasions occur

throughout the year (often held in community

longhouses, shorthouses, Indian Shaker churches,

or private homes) and are supplied with traditional foods. These native foods are collected usually

from a tribe's or traditional community's homeland and its socially and/or traditionally significant ecological places—typically places on

reservation or public lands.

The importance of native plants has received

relatively little recognition compared to other

native resources, although use of plant resources

as food in historical times was at least equal to,

if not greater, than fisheries. In fact, food-plant

resource locations, not fishery habitats, have been

considered the critical variable for determining the

placement of historic settlements in the Nez Perce

region. Plants continue to be valued and their

62
parts used for purification, ceremonial, subsistence, commercial, and medicinal purposes and

for creating objects of personal use, trade, giftgiving or sale.

Some of the plants identified by the ICBEMP

as of tribal interest are characterized as habitat

generalists and associated with terrestrial community types found widely distributed in the Basin.

However, plants are considered significant in a

given culture on the basis of how people recognize

a plant and assign it values and/or uses. A plant

like camas may be known to live in several habitat

types, but only found in few places in the quality

and quantity appropriate for harvest practices. A

plant may occur in abundance in one tribe's area

of interest and though known as a highly valued

plant by another tribe, both cultures may not value it in the same way or to the same degree.

The aquatic/terrestrial world has cultural

significance to tribes beyond its value as a source

of food, medicine, textiles and other material

resources. Its cultural significance is much more

complex, involving social values and meanings

that intertwine traditional societal, political,

religious, and economic areas of modern

native cultures.

Camas is an important plant for many

American Indian groups.

Legal Context

The relationship of the United States government with American Indian tribes is based

on legal agreements between sovereign nations,

Federal recognition of their dependent sovereignty

status, principles of jurisprudence, international

law, and prevailing views of society and government policies toward American Indians. The

body of this formal relationship involves the

whole span our country's history and its ties

with European culture and conventions in law.

A series of Indian trade and intercourse acts,

initiated in 1790 and permanently adopted in

1834, became the cornerstone of Federal Indian

policy. The Marshall Trilogy (three Supreme

Court decisions made between 1823 and 1831)

is another significant early contribution to Indian

law. It established: (1) only the Federal Government has the pre-emptive right to procure Indian

land; (2) the Federal Government has trust

responsibilities toward American Indian tribes;

and (3) treaties take precedence over state laws.

In 1855, some Indian nations within the Basin

entered into treaties with Isaac Stevens, Governor

and Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Territory of Washington. These

ratified treaties provided for

apportionment of land and

natural resources and still

serve that purpose today.

Tribes affected by these treaties include the Confederated

Tribes of both the Colville and

Umatilla reservations; Confederated Tribes and Bands of the

Yakama Nation; Nez Perce

Tribe; Kootenai Tribe of

Idaho; and the Salish and

Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead reservation. The Blackfeet Tribe, located adjacent

to the Basin and potentially

affected by the project, also

made treaties with Governor

Stevens in 1855. These treaties

63
After the Modoc Indian War this traveling group was organized to awaken the nation to the plight of the

Indian, circa 1875.

contain similar language that reserves for tribes

certain pre-existing rights. One such example is

from the treaty with the Nez Perce:

The exclusive right of taking fish in all the

streams running through or bordering said reservation is further secured to said Indians; as also

the right of taking fish at all usual and accustomed places, in common with citizens of the Territory, and of erecting temporary buildings for

curing; together with the privilege of hunting,

gathering roots and berries, and pasturing their

horses and cattle upon open and unclaimed land.

Significant to public land management is that

treaty reserved rights and retained aboriginal use

rights directly involve BLM- and FS-administered

lands. Tribes and traditional Indian communities

have areas of interest that are based on prehistoric

and historic land use patterns. These not only extend

beyond reservation boundaries, but often beyond

lands that tribes ceded to the United States because

ceded lands were typically delineated by non-Indians

and were not accurate representations of tribal homeland areas, and customary land uses routinely

extended beyond Indian homelands.

The rights retained by tribes are viewed by

them as an assurance by the U.S. Government to

64
Through legal agreements,

tribes received promises of

Federal protection for their

lands, resources, and people.

allow for the continuation of traditional land uses.

Thus what is reserved are the supports of a way of

life for Indian communities, not just resource

uses. Through legal agreements, tribes received

promises of Federal protection for their lands,

resources, and people. These are viewed as promises that constitute Federal Government fiduciary

responsibilities, also called trust responsibilities/

obligations. The benefits that were gained by the

United States, establishing legal rights to Indian

lands and providing U.S. citizens with a basis for

economic, political, and social development in the

Northwest, were considerable.

In 1974, the U.S. Washington District Court

reaffirmed off-reservation fishing rights and their

priority over other uses. Upheld by the Supreme

Court in 1979, tribes were allowed up to a 50

percent share of harvestable fish passing by accustomed traditional fishing places. It also recognized the sovereign right of tribes to regulate their

off-reservation treaty rights; states regulate tribal

use for conservation purposes only. An important

aspect of this decision is the surmised right of

tribes to take part in the protection of fish habitats, helping to ensure that the resource persists

and in quantities available for fishing.

A number of Federal regulatory acts passed in

recent decades have increased the roles

of tribes in public land management

decision-making processes. That portion of case law pertaining to off-reservation tribal interests and Federal

agency land management is reflected

in recent Federal administrative

policy and guidance.

Implications for Ecosystem

Management

Tribal governments have an increasing influence on the formulation of public land policy

through agency recognition of their legally established rights as well as their unique trust relationship with the United States Government. In

recent years, there has been an increased understanding about the sovereign status of tribes and

government-to-government relations between

tribes and agencies have been established. Because

of this status, American Indians do not view

themselves as another "special interest" that needs

to be factored in (or traded off) with other interests when Federal agencies develop a land management plan. This has developed into increased

tribal participation in all agency planning levels.

Increased opportunities to contribute to implementation and monitoring stages of projects are

also seen as important.

Recognition of the uniqueness of each tribe has

placed the burden on agencies to become knowledgeable and sensitive to Indian interests on an

individual tribal basis. Variation among tribes is

notable in their demographic characteristics, the

nature of their reserved rights, and their interest

in and dependence on public land resources. An

ongoing dialogue would benefit agency-tribal relations if established "locally" over and beyond the

notification and consultation requirements associated with regulatory acts.

With passage of the Self-Governance Act late

in 1994, increased emphasis is being placed on

involving tribes in the Federal management processes, including development and implementation of land use plans, preparation of budget

Recognition of the uniqueness of each tribe

has placed the burden on agencies to become

knowledgeable and sensitive to Indian

interests on an individual tribal basis.

65
Meaningful dialogue through an effective

consultation process is an important issue

among tribes. Consultation is not a single

event, but a process that leads to a decision.

proposals, and carrying out other activities on

public lands on behalf of the agencies. Tribes

also now have the option to consider incorporating programs or functions (otherwise under Federal agencies) into their tribal responsibilities if

they are interested and can provide justification.

Indian tribes are a valuable source of expertise on

local resources, having built staffs with academic

credentials blended with knowledge passed down

through generations. This expertise can be applied

to public land planning, implementation, and

monitoring.

Meaningful dialogue through an effective

consultation process is an important issue among

tribes. Consultation is not a single event, but a

66

process that leads to a decision.

Consultation serves at least four

purposes: (1) to identify and clarify

the issues; (2) to provide for an

exchange of existing information

and identify where information is

needed; (3) to identify and serve

as a process for conflict resolution; and (4) to provide an opportunity to discuss and explain the

decision.

Consultation means different things to

different tribes. It can be a formal process of

negotiation, cooperation, and policy-level decision-making between tribal governments and the

Federal Government, or a more informal process.

Consultation can be viewed as an ongoing relationship between an agency (or agencies) and

a tribe(s) characterized by consensus-seeking

approaches to reach mutual understanding and

resolve issues. Developing a consistent approach

to consultation that meets tribal needs is one of

the challenges of ecosystem management.
BIOPHYSICAL SETTING

AND LANDSCAPE

DYNAMICS

The Basin's biophysical environment is

composed of its geologic, geoclimatic,

climatic, potential vegetation, soil, and

hydrologic systems. These are important to ecological assessment of the Basin because they help

describe terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems that

behave in a similar manner, have similar potentials

for production, and exhibit similar hazards and

management limitations. Areas with common

characteristics respond to disturbance processes

and management activities in a similar manner.

Biophysical characteristics such as climate,

potential vegetation, and geology do not change

readily over time. Therefore, they provide a useful

basis for comparing elements that do change over

time (for example, vegetation) in response to disturbance or management activities.

Elevation and topography within the Basin

vary considerably, from just above sea level to

over 13,000 feet, and from flat plains to steep

mountain ranges (see map 1). Much of the

present landscape of the Basin was shaped by processes and events during the Pleistocene epoch

(1.6 million years to 10,000 years ago). This was

a time of multiple cycles of major climate variation, ranging from ice ages to warm interglacial

periods. The climax of the last cold period was

20,000-14,000 years ago, when average summer

temperatures in the Pacific Northwest were 9 to

12 ° F cooler and winter temperatures were about

18 to 27 °F lower than today. During these cooler

and moister times, large ice sheets formed in the

Northern Hemisphere that covered most of Canada and the northern United States.

Alpine glaciers shaped valleys along much of

the northern part of the Basin. Many of these glaciated landscapes are now covered with a mantle

of glacial till. Downstream from glaciers (and in

the wake of retreating glaciers), thick sedimentary

layers of silt, sand, and gravel outwash were left as

valley fill and terraces that now contain the glaciated headwaters of many rivers. Valley bottoms

inundated by glacier-dammed lakes currently have

thick mantles of silt and sand lake deposits.

Potential Vegetation

This is the vegetation that would likely develop

on a given site if all successional sequences

were completed without human interference

under present site conditions. Potential vegetation types (PVTs) are the species that might

grow on a given site in the absence of disturbance. Potential vegetation groups (PVGs) are

made up of potential vegetation types, grouped

on the basis of similar moisture or temperature

environment, such as warm/dry or cold/wet forests, or cool/dry and warm/moist shrublands.

For example, lodgepole pine is associated with

dry forests, mountain hemlock with cold forests,

fescue with dry grasslands, and mountain big

sage with cool shrublands.

67
During the Pleistocene ice ages,

silt and fine sand outwash from

alpine and continental glaciers and

glacial floods were redeposited by

wind as thick blankets of loess. These

loess deposits, which locally dominate

many landscapes of the Basin, form

highly productive soils. The rolling

hills of the Palouse in eastern Washington are composed entirely of loess, which has

been deposited over the last two million years and

is locally over 250 feet deep. Similar deposits of

loess cover much of the Columbia Plateau and

Snake River plain.

The wetter climate of the last ice age led to the

formation and expansion of large freshwater lakes

in closed basins throughout the western United

States. The presence of these lakes resulted in

deposition of silt and clay on inundated valley

floors. These lake systems rapidly evaporated at

the end of the Pleistocene, and by 10,000 years

ago, most lakes approximated their present size.

The reduction in size of these lakes substantially

altered the patterns of hydrologic connectivity

between now-separated basins, strongly affecting

the distribution of many aquatic species within

the Basin.

Portions of the Basin that receive less than

12 inches of precipitation annually are

more susceptible to the effects of drought or

human land use activities; vegetation takes

longer to recover.

The Basin's climate influences Basin resources

and their uses. Proceeding from west to east, the

climatic gradients generally have more moisture.

Proceeding from north to south, the climate generally becomes dryer, and glaciation had less effect

on landforms and soils. Weather observations

and the general retreating of glaciers since the late

1800s indicate a general warming trend. Map 7

displays average annual precipitation for the

Basin. Along with other characteristics, climate

determines the type of vegetation that can grow in

a given area, as well as how vegetation and other

ecosystem components respond to disturbance

(map 8). For example, portions of the Basin that

receive less than 12 inches of precipitation annually are more susceptible to the effects of drought or

human land use activities; vegetation takes longer

to recover.

Woody debris along the John Day River in central Oregon.

68
Map 7—Precipitation

.

69
Map 8—Current potential vegetation groups.

70
View of Mount Rainier from the Cascade Crest, the

western most extent of the Basin.

Regional Variation

Northeastern Washington, northern Idaho,

and northwestern Montana are mountainous,

with elevations that range from approximately

1,200 to 9,500 feet. This area has a maritimedominated climate except in the east where a continental climate has greater influence. The average

annual precipitation varies from about 15 to 25

inches, most falling in winter. The warm/dry,

cool/moist, and cool/dry forest potential vegetation groups (PVGs) are currently dominated by

cedar/hemlock, ponderosa pine, western white

pine, and Douglas-fir forest cover types. Soil productivity is generally good because of the volcanic

ash soils and the presence of favorable temperatures and precipitation (maritime climate and

low-to-moderate elevations). The dominant valley

bottom settings include both steep, confined valleys with step-pool and rapids-dominated streams,

and broad, gently sloping valleys with meandering

streams in well developed floodplains at lower

elevations.

Central Idaho, west-central and southwestern

Montana, and northeastern Oregon range from

approximately 1,000 to 12,000 feet; most of the

Palouse River of eastern Washington. The river breaks and scablands of eastern Washington have not been extensively developed for agriculture because of thin or rocky soils. This picture provides us with an idea of what the

landscapes of the Columbia Plateau looked like prior to development for agriculture.

7 1
Rangelands of southeastern

Washington and eastern Oregon.

Because of thin soils much of

this rangeland has not been

developed for agriculture and in

eastern Oregon much of the

range is in public ownership.

Remnant native grassland in

eastern Washington. Most of

the very diverse, productive

native grasslands with deep soils

have been developed for

agriculture.

72
Walla Walla and the Blue Moun- tains. Transition from the plains

of the Columbia Plateau to the

Rocky Mountains.

Rocky Mountains of western

Montana and Wyoming.

73
higher elevations have been glaciated. The

landscape includes mountains with narrow valleys,

basins, alpine meadows, and breaklands. Maritime climate, westerly winds, and mountainous

terrain yield less than 20 inches of precipitation

at the lowest elevations to over 30 inches in

mountainous areas. The warm/dry, cool/moist,

cold/wet, cold/moist, and cool/dry PVGs are currently dominated by Douglas-fir, ponderosa pine,

and grand fir forest cover types and by sagebrush

and fescue/wheatgrass grassland cover types. Soils

are only moderately productive because of shallow

depths associated with cold temperatures and low

precipitation in many areas. The most productive

soils occur in valleys and basins where they are

often deep and have high volcanic ash content.

Heavy fuel accumulations and dense stand conditions in some areas place long- and short-term

soil productivity potential at risk from wildfire.

The dominant valley bottom settings include both

steep, confined valleys with step-pool and rapidsdominated streams, and broad, gently sloping valleys with meandering streams in well developed

floodplains at lower elevations.

The plains, tablelands, and plateaus in central

Washington, southcentral and southeastern Oregon, and southern Idaho range from approximately 200 to 8,000 feet. This area has a semi-arid,

cool climate, with average annual precipitation

varying from about 5 to 25 inches. The warm/

dry, cool/dry, and cool/moist shrubland and

warm/dry herbland PVGs are currently dominated by sagebrush steppe and grassland cover types.

Low productivity soils are common because of

the sparse precipitation and low soil organic matter throughout much of the area. The dominant

valley bottom settings consist mainly of steep,

confined valleys with step-pool and rapids-dominated streams, and broad, gently sloping valleys

with meandering streams in well developed floodplains at lower elevations. Entrenched, gully-like

streams and braided streams also occur.

The eastern slopes of the Cascades in Oregon

and Washington, along with the upper Klamath

portion of the Modoc Plateau in southern Oregon, average about 10 to 40 inches of precipitation annually, falling primarily during winter.

Elevations range from approximately 300 to 9,500

feet. The warm/dry, cool/moist, cold/moist, hot/

moist, cool/very dry, and cool/dry forest PVGs are

currently dominated by a mixed coniferous forest

cover type consisting mainly of Douglas-fir and

ponderosa pine. These forests have moderate to

high productivity, but large portions of this area

accumulate substantial amounts of fuels and have

high probabilities of stand replacement wildfires.

Stands in this condition are at high risk to losses

of organic matter, coarse woody debris, and nitrogen. The dominant valley bottom settings consist

mainly of steep, confined valleys with step-pool

and rapids-dominated streams, and broad, gently

sloping valleys with narrow, sinuous meandering

streams in well developed floodplains at lower

elevations. Wetlands and lakes also are common

features.

Southeastern Idaho and western Wyoming have

been shaped by overthrust faulting and glaciation,

creating steep, rugged mountains with narrow to

broad valleys having general north-south orientation.

Most of this area occurs within 6,500 to 9,000 feet

elevation with some of the highest peaks exceeding

13,000 feet. The climate is a semi-arid steppe with

most of the 15 to 40 inches of annual precipitation

occurring in the fall and winter as snow. The warm/

dry, cool/dry, hot/very dry, and cool/dry forest PVGs

and the warm/dry, cool/dry, and warm/moist shrubland PVGs are occupied by mixed, coniferous forest

and sagebrush/grassland steppe. Douglas-fir, lodgepole pine, and aspen often occupy the northern

aspects, while grasses and shrubs are found on southern aspects. Soils are generally moderately productive. The greatest productivity limitations are cool

temperatures and short growing seasons due to the

high elevations. Although less extensive, similar conditions of fuel accumulation and dense stand conditions occur as in the eastern Cascades. The dominant

valley bottom settings include both steep, confined

valleys with step-pool and rapids-dominated streams,

and broad, gently sloping valleys with meandering

streams in well developed floodplains at lower elevations. Braided streams also occur, but are far less

common.

74
Landscape Dynamics

The landscape components of ecosystems are

by no means static; sometimes changes occur

quickly, such as from floods, fires, windstorms, or

volcanic eruptions. Other times, the changes are

slower and more subtle. Certain types of landscapes are prone to natural disturbances.

Biophysical environments and associated disturbance dynamics are very complex because of

the diversity of topography and geology as well as

the change in climatic gradients across the Basin.

A disturbance is an event that changes the trend

of ecosystem development; a disturbance such as

a flood plays many roles in ecosystem functioning,

including flushing debris and accumulated fine

sediment, or delivering material for soil development to the floodplain. When disturbance events

are detrimental to humans, we attempt to control

them or minimize their effects—often disrupting

the normal functions of the disturbance.

Historical Range of Variability

Historical range of variability (HRV) is a term used by

ecologists to describe the natural fluctuation of ecosystems over time. In this project, HRV refers to the

range of conditions and processes likely to have occurred prior to settlement of the Basin by Euro-Americans (about the mid-1800s). HRV serves as a

reference point from which change can be measured,

rather than a condition that ecosystem management

tries to attain. In fact, science findings suggest that

such a condition could not be achieved. This misunderstanding about HRV is common, as is the tendency to equate HRV with "natural" conditions. As

discussed above, American Indians altered the landscape in many ways, though nowhere near the scale

of change as populations increased, land uses evolved,

and technology for altering the environment was developed.

Many human activities, such as construction of

roads, dams and related facilities, introduction of

exotic flora and fauna, conversion of land to agriculture or other uses, and exclusion of fire, can

change the disturbance regimes and successional

pathways of ecosystems. In many cases, human

activities interact with natural disturbances to

produce an entirely new effect.

Humans have had profound

effects on Basin landscapes.

Humans have had profound effects on Basin

landscapes. When humans change biophysical

conditions by altering the topography, soil or parent material, introducing exotic species, or accelerating species or genetic extinctions, biophysical

systems are subsequently changed, thus promoting

changes in disturbance and succession regimes.

Timber harvesting and livestock grazing, the

introduction of exotic species and white pine blister rust, and the exclusion of fire have resulted in

substantial changes in succession/disturbance regimes and associated vegetation composition, structure, and pattern. These regime changes are typified by more frequent disturbance with higher

cumulative effects over time than those associated

with historic regimes. There has been substantial

simplification of the Basin's landscape composition, structure, and pattern; ecosystem responses

to disturbances are now less predictable.

Landscape Patterns—Examination of current

landscape patterns reveals that only 3 percent of

Basin lands still have a pattern similar to historical

patterns. Approximately 16 percent of the Basin

has a reserve-type pattern. These areas include

lands where passive management (such as that

which takes place in designated Wilderness) has

dominated and where few fires were allowed to

burn except in the largest wild areas. These areas

now experience disturbances that are less frequent

but more severe, and have greater cumulative effects

75
A pattern of vegetation that is associated with traditional timber management. These disturbances, and the traditional placement of the road system, result in relatively severe effects on small patches each year that over many

years accumulate into effects that are often negative to the soils, aquatic systems, and native species of wildlife and

plants. Ecosystem management would attempt to mimic more natural patterns and effects.

than under the historical pattern. Sixty-four percent of the Basin has a commodity-induced pattern. In forested landscapes, this includes areas of

timber management emphasis and fire exclusion,

resulting in more frequent disturbance and greater

effects than those of historical patterns. Seventeen

percent of the Basin has other types of patterns

(water, rock, urban, agriculture and other land

uses). On BLM and FS lands, 5 percent of the

area is in a pattern similar to the historical pattern, 29 percent is in a pattern similar to reserves,

and 66 percent is in a pattern similar to commodity management.

On forested lands, managers of BLM/FS-administered lands commonly tried to accelerate the regeneration process of areas harvested or (to a lesser

degree) burned by lethal fires. These regeneration

policies shortened the regeneration period that

was common to native systems, thereby reducing the

extent of stand initiation structures. Precommercial

thinning, another practice common to areas managed under traditional forestry strategies, was not

extensive enough to mimic the maintenance and

accelerated-cycling regimes of the native system.

Consequently, successional sequences of many areas

that were thinned stagnated until they were cycled by

a disturbance event that was lethal to the overstory.

Harvest patterns on lands administered by the U.S.

Forest Service have been somewhat constrained since

the National Forest Management Act of 1976. The

restrictions limiting the size of harvest patches, and

the trend towards smaller patches more recently, has

led to the systematic fragmentation of forest

landscapes.

76
There are different patterns of vegetation. This photo shows a natural pattern of vegetation that is associated with

natural disturbance. The soils, aquatic systems, and native species of wildlife and plant have developed in concert

with the type and intensity of disturbances associated with this type of pattern.

Traditional reserve or wilderness management

has generally emphasized a passive approach to

management, and thus involved little direct vegetation management, and a very conservative prescribed natural fire program. The guidelines for

prescribed natural fires typically only allowed fires

to burn that are lightning-ignited and that have a

high likelihood of remaining within the reserve.

Few lightning-caused fires meet the prescription

guidelines. Consequently, the extent of current

fire disturbances were well below those of the historical period. Therefore, traditional reserve

management has also caused substantial changes

in succession/disturbance regimes and the associated vegetation structures and composition. As

with traditional timber management, measurable

fire disturbances in reserves were less frequent, but

more severe than they were in the native system.

On many rangelands, introduction of exotic

plants, exclusion of fire, and traditional livestock management has also resulted in more frequent disturbances that have greater effects,

substantially changing the succession/disturbance regime associated with historical patterns.

These changes can affect long-term productivity

and increase the likelihood of disturbances

perceived as catastrophic.

On rangelands, the effects of traditional grazing or reserve management also had predictable

patterns of changed succession and disturbance

regimes associated with non-forest areas (figure 6).

Traditional livestock grazing practices, fire

77
Figure 6—Sagebrush Grassland Succession: Three common pathways of succession in the sagebrush grassland.

Pathway A represents a succession from a grassland to a shrub-grass dominated plant community, with fire acting

to move the shrub-grass community back to a grassland. Pathway B represents succession of a shrub-grass dominated plant community to either a woodland (dominated mostly by juniper) or a shrubland, caused by a reduction

in fire occurrence. Pathway C represents succession of shrub-grass dominated plant community to a community

dominated by introduced annual grasses, characterized by an increase in fire occurrence. Introduced annual grasses

have invaded these communities partially as a result of excessive livestock grazing pressure. Once dominated by introduced annual grasses, the community tends to remain this way because of frequent fire, which prevents shrubs

from establishing. (Adapted from Vavra and others. 1994. Ecological Implications of Livestock Herbivory in the West.)

78
This photo shows a pattern of vegetation that is associated with fire suppression and exclusion of disturbance. When fires occur they are usually very intense because of accumulations of continuous heavy fuel. The soils, aquatic systems, and native species of wildlife and plants are often negatively affected by the intensity of

these events.

exclusion, and the introduction of exotic weeds

substantially altered the patterns and areal extent

of lands affected by the succession and disturbance regimes. The succession and disturbance

regime of the ridge landform, for example,

changed from a maintenance regime to a long-cycling regime due to fire exclusion. As a result, the

herb-dominated communities that commonly occurred historically have been replaced by communities dominated by conifers or junipers. In areas

that do not have the potential to support trees, the

herb-dominated communities are now dominated

by dense, decadent shrubs. In either case, ignition

probabilities declined substantially due to the lack

of fine grass fuels. When these newer communities burn it is typically only during very dry conditions, rather than during the fire intervals common for the native system. Furthermore, the fires

generally burn more severely than they did historically due to the increased amount of woody fuels

that is now common to the ridge landforms. The

more severe fires commonly kill the sparse understory of perennial grasses and forbs.

Landscapes that are dominated by a mosaic of

both forest and rangeland PVGs have inherently

more diverse succession and disturbance regimes,

and vegetation patterns than the forest or rangeland dominated landscapes. Although the individual landform, PVG, and succession/disturbance

regime relationships were generally the same as

in the forest or rangeland dominated landscapes,

the effects at the landscape level were substantially

79
different. The forest-rangeland landscape mosaic

has many complex ecotonal and contagion relationships among the different kinds of environments and communities.

In general, the changes that occurred in forestrangeland landscapes have been more substantial

than the observed changes in either the forest or

rangeland landscapes because the energy gradients are steeper, the disturbance regimes are more

dynamic due to the forest-rangeland mosaic, and

the diversity of species are higher.

Vegetation dynamics—This analysis described

vegetation by structural stages (figure 7; table 3).

Both the late-seral multi-layer and single-layer

structural stages have declined substantially, and

the late-seral multi-layer that now occurs is generally occupying a different place on the landscape.

Historically, late-seral multi-layer forested types

were in moist areas such as bottoms and benches

and were maintained by succession and disturbance regimes. Timber harvesting and the exclusion of fire have resulted in late-seral multi-layer

forest developing on the dryer slopes. The amount

of small dead-standing and down material has increased. Considerable small-diameter timber volume

remains, providing opportunities for harvest that

could be accomplished in an ecologically beneficial manner with appropriate technology. Whether

revenues from these harvests will exceed treatment

costs is dependent on site-specific conditions, timber

markets, and costs of treatment.

Figure 8 summarizes changes in landscape elements in the Basin. Across the Basin, the greatest

change is from the expansion of agriculture, which

80

Figure 7—Structural Stage Definitions.
Figure 8—Current and historic landscape elements.

Table 3—Structural stages often used to describe changes in forest vegetation structure over time.

8 1
occurred primarily in the upland shrubland and

upland herbland terrestrial communities of the

dry shrub, dry grass, and cool shrub potential

vegetation types. Upland shrubland and upland

herbland declined substantially across the Basin as

a whole, but on lands administered by the BLM

or FS, the upland shrubland type increased while

the upland herbland decreased, due to the exclusion of fire from woodlands and shrublands. The

upland woodland type increased substantially over

the Basin as a whole, also a result of fire exclusion.

Native grasslands also have declined substantially. This has occurred not only on non-forested

rangelands but also in grassland areas within the

forest. Shrublands have also declined substantially, generally displaced by exotic plant species such

as cheatgrass. Exclusion of fire, timber harvest

practices, and introduction of white pine blister

rust in the moist forest potential vegetation types

has resulted in near elimination of western white

pine as a dominant species, increased intervals between fires, and increased severity of fires.

Exclusion of fire and introduction of blister

rust in the cold forest potential vegetation types

has virtually eliminated whitebark pine as a dominant species, increased intervals between fires, and

increased severity of fires. Exclusion of fire, shifting of grazing from low-intensity, dormant-season

grazing to high-intensity, growing-season grazing,

and introduction of the exotic Kentucky Bluegrass

in the cold forest and riparian woodland zones

have resulted in substantial reduction of communities that were dominated by aspen between the

fire cycles.

Reserve and wilderness management also have

caused substantial changes in succession/disturbance regimes and the associated vegetation structures, although not to the extent of commodity

management. In general, the disturbances are of

lower frequency, are more acute, and have higher

severity in cumulative effects than under historical

regimes. Typically, both community structure and

patch diversity decline under reserve and wilderness management.

Early-seral shrub, herb, and tree seedlings w/ dead

standing trees from a crown fire one year ago. Natural

succession occurs rapidly on most disturbed areas.

Only one year after the fire, this area is now covered

with shrub and herb regeneration and has many tree

seedlings. Many of the native plants seen here can

only grow in a post-fire environment because their

seeds are stored in soil and only germinate with the

heat effects of the fire.

Mid-seral stand of pole size trees with an understory

of shrubs and herbs.Successional growth to dominance

by trees occurs within 30-50 years. These mid-serai

stands, are typically fairly dense, but are naturally

thinned by ground fires, insect and disease attacks, or

stress. Generally, the trees that are less healthy die,

allowing the healthier trees more moisture and nutrients, which accelerates their growth.

82
Harvest patterns, along

with exclusion of fire, have

converted much of the lateseral communities to mid-seral

communities.

Late-seral stand of larger trees with snag and

understory of shrubs and herbs. Successional

growth to later-seral large trees with snags and

a more open canopy occurs over the next 40-80

years. Natural disturbances thin and promote

growth of the large trees and eventually may cycle

the stand back to the early-seral stage. Rangetands

and riparian systems have similar dyna-mics of

disturbance, such as large ungulate grazing, fire,

insects, disease, and floods, with similar stages of

successional response from post-disturbance to

dominance by herbs or shrubs.

As a result of blister rust mortality of whitebark pine, the early-seral subalpine forest

increased substantially. The late-seral montane

forest converted to mid-seral forest as a consequence of timber harvest patterns, fire exclusion, and loss of western white pine to blister

rust. A similar trend of increased mid-seral

forest occurred in the lower montane forests.

Large trees that are shade intolerant and fire-

, insect-, and disease-resistant species have generally been harvested from both the mid-seral

and late-seral communities either selectively or

as part of even-age treatments (clearcuts, seed

tree cuts). Fire detection and control efforts

have largely excluded fire from these areas.

Late-seral communities developed over long

periods of time, and experienced periodic fires

that typically burned through the understory

and maintained open park-like communities

of large shade-intolerant trees with low susceptibility to mortality from stress, fire, insect, or

disease. Harvest patterns, along with exclusion

of fire, have converted much of the late-seral

communities to mid-seral communities. Historically, the mid-seral communities either

burned with crown fires and cycled back to

early-seral communities or developed into lateseral communities. Not only is there a large

increase in the mid-seral communities, but the

current communities are more dense and have

higher mortality, higher fuel loadings, and

higher susceptibility to crown fire than

historical communities.

There has been a decrease in diversity

associated with exclusion of fire, intrusion

from exotic biota, and/or heavy grazing during

the growing season. This has caused a decline

in communities that were historically dominated by western white pine, whitebark pine,

ponderosa pine, western larch, aspen, cottonwood, riparian willows, bluebunch wheatgrass,

bitterbrush, mountain mahogany, and the salt

desert shrub complex.

83
Map 9—Predicted road density classes.

84
Figure 9—An example of road densities for subwatersheds within the Basin.

Roads—Roads cover enough of the Basin to

be considered a component of the biophysical

environment; in some wildland areas, road densities make up as much as 5 to 10 percent of the

land base. Because a complete road inventory was

not available for analysis, road density was predicted from models (map 9). The vast majority of

FS and BLM roads are gravel or dirt and are passable only by high-clearance vehicles. Areas with

no roads are found primarily in Wilderness, semiprimitive roadless areas, and national parks. Very

low densities (figure 9) occur primarily in the

rangelands of the valleys and plains, while low

densities occur primarily in agricultural lands.

The vast majority of FS and BLM roads

are gravel or dirt and are passable only

by high-clearance vehicles.

High road density is found primarily in the intensively managed forestlands of both public and private ownership, and the highest density typically

occurs in developed urban/rural areas.

High road densities and their locations within

watersheds are typically correlated with areas of

higher watershed sensitivity to erosion and sediment transport to streams. Road density also is

correlated with the distribution and spread of exotic annual grasses, noxious weeds, and other exotic plants. Furthermore, high road densities are

correlated with areas that have few large snags and

few large trees that are resistant to both fire and

infestation of insects and disease. Lastly, high

road densities are correlated with areas that

have relatively high risk of fire occurrence

(from human caused fires), high hazard

ground fuels, and high tree mortality.

85

CONTINUED
Roads create an environment that is uniquely human. These types of environments are of- ten associated with a high degree of disturbance in terms of soil erosion and runoff that can

carry sediment to streams. Roads also act as a barrier to many wildlife species, although

they can be designed to mitigate these effects. This road has been designed on a type of

land that has low risk for causing negative effects.

In contrast, this road has high potential for negative effects.

86

This file was created by scanning the printed publication.

Text errors identified by the software have been corrected; 

however, some errors may remain.
Fire—At present, fire frequency and intensity

are approaching or exceeding those experienced

in the early 1900s, when many wildfires occurred.

The advent of improved technology for fire detection, prevention, and suppression led to a decline

in fires in the 1960s. However, with steadily

increasing fuel conditions, the amount of wildfire

has increased since then. The average cost of

wildfire suppression, fatalities of firefighters, and

amount of high-intensity fire during the period

of 1970 to 1995 are double the corresponding

amounts occurring from 1910 to 1970.

Map 7 shows areas of the Basin that receive

an average of less than 12 inches of precipitation

annually. These lands are highly susceptible to

disturbance from drought, invasion of exotic

annual grasses, and wildfire. Combining this

overlay with roaded dry shrub and dry grass

potential vegetation types in valley and plains

environments reveals areas that have typically

been affected the most by the combined effects

of past overgrazing and drought. Management

of livestock on these ranges has substantially

improved since the 1930s, but response of vegetation is very slow and the technology for restoring these systems is generally not available.

The combination of potential vegetation

types and road density makes many portions of

the Basin susceptible to invasion by exotic weeds

Fire Frequency and Severity

Fires can be described by their effects on vegetation

and how often these effects occur. The severity classes are non-lethal (does not kill the dominant layer of

plants), mixed (mixed effects), lethal (kills the dominant layer of plants), and rarely burns. An interval of

0 to 25 years is considered very frequent, 26 to 75

years frequent, 76 to 150 years infrequent, 151 to

300 years very infrequent, and greater than 300 years

extremely infrequent.

(map 10). The dry forest, cool shrub, dry

shrub, dry grass, and riparian potential vegetation groups are all potentially susceptible to

exotic weed invasion.

One of the key results of many of these alterations across the Basin has been the corresponding change in fire potential and behavior. In

general, lethal fires have increased. In particular,

the lethal, very-frequent fire regime class has

increased substantially, while nonlethal, very frequent fires have declined from historic conditions.

Maps 11 and 12 show the portions of the basin

most affected.

Complex changes have occurred in rangelands

resulting in increases in the nonlethal infrequent

and mixed infrequent classes. In these environments, livestock grazing reduced fine grass fuels

that contributed to less frequent fires. However,

improved fire detection and control techniques

have resulted in the increase of woody fuels, causing higher severity when fires occur. Additionally,

introduction of annual grasses has increased flammability in areas that are not grazed.

The occurrence and intensity of wildfires are

correlated with lightning storm routes, fuels, local

wind patterns, terrain complexity, and roads.

Wildland areas with complex terrain or a moderate or high road density have moderate or higher

risk of wildfires. Foothill and mountain terrain

facing west or east typically have high potential

for wind that can cause rapid spread of wildfires.

Areas with fuels, roads, and complex terrain that

are on lightning storm routes have the highest risk

of wildfire. The areas in the moderate category

often have a lower probability of wildfire in any

one year, but have high fuel accumulations, such

that the fires can be very large and intense.

Another change is that more people live in

urban and rural settings adjacent or within an area

of wildland vegetation that has high risk of fire

(map 13). Those areas are of concern relative to

providing for the safety of people and protection

of homes as well as for the cost of fire suppression

and safety of firefighters.

87
Map 10—Areas susceptible to exotic weed invasion.

88
Ground fire. Disturbances result in dynamic changes in vegetation, animal habitats, effects on aquatics, and effects

on resource values. This is a ground fire disturbance which has very different effects from crown fires.

Post-crown fire dead standing trees and ash. Although a burned over

stand of dead trees appears to be lifeless, it is still a very dynamic

place. Birds such as the black-backed woodpecker actively seek out

these areas for feeding. Nitrogen released from the burned foliage is

available for seedlings and resprouring vegetation. Many plants are

actively regenerating in this environment.

Crown fire. Crown fire burns

through the tops of the trees, killing

the overstory. Past efforts at fire exclusion have allowed fuels to accumulate in many areas that burn as

crown fires, rather than as ground

fires. Crown fires have much more

severe effects on the soil, vegetation,

terrestrial habitats, aquatic habitats,

and resource values to humans,

than ground fires.

89
Map 11—Historic fire regime for forested potential vegetation groups.

90
Map 12—Current fire regime for forested potential vegetation groups.

91
Map 13—Rural population/wildland interface fire risk areas.

Implications for Ecosystem

Management

Traditional forestry and grazing practices, introduction of blister rust, introduction of exotic plants, and

exclusion of fire, have substantially changed succession/

disturbance regimes and the associated vegetation structure and composition. Typically, the change of disturbance regime was associated with longer intervals of

more severe disturbances. Traditional reserve strategies,

in conjunction with fire exclusion, introduction of blister

rust, and exotic plants, has also substantially changed the

succession/disturbance regimes and associated vegetation

structures and composition. Once again, the disturbances typically had longer intervals and were more

severe than the disturbance regimes of the native system.

Only 24 percent of FS- and BLM-administered lands

are in conditions such that managers could manage for

the historical range of variability if that were the objective. Of this area, most of the existing patterns are similar to reserve patterns. Often the capital, in terms of

large trees or native bunchgrasses, is gone from areas that

have commodity patterns; long periods of time would be

required to restore the vegetative structures in these areas.

In areas with reserve patterns, managers and the public

may still have the option of retaining large trees and

native bunchgrasses, if they are not preempted by a

severe disturbance event. The remaining BLM- and FSadministered land is in a landscape pattern and disturbance regime system that is not completely predictable

as a result of change in the biophysical environment.

However, it is possible to improve this limited predictability through assessments, research, and adaptive management approaches.

92
TERRESTRIAL

ECOLOGY

Widespread changes in biophysical conditions and disturbance patterns, coupled

with increased human activity, have

altered habitat available for diverse plant and animal

species. The ICBEMP compiled the first catalog of

biodiversity of the Basin, revealing diverse communities of fungi, lichens, plants, invertebrates (species

without backbones, including insects and mollusks),

and vertebrates. However, most species groups are

unstudied.

Over 43,000 species of macroorganisms are

estimated to occur in the assessment area and 17,186

species are known to occur. Micro-organisms, critical to ecosystem health and function, probably tally

at least several hundred thousand species. This

biodiversity results from the wide variety of habitats,

topographic conditions, and prehistoric events within the study area. Over 14,000 species of macroorganisms were studied, and 1,339 individual species

and 143 species groups were included in a database

on species-environment relations (SER). Just under

300 species (excluding fish) were identified that are

of particular interest to American Indian tribes.

Products from the terrestrial assessment of greatest potential interest to land managers include: (a)

lists of habitats and associated species with greatest

declines in area or distribution since historic times;

(b) Species-Environment Relations databases listing species by habitats and ecological functions for use in determining

potential effects of ecosystem management

activities and in proactively crafting such

activities to emphasize or restore specific

habitats or functions; (c) 528 Geographic

Information System (GIS) maps of species

distribution and additional maps on areas of high

biodiversity and species rarity and endemism; and

(d) descriptions of key ecological roles of fungi,

lichens, bryophytes, and invertebrates for maintaining ecosystem health and long-term productivity

and sustainable use of resources.

Species at Risk

There are 19 endangered, 10 threatened, and 7

candidate terrestrial and aquatic species within the

Basin listed under the Federal Endangered Species

Act (table 4). The FS and BLM list 538 species

(excluding fish) as sensitive. Some of the threatened

and endangered species and many of the additional

species of potential conservation concern are dependent on environmental or habitat components not

evaluated at the broad scale.

A number of other taxa, especially plants and

invertebrates, are worthy of additional attention:

394 fungi species, 40 functional groups of lichen

species, sundry types of microbiotic crusts (not classified), at least 400 apparently regionally rare bryophyte species, 280 individual vascular plant species

and 82 rare plant communities, 144 rare and endemic invertebrates (gastropods and insects), and various

vertebrates. Basic inventories are needed for many

of these species to determine their true rarity.

There are 19 endangered, 10 threatened,

and 7 candidate terrestrial and aquatic

species within the Basin listed under the

Federal Endangered Species Act.

93
Table 4— Numbers of taxa (species, subspecies, fish stocks) by Federal listing status, and of special interest to

American Indian tribes.

Listing status classes: Forest Service sensitive (in at least one state within the assessment area); Bureau of Land Management sensitive (in at least one state within the assessment area); Joint FS/BLM sensitive = same species listed by both FS

and BLM as sensitive; TRIBAL = species identified by the ICBEMP Science Integration Team as of particular interest

to American Indian tribes.

Species-Environment

Relations

The SER database identified species closely

associated with condition affected by management

including forest canopy, mistletoe brooms, dead

parts of live trees, trees with exfoliated bark, snags,

down wood, litter and duff, fire, insect outbreaks,

recreation, roads, and trails.

Native grasslands (Fescue bunchgrass, Agropyron bunchgrass), shrublands (big sagebrush), and old

single-stratum and multi-strata

stages of many forest types, especially lower montane ponderosa

pine forests, have declined in total

area and shifted in distribution

since historic times. Declines are

on both Federal and non-Federal

lands, with most declines on nonFederal land. Many native species of fungi,

lichen, plants, invertebrates, and vertebrates are

associated with these types. Vertebrate species

associated with the decline of old-growth forests

include primary cavity excavators, predators and

other species with large home ranges, and largelyunstudied species groups associated with forest

canopies. Vegetation types (along with associated

species) that have increased in total area and

The key ecological roles of lichens include

contributing mass and nutrients to litter and

duff increasing canopy and soil moistureholding capacity, fixing atmospheric nitrogen,

serving as food for animals, and acting as

bioindicators for air quality.

94
distribution since historical times include young

successional stages of forests, conifer-encroached

sagebrush, disturbed riparian conditions, and

exotic plant communities.

Probably no terrestrial vertebrate has become

regionally extinct in recent historic times, with the

possible exception of the purple martin. Information on extinction of most non-vertebrate taxa is

lacking. Some wide-ranging carnivores have greatly

decreased in abundance and distribution and

become locally extirpated (but not regionally

extinct) in the Basin. Also, some small-bodied,

less widely-vagile species may be at greater risk of

declines or local extirpations. Edges of ranges are

important for species conservation.

Fungi—The fungal flora and the effects of

management activities on fungi are poorly known.

Some species are important to recreational and

commercial gatherers. Many kinds of fungi occur

in the Basin, including species with narrow distributions, that fruit after fire, that fruit in dung,

and that are mychorrhizal and saprophytic and

Native plant communities have

declined significantly in the

assessment area, prompting concerns

about future conservation of rare

species and rare plant communities.

thus depend on host plants. These fungi vitally

contribute to plant and soil productivity. Fungi

conservation can include protection of type localities in small, site-specific mycological (fungi species) preserves, inventory or survey of potentially

rare species, and further study of biology and

ecology of species.

Lichens—The key ecological roles of lichens

include contributing mass and nutrients to litter

and duff, increasing canopy and soil moistureholding capacity, fixing atmospheric nitrogen,

serving as food for animals, and acting as bioindicators for air quality. Some species are important

to American Indians. The 736 lichen species were

divided into 40 functional groups based on ecological relations. The groups occur on four main

substrates: dead organic matter; corticate and

decorticate wood; rock; and soil. Lichens are

major components of native rangelands and provide critical soil functions, but have been threatened by exotic grasses, increased fire frequency,

conversion of rangelands, and livestock trampling.

Lichens are part of microbiotic crusts and are susceptible to damage from livestock grazing and

trampling. One lichen, Texosporium sancti-jacobi,

is listed as a Category 2 (C2) candidate species.

Providing clumps of old trees and uneven-aged

stands for their legacy of lichens can improve

conservation of lichens.

Lichen serve many ecosystem functions and roles.

Basic lichen surveys and studies of management effects

are needed to supplement our currently poor knowledge base.

95
The diversity of the Basin's native flora reflects the complexity of its biophysical environments.

Bryophytes—Most bryophytes have wide, Arctic-alpine and boreal distributions. Others are

coastal and north Pacific or occur in arid environments as part of soil crusts; four taxa are endemic

to the ICBEMP assessment area. Eleven ecological groups of bryophytes were identified based on

common use of substrates. Changes in water

quality affect aquatic submerged and wet-rock

species. Forest canopy openings often adversely

affect mycorrhizal species associated with decaying

wood and forest humus and duff. Commercial

collection of bryophytes may affect some of the

humus and duff species. Other species in bogs,

fens, and other environments are poorly studied.

Dry soil species are critical to soil protection.

Many species, at least 400, may be regionally rare

but may need inventory to better determine their

status, especially those occupying arid habitats,

peatlands, floodplains, geothermal areas, isolated

canyons, and on calcareous rocks and mineralized

deposits. Bryophyte conservation can include

training for identification, adding bryophyte identification to field vegetation plot data, and inventory of bryophytes in protected areas.

Vascular Plants—Vascular plants in the assessment area number at least 8,000 species, which

include at least 154 local or regional endemics

(found only in the area). This diversity results

from complex biophysical environments along

gradients of elevation, bedrock and soils, temperature, and moisture. Native plant communities

have declined significantly in the assessment area,

prompting concerns about future conservation of

rare species and rare plant communities. Of particular concern are communities affected by grazing, introduction of exotic species, and timber

96
Providing a diversity of habitats,

maintaining soil structure and soil

chemistry, and preventing or eradicating

exotic species could enhance conservation

of invertebrate species.

harvesting. The sustained harvestability of some

205 plant taxa are of concern to American Indians. Conservation measures for all plants could

include: monitoring of rare species and plant

communities; off-site collection of pollen, seeds,

and rare plants; and protection of key areas of

high species rarity, endemism, and diversity.

Invertebrates—No terrestrial invertebrate

species is listed as Threatened, Endangered, or

Candidate (although five aquatic invertebrates are

threatened or endangered). The FS does not list

any as sensitive, whereas the BLM lists 25 as sensitive. Some 95 terrestrial mollusks would benefit

from conservation attention singly or as groups;

many of these are confined to calcareous substrates. Invertebrates are critical components of

many ecosystem functions including detritivory

(breakdown of matter) and nutrient cycling.

There are 104 rare and endemic species that bear

further watching. Functional roles of

invertebrates include: detritivory and

nutrient cycling; maintaining soil

structure, chemistry, and productivity;

wood decomposition; herbivory; pathogenic effects on other organisms as

well as control of disease-causing

organisms. Invertebrates can make

excellent bioindicators of soil and

vegetation health.

Most arthropods (insects, spiders,

and crustaceans) are poorly known,

and many are unnamed. Arthropod

predators may control other invertebrate populations including some

defoliator pests, and require a mix of

habitat types, down wood, and vegetation substrates. Invertebrate pollinators, critical to maintaining the flora, are

showing recent drastic declines. In grasslands and forests, species groups, particularly herbivores, are important links in

food webs and affect vegetation succession. A few are agricultural or forestry

pests. Fire and changes in soil chemistry

directly affect invertebrates, especially in

range and forest conditions altered from historic

structures.

Other activities potentially harmful to desirable invertebrates include overgrazing, some recreation, loss of sphagnum bogs, exotic plants or

arthropods, pesticide use, and other activities that

compact or mix soils. Providing a diversity of

habitats, maintaining soil structure and soil

chemistry, and preventing or eradicating exotic

species could enhance conservation of invertebrate species.

Vertebrates—Amphibians require water or

moist environments, are susceptible to exotic species, and are associated more with substrates such

as down wood or talus than with vegetation types

or stages. Amphibians transfer nutrients from

aquatic to terrestrial environments, are prey for

predators, and contribute major biomass in forest

ecosystems. Studies are needed to determine the

effects of water quality changes, canopy closure,

pesticides, livestock grazing, eutrophication, and

Most amphibian species require either standing or flowing water for

egg laying and larval development. Riparian habitat is important for

most adult forms.

97
Map 14—Hot spots for biodiversity and endemism.

98
ultraviolet radiation on amphibians and

on their dispersal and distribution.

Distribution of reptiles is more

closely associated with elevation,

aspect, and substrate than with vegetation. Reptiles are susceptible to dams,

off-road vehicle use, loss of wetlands,

livestock grazing, and fire suppression.

Better survey techniques for reptiles

are needed.

Birds are susceptible to management-induced

changes in vegetation, especially historic declines

in old, single-stratum, interior ponderosa pine

forests and grasslands dominated by Agropyron

bunchgrass. In particular, changes in grasslands

have caused declines in Columbian sharp-tailed

grouse numbers. Neotropical migrants would

benefit from conservation and restoration of riparian, old forest, shrub-steppe, grassland, and juniper habitats. Population or habitat declines of

mammals include some bat species and predators.

Few locations still contain all top predators.

Biogeography, Endemism, and

Biodiversity

Broad-scale biogeography of species is poorly

studied in the assessment area. Distributions of

locally endemic species can result from habitat loss,

overall scarcity of suitable environments, or other

factors. Apparent peripheral, disjunct, and scattered

distributions of some species may be an artifact of

the location and size of the area of interest. Species

such as boreal owl appear as disjunct populations

because of breaks in distributions of suitable environments or incomplete sampling; smaller and more

isolated disjunct populations are likely more susceptible to local declines or extinctions. Locally endemic

species or subspecies often are highly habitat-specific,

such as Coeur d'Alene salamander. Most geographic

areas in the Basin have at least some unique species

although many species overlap several areas. Some

species are closely associated with single biophysical

factors, although many species are likely correlated

with multiple factors.

Butterflies constitute a portion of the biodiversity in

the Basin.

99

Identifying groups of species with such

ecological Junctions may be more useful for

management of Federal lands in the

assessment area than attempting to identify

individual keystone species.
The project mapped centers of concentration

of species rarity and endemism and high biodiversity. Centers of concentration were mapped separately for plants and for animals. Locations with

three or more centers of concentration of the two

types mentioned defined smaller "hot spots" for

plants and animals combined (map 14). Twelve

hot spots of species rarity and endemism and seven hot spots of high biodiversity were mapped.

Additional hot spots may be identified at finer

levels of geographic resolution than we used in

this project; several likely occur in southern Idaho.

Implications for Ecosystem

Management

Understanding functions is critical to crafting

appropriate ecosystem management guidelines;

the fate of individual species is only one facet of

terrestrial ecology conservation. Identifying

groups of species with such ecological functions

may be more useful for management of Federal

lands in the assessment area than attempting to

identify individual keystone species. The major

ecological functions that managers may wish to

address in ecosystem management pertain to species that contribute to major biomass, herbivory,

nutrient cycling, interspecies relations, soil productivity, wood decomposition, and water quality.

The species-environment relations database provides a means of identifying such species by vegetation type, as well as a means of prioritizing

species for study.

Natural areas on Federal lands total nearly 29

million acres in 26 land allocation categories. The

size of existing natural areas might be suitable for

supporting at least small populations of at least 70

percent of vertebrate species. Natural areas of various kinds might be "realigned" or enhanced to

better coincide with hot spots of species rarity and

endemism and hot spots of high biodiversity. Criteria for selection of new natural areas might be

based on consistent ecological themes. The hot

spots identified highlight only major locations,

so conserving these areas alone should not be

assumed to meet the needs of species endemism,

rarity, and biodiversity in the Basin.

A species-by-species approach to management of all at-risk species is not advocated,

nor is a coarse-filter approach that assumes

all associated species are conserved if very gross

vegetation features are provided. Many of the

species on lists can be assessed in groups or

included in broader considerations of ecosystem

processes and functions. Inventories, where

desired, could aim at gathering information for

many species simultaneously, and management

guidelines could address their collective habitat

and environmental requirements or locations

of joint occurrence.

Some policy questions and issues cannot be

addressed at the broad regional scale. Additional

work is necessary for (1) further describing historical trends and current conditions and threats for

species at finer scales of resolution than this current study affords, and (2) collecting basic scientific knowledge on life history, ecology, and distribution of many species. About 86 percent of

arthropods, 67 percent of fungi, and 51 percent

of mollusk species estimated to occur in the assessment area have not been studied, surveyed, or, in

some cases, even identified. Much inventory and

basic systematics work remains to be done on

these groups. Soil micro-organism groups and

microbiotic (soil) crusts of the assessment area,

although critical for maintaining soil productivity, are poorly known and little studied.

100
AQUATIC SPECIES AND

HABITATS

The status of aquatic ecosystems in the Basin

is influenced by both natural and human

processes. The geologic and geomorphic

processes described earlier formed and continue to

affect the Basin. In concert with the underlying

physical environment, these processes establish the

template and constrain the successional pathways

for aquatic habitats and their associated communities. Similarly, natural fluctuations in the

marine environment from variation in atmospheric

and ocean circulation patterns influence the productivity of anadromous fish stocks and may temporarily mask changes in freshwater habitats.

Aquatic analyses took place at the subbasin,

watershed, and subwatershed level (figure 10).

There are 164 subbasins in the project area, averaging just under 900,000 acres. The 2,562 watersheds average about 56,000 acres, while the 7,467

subwatersheds average about 19,000 acres.

Results of survey information and tests of relations among habitat features, landscape features,

and disturbance variables reinforce the evidence

that streams within the

assessment area have been

significantly affected by

human activities. Resources affected include

both riparian vegetation

and instream habitat.

Water Quality

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

estimates overall water quality impairment within

the Basin. This estimate appears to be modest in

comparison to total length of streams within the

assessment area (table 5). Because these estimates

are based on existing and accessible data from

local state and Federal monitoring programs, they

likely do not reflect the actual extent and distribution of impairment. Most streams in the region

are now fully or over-appropriated; irrigation is

the primary off-stream use of water in the Basin.

Riparian Areas

Riparian vegetation is a critical component of

aquatic ecosystem integrity. A Basin-wide analysis

of riparian vegetation found significant changes,

including a widespread decline in shrublands in

the riparian zones. Shrublands predominantly

shifted to forests and herblands through

The integrity of riparian vegetation and its extent

along rivers has been changed and fragmented

throughout the Basin in response to forest

conversion and streamside disturbance.

101
Figure 10—An example of hydrologic hierarchy from subwatersheds to subbasins.

102
Table 5—Water quality impaired waters reported by the states and the Environmental Protection Agency as miles of streams

and rivers in the portions of states within the Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project assessment area.

'The Utah Department of Environmental Quality reports no impaired streams or rivers within the project area in Utah.

succession or disturbance. Forests, woodlands,

and herblands increased in area or stayed approximately the same. Cottonwood, aspen, and willow,

typically riparian-associated species known to have

significantly declined, are included in the forest

class but are likely masked by the dominance of

other species in this class. There was a significant

decrease of these cover types in the Snake Headwaters and Columbia Plateau. Significant increases

in woodlands—attributed to shrubland conversion to juniper stands—occurred in the Northern

Great Basin, Blue Mountains, and Columbia

Plateau. The integrity of riparian vegetation

and its extent along rivers has been changed and

103
fragmented throughout the Basin in response to

forest conversion and streamside disturbance.

The sufficiency of interim riparian habitat

conservation areas (RHCAs) to maintain ecological functions and prevent undesirable cumulative

effects is a subject of both social and scientific

debate. Interim RHCAs in the range ofanadromous fishes and bull trout are prescribed at 300-

foot-minimum widths for fish-bearing streams to

maintain stream function and prevent sediment

inputs from nonchannelized sources. A review

of the literature indicates that this width is likely

sufficient to provide for most riparian functions

with a margin for error depending on the intensity and extent of activities within a RHCA. The

likelihood of disturbance resulting in discernible

instream effects increases as adjacent slopes become

steeper. Thus, greater protective measures to protect or rehabilitate riparian function and structure

on steeper slopes may be required to prevent or

reduce in-stream effects.

Taken in aggregate, management of stream and

riparian systems on forestlands is more restrictive

and ecologically more effective than management

of riparian areas where agriculture and urban or

industrial land uses are dominant. No state within the Basin has enacted an agricultural practices

act explicitly protecting riparian vegetation. If the

goal is to ensure survival of salmon and many native fishes in the long term, improved protection

of riparian areas in agricultural lands is essential.

Dams and Diversions

Construction of dams and reservoirs and their

complex effects on migration is an important

threat to the persistence of salmon and steelhead

trout within the Basin. Construction of large

dams began about 1900, and has since greatly

reduced the range of migrating fish. Today there are at

least 1,239 large dams in

the assessment area, each

with storage capacity in

excess of 62,000 cubic

meters. The total, including small dams, could be several times larger.

Most of the thousands of small dams in the Basin

do not have fish passage facilities, yet the full

extent to which these dams impede migration or

affect spawning and rearing habitats of fishes has

not been documented. Even with fish passage

facilities, detrimental effects from dams occur as

a result of direct mortality of juveniles in turbines

and bypass systems and indirect mortality owing

to physiological stress, increased susceptibility to

predators, and the inability to find routes around

dams and through slack water.

Although much of the highest-quality habitat

for these anadromous fish probably remains in

the Central Idaho Mountains, no strong populations persist there largely due to passage mortality

in migration corridors. These corridors provide a

critical link maintaining the complex life histories

of other species as well. For example, nonanadromous species that retain migratory life-history patterns such as bull, redband, Yellowstone

cutthroat, and westslope cutthroat trout may

move repeatedly between small rivers and

headwater streams.

Roads

The effects associated with roads reach

beyond their direct contribution to disruption

of hydrologic function and increased sediment

delivery to streams. Roads provide access, and

the activities that accompany access magnify

the negative effects on aquatic systems beyond

those solely from roads themselves. Strong

populations offish are present in some roaded

subwatersheds. This relationship between population status and roads requires more investigation to be fully understood.

Increasing road density is correlated with declining

aquatic habitat conditions and aquatic integrity

and is associated with declines in the status of four

non-anadromous salmonid species.

104
While roads pose many risks to ecosystem functioning, they provide benefits to humans through access for recre- ation and other land uses.

Increasing road density is correlated with declining aquatic habitat conditions and aquatic integrity and is associated with declines in the status

of four non-anadromous salmonid species. The

discussion of the relation of roads to fishes often

involves three themes: (1) the belief that roadbuilding practices have improved in the last decade to the point we should not worry about the

effects of roads on aquatic systems; (2) the legacy

of past road building is so vast and road maintenance budgets so low that the problems will be

with us for a long time; and (3) the belief that the

correlation of road density to fish habitat and fish

population is not strong.

An intensive review of the literature concludes

that increases in sedimentation are unavoidable

even using the most cautious roading methods.

Roads combined with wildfires accentuate the risk

from sedimentation. The amount of sedimentation or hydrologic alteration from roads that

streams can tolerate before there is a negative

response is not well known. It is not fully known

whether building roads to reduce fire risk causes

greater risk to aquatic systems than realizing the

potential risk of fire.

In addition, the ability of the Forest Service

and BLM to conduct road maintenance has been

sharply reduced because of declining budgets.

This is resulting in progressive degradation or road

drainage structures and a potential increase in erosion. Most problems are with older roads located

in sensitive terrain and roads that have been essentially abandoned but are not adequately configured for long-term drainage.

105
Pools

Along with the loss of riparian vegetation,

human activities have combined to create major

decreases in pool habitat. Pools provide many

key functions, including rearing habitat for juvenile fish, resting places, overwintering areas, and

refuges from floods, drought, and extreme

temperatures.

Pool frequency (large pools and all pools) is

inversely correlated with road density and management intensity. The magnitude of decreases

in deep pools is substantial and extensive across

the Basin. Most unmanaged streams either have

retained pools or have improved pool habitat during the last 55 to 60 years.

A factor likely to be important in controlling

pool frequency in the Basin is the abundance

of instream wood. Wood effectively stabilizes

channels, influences sediment routing, provides a

major component of the instream organic matter,

provides cover for fish and habitat for invertebrates, and increases overall channel complexity.

Protecting sources of instream wood for streams

is important: there is not much

wood to begin with, it plays a

critical role for pool formation

and habitat conditions, and

wood frequency is sensitive to

management practices.

Another important aspect of

habitat quality that apparently

is influenced by management is

the amount of fine sediment

(sediment less than 6 mm) on

channel beds. Road density

significantly affects surface

fines and corroborates the link

between forest management

practices and channel sediment

characteristics.

The composition, distribution, and

status of fishes within the Basin is

very different than it was

historically.

Status and

Distribution of Fishes

A total of 142 fish taxa were reported within

the Basin. Fishes were considered at three levels

listed in order of increasing detail: (1) fish species

assemblages, from which richness and diversity

indices were calculated; (2) 38 taxa considered

sensitive, threatened, endangered, or of special

concern; and (3) key salmonids [bull, westslope

cutthroat, Yellowstone cutthroat, and redband

trout; steelhead trout; and ocean-type (age-0

migrant) and stream-type (age-1 migrant) chinook

salmon]. This analysis was based on both a

The bull trour is one of seven kev salmonids in the Basin.

106
The Metolius River in central Oregon has clear, cold water flowing from springs that help create excellent

habitat for Bull trout.

summary of known distributions and the prediction of distributions and status for select species

throughout the entire assessment area and was

supported by information collected through more

than 140 biologists working throughout the region.

Aquatic habitat fragmentation (impassable

obstructions—including dams, temperature

increases, and water diversion) and simplification

(channelization, removal of woody debris, channel

bed sedimentation, removal of riparian vegetation,

and water flow regulation) have resulted in a loss

of diversity within and among native fish populations.

The composition, distribution, and status of

fishes within the Basin is very different than it was

historically. Some forms are extinct and many

others, especially anadromous fish, are extirpated

from large portions of their historical range.

Although several of the key salmonids remain distributed through much of their historical ranges

(notably the cutthroat trouts and interior redband

trout), declines in abundance, the loss of important life histories, local extinctions, and fragmentation and isolation of high-quality habitats are

apparent (maps 15 and 16). Wild chinook salmon

and steelhead trout are approaching extirpation in

a major part of the remaining distribution.

With the exception of the Central Idaho

Mountains, Snake Headwaters, and perhaps the

Northern Cascades, most of the important areas

for the key salmonids exist as patches of scattered

watersheds. Many of these important watersheds

are associated with high-elevation, steep, and

more erosive landscapes. These may be more

extreme or variable environments contributing

to higher variability in the associated populations

107
Map 15—Historic key salmonid presence.

108
Map 16—Current key salmonid presence.

109
Map 17—Aquatic strongholds and low road densities.

110
and higher sensitivity to watershed disturbances.

Even with no further habitat loss the fragmentation and isolation may place remaining populations at risk. Risks could be aggravated with

further development. The distribution of steelhead trout, for example, has decreased from historical range and known or predicted strongholds

are few and far between.

Although less is known about the rare and

sensitive fish taxa than the seven key salmonids,

analyses of existing distribution and reviews of

available literature provide insights about common threats and appropriate management needs.

Many of these taxa occur in isolated areas of the

Columbia River basin, in isolated subbasins of

the Great Basin, or are restricted to the upper

Klamath Basin. They typically occur in subbasins

with only 1 or 2 native fish species present and in

very restricted areas, often occupying 1 or 2 small

habitat patches within subwatersheds (averaging 8,000 hectares in

size). Consequently, broad-or midscale assessments that focus on high

native species diversity may not

adequately describe their distributions.

Some 1 5 previous efforts to

identify special emphasis watersheds for conservation of aquatic

resources and ecosystem function

in the Basin were examined to address whether

habitat criteria or population presence and status

are better indicators for such special fish emphasis

watersheds. Fish population strength was evaluated to identify the best remaining habitats within

the Basin by focusing on subwatersheds with designated strong populations of seven key salmonids. This approach has the distinct advantage of

recognizing the biological building blocks necessary to maintain and rehabilitate fish populations

in the Basin. More than 27 percent of FS- and

BLM-administered lands in the Basin contain

strongholds (40 percent of Forest Service and 4

percent of BLM). These subwatersheds contain

large areas of unroaded land (map 17).

Implications for Ecosystem

Management

Although much of the native ecosystem has

been altered, core areas remain for rebuilding and

maintaining functional native aquatic systems.

Even though they are reduced in numbers and

distributions, native trouts remain some of the

most widely distributed taxa within the Basin.

This suggests that although serious problems exist,

particularly in the larger rivers and in the low-elevation agricultural and rangelands, the situation is

somewhat better in the forested lands. Conditions remain best in areas that have experienced

the least human-caused disturbance. Most of the

areas exhibiting high-aquatic integrity fall within

forested areas, with the exception of areas inherently high in native-species richness near the

southern edge of the Basin.

Although much of the native ecosystem has

been altered, core areas remain for rebuilding

and maintaining functional native aquatic

systems.

The largest areas of contiguous watersheds supporting strong populations of key salmonids are

associated with the major river subbasins found in

the Central Idaho Mountains, the Snake Headwaters and the Northern Cascades. Important

but more restricted areas are also found in the

Blue Mountains, Upper Clark Fork and the

Northern Glaciated Mountains. Each of the key

salmonids supported some known or predicted

strong populations (table 6).

The core for maintaining and restoring much

of the biological diversity associated with fishes

still exists. Conservation and restoration of important habitats for key salmonids could provide

habitat for associated species and will sustain

111
Table 6—Historical and occupied range and habitat status for key salmonids within the Basin Assessment area.

important processes that influence structure and

function within these systems.

Restoring or maintaining the integrity of migration corridors will be challenging. Restoration

and management of watersheds only on Federal

lands will not be sufficient; river corridors surrounded largely by private lands are a particularly

important part offish habitat networks. Connections and habitat provided by larger river systems

are critical to maintenance of anadromous populations. Rehabilitation of depressed populations

cannot rely on habitat improvement alone but requires a concerted effort to address causes of mortality in all life stages. These

include freshwater spawning and

rearing, juvenile migration, ocean

survival, and adult migration.

The introduction of non-native

species and hatchery-propagated native species has influenced aquatic

community composition. Containing non-natives will provide benefits that go beyond system integrity.

Protection and maintenance of system integrity

and functioning will require innovative approaches. Simple solutions such as setting aside small,

scattered watersheds probably will not be adequate

for the persistence of even current distributions

and diversity. If maintenance or restoration of the

integrity of aquatic ecosystems is an important

goal, dramatic and decisive action is required to

stop further alterations and restore areas that are

degraded.

If maintenance or restoration of the integrity

of aquatic ecosystems is an important goal,

dramatic and decisive action is required to

stop further alterations and restore areas that

are degraded.

112
While watershed protection is an effective

management approach, evidence suggests that system integrity can be maintained in some intensively managed areas. It is unclear, however,

whether intensively managed areas with high integrity are anomalies, regions where the effects on

streams lag behind the changes on land, or are areas where intensive management and fish can coexist.

Additional research will help to design management strategies to accomplish fish and habitat

goals. The collective knowledge of status, distribution, and habitats for fishes is incomplete. Existing knowledge reflects the historical focus of

fish management and research agencies on production and yield, recreational fishing opportunity, and high-profile species rather than on biotic

integrity or species conservation. Sampling methodologies are poorly developed, inventories are incomplete, and reference standards are virtually

non-existent. The development of consistent, reliable, large-scale species inventories will be critical

for long-term management and evaluation of

aquatic ecosystems.

Field experiments can be developed to provide

information on the spatial dimensions (that is,

width, length, depth, space and continuity) of riparian buffer zones necessary to achieve single and

multiple ecological and/or social objectives as well

as how well they continue to function through

time.

Three types of studies can contribute to the

evaluation of hydrologic and geomorphic disturbance effects. First, field surveys are needed to assess the effect of historical events such as fires and

large floods. Second, intensive, opportunistic surveys could be undertaken during and following

these rare events. Third, the resilience of riparian

and aquatic ecosystems to changes in the magnitude and frequency of extreme events could be

tested using human-caused events (such as regulating levels of dams, reservoirs, and irrigation

withdrawal).

B.S
114
ECOSYSTEM INTEGRITY

The previous sections described existing

conditions and trends from a variety of

resource perspectives. This section describes

the overall status of Basin ecosystems by combining that information to evaluate ecosystem integrity—the degree to which all ecosystem components and their interactions are represented, functioning, and able to renew themselves. The integrity of ecosystems encompasses both social and

biophysical components; the health of the Basin's

people and economy are not a separate issue from

the health and integrity of other ecosystem components. Maintaining the integrity of ecosystems

is assumed to be the overriding goal of ecosystem

management.

Ecological integrity refers to the presence and

functioning of ecological components and processes. The basic components of ecological integrity include the forest, range, and aquatic systems

with a hydrologic system that overlays the landscape as a whole. The counterpart to ecological

integrity in social and economic terms is resiliency

(measured at the county level), which in the context of ecosystem management reflects the interests of people to maintain well-being through

personal and community transitions.

Following is an overview of the integrity of

systems in the Basin. Based on the data sets and

analysis conducted through the project, each of

the 164 subbasins (averaging approximately

900,000 acres each) was rated based on their relative differences, as having high, medium, and low

ecological integrity for forestlands, rangelands,

forestland hydrology, rangeland hydrology, and

aquatic systems. This analysis included all ownerships within the Basin.

These integrity and resiliency ratings are initial

estimates based on available information and on

broad proxies for various processes. Some of the

proxies for ecological measures, for example,

reflect structure rather than the underlying process. These represent the best approximations at

this broad extent for the underlying processes

available at this time. Absolute levels of integrity

or resiliency within the Basin have not been measured. Rather, these ratings represent the first

attempt at estimating integrity and resiliency at

this spatial level and undoubtedly will be refined

as additional information becomes available.

Ecological Integrity

A terrestrial system that exhibits high integrity

is a mosaic of plant and animal communities consisting of well-connected, high-quality habitats

that support a diverse assemblage of native and

desired non-native species, the full expression of

potential life histories and taxonomic lineages,

and the taxonomic and genetic diversity necessary

for long-term persistence and adaptation in a variable environment. Areas exhibiting the most elements of a system with high integrity were rated

as "high" and those with the fewest elements were

rated "low"; the "medium" rating fell in between.

Forestland integrity ratings were estimated for

each subbasin if the forested vegetation component was at least 20 percent of the area of the

115

CONTINUED
subbasin, while rangeland integrity ratings were

estimated if the rangeland potential vegetation

types within a subbasin comprised at least 20

percent of the area of the subbasin. This resulted in 112 subbasins with a forest integrity rating, 86 subbasins with range integrity ratings,

and 39 subbasins rated for both.

Forestland Integrity—Measures of forestland integrity include such elements as: (1) consistency of tree stocking levels with long-term

disturbances typical for the forest types present,

(2) the amount and distribution of exotic species, (3) the amount of snags and down woody

material present, (4) disruptions to the hydrologic regimes, (5) the absence or presence of

wildfire and its effect on the composition and

patterns of forest types, and, (6) changes in fire

severity and frequency from historical (pre1800s) to the present.

Rangeland Integrity—Measures of rangeland integrity include such elements as: (1)

grazing influences on vegetation patterns and

composition, (2) disruptions to the hydrologic

regimes, (3) expansion of exotic species, (4)

changes in fire severity and frequency, (5) increases

in bare soils, and (6) expansion of woodlands

into herblands and shrublands.

Hydrologic Integrity—A hydrologic system

that exhibits high integrity is a network of

streams, along with their ground water ecosystems, within the broader landscape where the

upland, floodplain, and riparian areas have

resilient vegetation, where capture, storage, and

release of water limits the effects of sedimentation and erosion, and where infiltration, percolation, and nutrient cycling provide for diverse

and productive aquatic and terrestrial environments. Due to a lack of consistent data on

stream characteristics such as width, depth, and

streambed materials and arrangement, hydrologic integrity was estimated based on disturbance sensitivity and recovery potential of

watersheds, plus the amount and type of past

disturbance.

Watersheds with high impact (disturbance)

and low recovery potential have higher probabilities of containing altered hydrologic functions than other areas, and are consequently

classified as low integrity. Conversely, areas

with low relative effect from mining, dams,

roads, cropland conversion, and grazing and

which also have high recovery potentials are

considered to have the highest probable hydrologic integrity.

Aquatic Integrity—An aquatic system that

exhibits high integrity has a mosaic of wellconnected, high-quality water and habitats that

support a diverse assemblage of native and

desired non-native species, the full expression

of potential life histories and dispersal mechanisms, and the genetic diversity necessary for

long-term persistence and adaptation in a variable environment. Subbasins exhibiting the

greatest level of these characteristics were rated

high, those exhibiting the least were rated low,

with medium ratings in between.

Terrestrial Community Types—The counterpart for estimating the integrity of terrestrial

habitat was developed by comparing pre-EuroAmerican settlement conditions with those

existing today. The resulting departure values

show how much each subbasin has undergone

broad-scale habitat changes in forest and rangelands. Risk to species persistence was assumed

to increase substantially when the availability of

current habitat fell below 75 percent of that

available historically.

116

This file was created by scanning the printed publication.

Text errors identified by the software have been corrected; 

however, some errors may remain.
117
Map 18—Composite ecological integrity ratings.

118
Composite Ecological

Integrity

The five component integrity ratings (forestland, rangeland, forest and rangeland hydrologic,

and aquatic systems), along with other information collected by the project, were used to develop

an overall estimate of ecological integrity of each

subbasin. Composite integrity was estimated by

comparing the component integrity ratings and

knowledge of actual on-the-ground conditions.

Currently, 16 percent of the Basin falls in the relatively high class, 24 percent in the moderate, and

60 percent in the low ecological integrity class

(figure 11; map 18).

Much of this low category includes lands

used for agriculture and grazing; a low rating does

not imply low productivity. The rating system

emphasizes ecological processes and functions and

thus has a tendency to rate human-altered systems

lower than systems dominated by more natural

processes. Eighty-four percent of the systems with

Currently, 16 percent of the Basin falls in the

relatively high class, 24percent in the

moderate, and 60 percent in the low ecological

integrity class.

high integrity are on FS- and BLM-administered

lands while 39 percent of the low integrity systems

are on FS- and BLM-administered lands.

While this information is useful from a Basinwide perspective, it does not describe what geographic areas of the Basin have higher or lower integrity. For this reason, subbasins were examined

to determine whether they clustered into groups

with common conditions, risks, and opportunities. This analysis was conducted separately for

forested landscapes and non-forested (range) landscapes; some subbasins contain both range and

forested landscapes, which may be in very different ecological condition.

For the cluster analysis, conditions within

forest clusters and range clusters are summarized

for the entire landscape, including both terrestrial

and aquatic components. Within any cluster, the

predominant conditions are an average —some

locations within the cluster may have specific conditions that are better or worse than indicated.

Forest Clusters—Subbasins with at least 20

percent of their area composed of dry forest, moist

forest, or cold forest potential vegetation groups

were classified as forest clusters. Relations among

variables reflecting vegetative conditions, hydrologic sensitivity, and human-caused disturbance of

native forests were studied to identify dominant

patterns and differences. What emerged were six

forest "clusters" of subbasins with similar conditions (map 19). Table 7 shows some of the key

characteristics of each cluster.

Subbasins in Forest Cluster 1 represent those

that are most intact ecologically, with the least loss

of integrity in both forest and aquatic ecosystems.

They are predominantly high elevation and tend

to be dominated by Wilderness or roadless areas,

and by cold, or moist and cold forests.

Subbasins in Forest Cluster 2 have a mix of

areas of moderate-to-high forest and aquatic integrity. Moderate to large blocks

of Wilderness or roadless areas

and cold or moist forests are

associated with the best conditions. Roaded non-wilderness

areas and dry and moist forests

119
Map 19—Subbasins grouped in Forest Clusters.

120
Table 7—Summary of Characteristics of Forest Clusters (all lands).

121
often coincide with more

altered vegetation conditions.

Subbasins in Forest

Cluster 3 are represented

by aquatic ecosystems that

are in relatively good condition, but have forests

that are in highly altered

and poor condition.

Wilderness or roadless

areas play a relatively

insignificant role, and

roading is moderate to

extensive. Forests in this

cluster are dominated

by moist and dry forest

potential vegetation

groups. The moderately

to highly productive forests in this cluster appear

to have substantially

changed structure, composition, and fire regime.

Subbasins in Forest Cluster 4 have relatively

low forest integrity and low or moderate aquatic

integrity. The highly altered forests are mostly

composed of the productive moist forest potential

vegetation group. They tend to have the highest

road densities in the project area, with few Wildernesses or roadless areas.

Subbasins in Forest Cluster 5 have low forest

integrity and low or moderate aquatic integrity.

Forest Cluster 5 is dominated by dry forests that

are extensively roaded and have little, if any, Wilderness. Forest structure and composition have

been substantially altered from historical conditions. These subbasins show large changes in fire

frequency but less change in fire severity.

Subbasins in Forest Cluster 6 are in relatively

poor condition from both a forest and an aquatic

perspective, with especially fragmented aquatic

systems and the lowest hydrologic integrity of any

forest cluster. Forests in this cluster are composed

Moist Forest. Relatively healthy, diverse, open stand of western larch, Douglas-fir, and grand fir. There is almost no western white pine because of the effects of blis- ter rust. Restoration would likely try to increase the amount of western white pine

and manage for these types of vegetation structures.

Moist Forest. Relatively unhealthy, closed stand of

Douglas-fir and grand fir. Because of dominance by

shade tolerant species that are susceptible to mortal- ity from insects and disease, these stands are at high

risk. They also are dense and have high accumula- tions of down, woody fuels and deep litter/duff

layers. Consequently they are at risk for intense

fires. Because the pattern is continuous the fires

can be extensive and large.

122
Dry forest. Unhealthy forest with multiple layers and large, down dead fuels and deep

litter and duff cover. The lower layers of small shade tolerant trees are susceptible to

insect, disease and stress mortality. They provide a ladder that will carry fires into the

crowns of the scattered large trees. Ecosystem management treatments would likely

harvest the smaller trees in the overstory and understory, and use prescribed fire to

change the character of the forest to look like the next photo.

Dry forest. Healthy forest with single layer of large

trees, few large down logs, grass understory, and shallow layer of litter and duff. Trees are vigorous because

there is little competition for moisture and nutrients

between trees. When fires occur in this stand they

generally burn with low intensity, in the grass fuels,

and do not burn in the crown.

of a variety of dry, moist,

and cold forest potential

vegetation groups. Subbasins are heavily roaded

with little, if any, Wilderness or roadless areas.

Range Clusters—

Selected subbasins that

historically had at least 20

percent of their area comprising dry grass, dry or

cool shrub, woodland,

and dry forest potential

vegetation groups were

classified as range clusters.

Relations among variables

reflecting vegetative conditions, hydrologic sensitivity, and human-caused

disturbance were also

used in a way similar, but

not identical, to that used

for forest clusters. Range

cluster analysis identified

dominant patterns and

differences between subsets of these variables. Six

range clusters emerged, where subbasins within

clusters were more like each other than subbasins

in other clusters (map 20). Table 8 summarizes

some of the key characteristics of each range cluster.

Rangeland and aquatic integrity are low to

moderate in Range Cluster 1, which is distinguished by large areas of western juniper woodland. These subbasins have high road densities

and little area in Wilderness or unroaded categories. Over half the area is managed in range

allotments.

Rangeland and aquatic integrity are high in

Range Cluster 2. There are large blocks of Wilderness and minimally roaded areas. These dry,

forested ranges are generally in the lower elevations and have little area managed as range allotments.

123
Map 20—Subbasins grouped in Range Clusters.

124
Table 8— Summary of characteristics of Range Clusters.

125
Dry, forested ranges

in Range Cluster 3 have

moderate rangeland integrity and mixed aquatic

integrity. These subbasins

contain little or no Wilderness or roadless areas.

Less than half of the subbasins are managed as

public land range allotments. These subbasins

are among the most

altered forested rangelands of the project area.

Subbasins in Range

Cluster 4 have the lowest

rangeland and aquatic

integrity of all rangelands in the project area.

There are no Wildernesses or roadless areas, and

range allotments on public lands are minimal.

Subbasins in this cluster are distinguished from

other clusters because they are composed primarily of cropland and pasture.

Subbasins in Range Cluster 5 are composed

of upland shrublands with moderate integrity

and mixed aquatic integrity. These subbasins

represent the bulk of the high-elevation ranges.

They are less developed, less roaded, more

remote, and tend to be less disturbed by agricultural conversion or grazing than croplanddominated subbasins.

Both rangeland and aquatic integrity are low

in Range Cluster 6 subbasins. The dry shrubland potential vegetation group dominates upland shrublands. Road densities are relatively

high. Most rangelands on public lands in this

cluster are managed as range allotments.

In summary, table 9 highlights the risks to

ecological integrity and opportunities to address

risks for each of the forest and range clusters.

Healthy riparian area with relatively dense cover of herb and shrub vegetation

along the stream banks and on the adjacent terraces. This system is resilient, has

high capacity to store water, and is a buffer for flood events.

Unhealthy riparian area with relatively low cover of

herb vegetation along the stream banks and on the ad- jacent terraces. Effects of summer season historic live- stock grazing caused the loss of shrubs and compacted

the surface soil. The stream cut down in the channel

and the water table dropped resulting in a dryer sys- tem. This system is less productive, less diverse, will

not store as much water, and has low buffering capaci- ty during flood events.

126
Table 9—Forest Clusters - primary characteristics, risks to ecological integrity, and opportunities to address risks to

integrity.

127
Table 9 (continued)—Rangeland Clusters - primary characteristics, risks to ecological integrity, and opportunities to

address risks to integrity.

128
Social and Economic

Resiliency

Socioeconomic resiliency, estimated

at the county level for this analysis, deals

with the adaptability of human systems.

High ratings imply that these systems are

highly adaptable; changes in one aspect are

quickly offset by self-correcting changes in other

sectors or aspects. High levels of socioeconomic

resiliency should reflect communities and economies that are adaptable to change, where "sense of

place" is recognized in management actions, and

where the mix of goods, functions, and services

that society wants from ecosystems is maintained.

Much like the biophysical components of the

ecosystem, social and economic resiliency are

affected by the size of the area measured (such as

community, county, or trade region) but reflect

human notions of the landscape rather than hydrologic subbasins. In general, larger units display

greater economic diversity (and by extension, economic and social resiliency) than smaller areas.

Economic Resiliency—This was measured by

the diversity among employment sectors. The

assumption is that people in high resiliency counties have ready access to a range of employment

opportunities if specific firms or business sectors

experience downturns. Little variation in economic diversity is found across the Basin at the

scale of BEA regions. The relatively high levels

of diversity (0.80 average on a scale of 1.0) at this

scale reflect rapid growth in the Basin since the

mid 1980s. Furthermore, the economy of the

Basin has shown resistance to national recessions except when they greatly affect the agricultural sector.

Much like the biophysical components of

the ecosystem, social and economic

resiliency are affected by the size of the

area measured (such as community,

county, or trade region).

A community that may be currently rated as

less resilient than others may still be able to

demonstrate resiliency fairly quickly, even in

the absence of strong economic structure or

diversity, larger population size, or other

typical indicators of resiliency.

The highest resiliency ratings are for the Boise, Idaho

Falls, Missoula, and Spokane BEA regions.

Estimating resiliency at the county level based

on employment diversity provides a different picture, requiring some care to interpret. The average resiliency index for the 100 counties in the

Basin is 0.70, much lower than the average calculated for the much larger BEA areas. This difference suggests that employment options, and thus

employment diversity, is less at the county level

than at the subregional (BEA) level.

Social Resiliency—This was measured at

the community scale using four factors: (1) civic

infrastructure (that is, leadership, preparedness for

change); (2) economic diversity; (3) social/cultural

diversity (population size, mix of skills); and (4)

amenity infrastructure (that is, attractiveness of

the community and surrounding area).

In general, communities that are smaller and

have lower resiliency in the Basin follow the arid

crescent that reaches south from the Columbia

Plateau in eastern Washington, around the western and southern boundaries of the Blue Mountains in Oregon, and continues east along the

Snake River plains in Idaho. This zone receives

less than 12 inches of precipitation each year.

Communities that exhibit higher resiliency

are located along the Cascade Range, the central

mountains of Idaho, and in the

vicinity of Missoula, Montana.

These communities have more

diverse economies than those that

are located in the arid crescent. They

also have the region's fastest rates of

human population increase and contain recreation settings that receive

the greatest amount of recreational

use. These areas contain the highest

129
Map 21—Socioeconomic resiliency racings by county.

130
concentrations of Forest Service-administered

lands, have more rainfall, and are generally montane environments.

When interpreting social resiliency, it should be

kept in mind that humans are highly adaptable.

Many communities have successfully addressed

change through mobilization of community residents and energy. In other words, a community

that may be currently rated as less resilient than

others may still be able to demonstrate resiliency

fairly quickly, even in the absence of strong economic structure or diversity, larger population

size, or other typical indicators of resiliency.

Socioeconomic Resiliency—This composite

rating, developed at the county level, combines

three factors discussed as part of social and economic resiliency: population density (expressed as

people/sq. mile); economic resiliency (defined by

economic diversity); and lifestyle diversity. The

combined score for a given county was developed

by weighting each of these three factors equally.

A low rating applies to 54 Basin counties with

low population density (less than 11 people/sq.

mile), low or medium economic resiliency and

low or medium lifestyle diversity (map 21). These

counties account for 68 percent of the area but

only 18 percent of the population. Some counties

lack sufficient population to sustain existing services or to develop necessary social services. A

related concern is whether these counties are able

to maintain the existing infrastructure both in the

physical and social senses especially in terms of

community. One example is counties that are

too sparse to sustain a medical clinic.

Another 20 Basin counties were rated as having

an intermediate level of resiliency; these were associated with mostly medium economic resiliency

ratings and generally either medium or high lifestyle diversity or population density ratings.

A high socioeconomic resiliency rating applies

to the 26 Basin counties that are more densely

populated (greater than 11 people/sq. mile) and

these counties have the highest level of economic

resiliency. Counties with high socioeconomic

resiliency typically have high population densities,

medium economic resiliency, and medium to high

lifestyle diversity values.

The results for socioeconomic resiliency are

somewhat deceptive. While 68 percent of the area

within the Basin is rated as having low socioeconomic resiliency, 67 percent of the people of the

Basin live in areas with high socioeconomic resiliency. One should not assume that those who live

in areas of low resiliency experience low economic

or social well-being, just as one should not assume

that those living in areas of high resiliency experience high economic or social well-being.

Finally, it is incorrect to associate high or low

resiliency at the county level with individual communities within counties, and would also be inappropriate to equate high or low resiliency with

quality of life or the desirability of a county as a

place to live. These relative ratings are intended

only to show relative levels of vulnerability to

change.

131
132
THE FUTURE OF THE

BASIN: ANALYSIS OF

MANAGEMENT OPTIONS

The preceding discussions have focused on

present conditions and trends in the Basin

and how they have been affected by past

events and actions. It would be useful to discuss

how these conditions could change in the future,

but this depends to a large extent on how society

chooses to manage lands, waters, and activities

that affect ecosystem functioning. Because the

ICBEMP is focused on management of FS and

BLM lands in the Basin, future management of

these lands and associated resources is especially

relevant.

However, future management direction is yet

to be determined. In this absence, the Science

Team considered three broad management options

and how Basin ecosystem conditions would likely be

affected under each. This provides a way to show

the extent to which alternative management strategies for FS and BLM lands would be likely to

influence existing conditions and trends. This

also provides a means to discuss risks and tradeoffs associated with different strategies.

Management Options

The analysis of management options involves

four major steps. First, alternative management

strategies are defined. Second, future conditions

for ecologic and economic systems within the

Basin are estimated. Third, trends in ecological

integrity under each alternative are modeled for

the next 100 years. This starts with the current

composite ecological integrity and examines

indices that reflect change in composite integrity.

Fourth, estimates of the socioeconomic resiliency

associated with the alternatives are developed.

Because of limited abilities to forecast overall economic activity, changes in socioeconomic resiliency are made for the next decade. The estimated

shift in population density for the next 50 years is

used to represent socioeconomic change in the Basin.

Option 1—The management specified

under existing FS and BLM plans would continue. Implementation of this option would

occur assuming continuation of recent budgets

and no interim direction (such as interim riparian

management directives). Existing FS and BLM

plans include Regional Guides, Forest Plans (for

each National Forest), and Resource Management

Plans and Management Framework Plans (for

BLM Resource Areas). Option 1 includes direction from current land-use plans of 35 National

Forests and 17 BLM Districts.

Although substantial variation exists among

agency plans, the general management approach

is to emphasize or accommodate sustained timber

and livestock forage production in an environmentally prudent manner while managing and

protecting other resources and values. Timber

and livestock management are integrated and

coordinated with the maintenance or enhancement of wildlife and fish habitat, scenic quality,

recreation opportunities, and other resource values

to achieve overall multiple-use goals and objectives. On many areas, management of other

133
resources or values is emphasized such as recreation, wilderness, big game and fish habitat, or

cultural resources. The current plans were developed with little or no attempt to coordinate management with other FS or BLM administrative

units (that is, National Forest or BLM District).

Option 2—This management strategy would

attempt to reduce risk to ecological integrity and

species viability by aggressively restoring ecosystem health through actively managing resources;

the results of management can resemble disturbance processes including insects, disease, and fire.

The option focuses on short-term (5-10 years)

vegetation management to improve the likelihood

of moving toward or maintaining ecosystem processes that function properly in the long term (50-

100 years). Vegetation management is designed

to reduce risks to property, products, and economic and social opportunities that can result

from large disturbance events. Direct involvement with state, county, and tribal governments

is used in planning, decision-making, and implementation of programs.

Priority in this option is placed on forest,

rangeland, and watershed health, assuming that

healthy streams, wildlife populations, and economic and social benefits will follow. Actions taken to achieve desired conditions are designed to

produce economic benefits whenever practical. A

wide variety of management tools is available under this option.

Option 3—This option would attempt to

reduce risk to ecological integrity and species viability by establishing a system of reserves on FSand BLM-administered lands. Reserves would be

located to include all representative vegetation

types and be large enough to contain disturbance

events typical to those vegetation types. The level

of human use and management would be low

within the reserves. Ecological disturbance events

are expected and would occur naturally within the

reserves. When disturbance events (such as fire

and disease) occur, actions would be taken to

reduce the likelihood of the event extending

beyond the boundary of the reserve.

Most restoration activities would occur on

lands managed by the FS and BLM outside

reserves, although restoration actions could be

taken within reserves where there is a high risk for

events occurring in the short term that would preclude achieving desired outcomes in the long term

(for example, maintaining habitats for endangered

or threatened species or other scarce habitats, or

controlling erosion by rehabilitating roads). Management outside the reserve boundaries includes

an emphasis on conserving remaining old forest

stands and roadless areas larger than 1,000 acres.

Reserves are assumed to be selected for representation of vegetation and rare animal species.

Although some reserves may be designed around

the needs of single species, the intent is to conserve biodiversity across the landscape, and to

meet the needs of species groups or communities.

No commercial timber harvest is assumed to be

permitted inside reserves, but limited silvicultural

activities are allowed to enhance species viability.

Livestock grazing is assumed to be essentially

eliminated from reserves unless it is needed to

improve the long-term conditions for which the

reserve was established. Dispersed, low-impact

recreation use is assumed to be allowed as long as

it does not affect populations of rare species or

their habitat.

Management of reserves is focused on longterm maintenance of ecological processes and conditions with which plant and animal species have

evolved. Areas adjacent reserves are managed as

buffers to help maintain reserves by avoiding barriers or breaks in the vegetation that would isolate

the reserves. Management is allowed in buffers,

but road densities are usually low. Reserves are

connected where possible by vegetative corridors

to allow interchange of animals. Management

occurs within corridors also, but habitat conditions are important considerations for management activities to allow for dispersal of animals.

134
Smoke from fires is a concern that could be reduced through carefully designed prescribed burning to reduce the

likelihood of wildfires.

Resource-Specific Outcomes

Landscape Ecology—The broad-scale landscape analysis of management options revealed

substantial differences in outcomes in terms of

disturbance processes, vegetation structure and

composition, smoke projections, insect and disease mortality, and other elements. Continuing

current management results in higher levels of

wildfire and smoke, and increases in exotic plant

invasions compared to managing with a restoration emphasis (Option 2). From

a landscape perspective, elements

likely to raise concerns resulting

from a reserve emphasis (Option

3) are the high potential for large

wildfires at the rural/wildland

interface, and high levels of summer and fall smoke.

The expansion of exotics is rated high or moderate

across the options; reducing exotic expansion to a

low level would require more aggressive approaches to containment and eradication than is proposed by any of the three options.

The relation between disturbance events (that

is, fire, insects, and disease) and plant succession is

affected by management activities. Continuing

current management results in disturbances that

reverse succession to a high degree, whereas

Continuing current management results in

higher levels of wildfire and smoke, and

increases in exotic plant invasions compared to

managing with a restoration emphasis.

135
emphasis on restoration results in a high level of disturbance that accelerates succession. The reserve

emphasis results in disturbance levels that are low

in reversing, accelerating, and maintaining succession regimes. Thus, if the goal is to increase the

area in late-successional forest types, the restoration emphasis is more effective.

The restoration emphasis shifts timing and

intensity of smoke production to a great extent

by reducing the smoke associated with wildfire

and increasing the smoke from prescribed fire

across several seasons of the year. Option 2 also

maintains and restores vegetation structure and

composition to more nearly approximate preEuropean settlement conditions, and reduces

the likelihood that large wildfires might occur

at the rural/wildland interface.

There is little difference in total area within

each terrestrial community at the Basin level over

the 100-year timeframe. Tracking change of a

specific area through time reveals much more

change than these net numbers suggest. In total,

specific areas with increases are offset by other

areas with decreases. All of the alternatives result

in reductions in the mid-seral forested vegetation

types, the vegetation most susceptible to insect,

disease, and fire at the current time. Late-seral

forest vegetation does increase under each of

the options.

Terrestrial Ecology—The status of terrestrial

plant and animal species and their habitats on FSand BLM-administered lands were assessed for

each of the management options. Assessments

were based on expert opinion concerning the likely outcome for species and their habitats. The experts were asked to make judgments about habitat

conditions for historical, current, and future timeframes. Habitat outcomes were classed into five

viability outcome categories with 1 being the most

broadly distributed and 5 being isolated local populations with strong potential for

extirpation (table 10).

Habitat for nearly all 173 species analyzed is most favorable

under historic conditions, and less

favorable at present. A comparison of the options to current conditions reflects

a conservative view of humans' ability to restore

ecosystems that have been heavily modified.

Even Option 2, which has the most beneficial

results, is projected to result in only moderate

improvements over existing conditions. Option 1

is projected to result in continued declines in species viability. Option 3 would have intermediate

results, but would more closely resemble those of

Option 2. Compared on the basis of the number

of species falling in the most favorable outcome

categories (Outcomes 1 and 2), none of the

options approach historic conditions.

Differences among options also were examined

by determining the number of species that fall

into Outcome classes 1, 2, or 3. The break between Outcome 3 and 4 is significant because

Outcome 4 indicates conditions under which

populations are largely isolated and Outcome 5

is associated with a high likelihood of extirpation.

Option 1 is projected to support the fewest species at the level of Outcome 1, 2, or 3, while

Options 2 and 3 would support the most. The

number of species falling under Outcomes 4 or 5

in eastern Oregon and Washington varies across

options (59 under Option 1,41 under Option 2,

and 45 under Option 3), and in the upper

Columbia Basin (45 under Option 1, 32 under

Option 2, and 33 under Option 3). Distinctions

among options are further clarified by examining

the number of species with significant changes

(+0.5 units) in outcome. Habitat for few species

is projected to improve under Option 1, and a significant number of species are projected to experience habitat and viability decreases. Option 3

shows approximately equal numbers of increases

and decreases, while Option 2 shows more species

for which habitat increases than decreases.

Cautions that apply to these analyses are based

on the broad geographic and time scale of the

Habitat for few species is projected to improve

under Option 1, and a significant number of

species are projected to experience habitat and

viability decreases.

136
FS- and BLMAdministered Land

Habitat is broadly distributed

across the planning area with

opportunity for continuous or

nearly continuous occupation by

the species, little or no limitation

on population interactions.

Populations are broadly distributed

across the analysis area with little

or no limitation on population

interactions.

Habitat is broadly distributed

across the planning area but gaps

exist within this distribution. Disjunct patches of habitat are

typically large enough and close

enough to other patches to permit

dispersal among patches and to

allow species to interact as a

metapopulation.

Populations are broadly distributed

across the analysis area but gaps

exist within this distribution. Disjunct populations are typically

large enough and close enough to

other populations to permit

dispersal among populations and to

allow species to interact as a

metapopulation.

Habitat exists primarily as

patches, some of which are

small or isolated to the degree

that species interactions are

limited. Local sub-populations

in most of the species' range

interact as a metapopulation, but some patches are so disjunct

that sub-populations in those

patches are essentially isolated

from other populations.

The species is distributed primarily

as disjunct populations, some of

which are small or isolated to the

degree that species interactions

are limited. Local sub-populations

in most of the species' range

interact as a metapopulation but

some populations are so disjunct

that they are essentially isolated

from other populations.

Habitat is typically distributed as

isolated patches, causing strong

limitations for population interac- tion among patches, and limited

opportunity for dispersal among

patches. Some local populations

may be extirpated and rates of

recolonization will likely be slow.

Populations are typically distrib- uted as isolated sub-populations, with strong limitations in interac- tions of sub-populations and limited

opportunity for dispersal among

patches. Some local populations

may be extirpated and rate of

vacant habitat recolonization will

likely be slow.

Habitat is very scarce throughout

the area with little or no possibility

of interactions among local

populations, strong potential for

extirpations, and little likelihood of

recolonization.

Populations are highly isolated

throughout the area with little or

no possibility of interactions among

local populations, strong potential

for extirpations, and little likelihood of vacant habitat

recolonization.

Table 10—Habitat outcome analysis.

137

Cumulative Effects
analysis, the coarse resolution of the data and

planning guidance, limitations on ability to infer

population results from habitat analysis, and gaps

in knowledge. As a result, these findings should

be viewed as working hypotheses subject to testing

under adaptive management.

Economics—In general the Basin is experiencing growth and has robust economies. This varies

by county, community, and geographic area. The

options are evaluated within the context of these

current economic conditions. Regarding economic development, the effects of the options on jobs

Basin-wide would be within one percent of those

resulting from FS- and BLM-administered lands

under continuation of current management. As a

percent of all jobs in the Basin, the impact would

be 0.1 percent. All three options increase Basinwide employment in jobs resulting from recreation activity by 0.5 percent of total current Basin

employment. In the east side portion of the

project area, all three options would reduce timber

employment by slightly less than the gain in recreation employment. Jobs associated with recreation activity do tend to pay less than timber jobs,

but economic indicators in recreation counties are

stronger than those in manufacturing counties.

Ten counties might experience negative effects

from range management direction proposed under

Option 3, but not from the other options. Twenty-one counties might experience positive economic effects from road management decisions in

all options through their impact on recreation

activity. Four of these are among the 10 range

counties. All 16 timber counties might experience

negative impacts to their timber sector under

Options 2 and 3. Combining this information

with measures of economic resiliency, two counties containing 0.5 percent of the Basin's population have economies that may be affected by the

options. For most people in the Basin, expansion

in other economic sectors means that the impacts

of FS and BLM decisions will be negligible.

If the agencies' goal is to minimize impact on

economic resiliency, attention can be focused

on these two counties.

Conclusions from the economic welfare analysis are quite different. The FS- and BLM-administered lands provide society with greater benefits

from recreation and the existence of unroaded

areas than from production of timber and cattle

forage. Yet, at the margin, most of the impact

under all options involves reduced timber production. From this standpoint, to justify selecting

an option relative to Option 1, decision-makers

would have to feel that the value of ecosystem

outputs or conditions gained that are not included

in the analysis (such as fish population improvements, improved water quality, reduced risk of

wildfires and floods, and improved ecosystem

health) are worth at least $33 million to $ 136 million annually in eastern Oregon and Washington,

and $3 to $83 million annually in the upper Basin.

Effects on people who recreate in the Basin,

who value the existence of unroaded areas, or who

consume cattle raised on FS- or BLM-administered lands would be minor. Purchasers of lumber

products will experience only minor changes in

prices. The most significant negative effects will

be experienced by people employed by the timber

industry in the Basin. It is difficult to say how

long these impacts would last, but given compensating increases in harvests from private land and

the recent pace of economic growth, the transitions should be short-lived (based on experience

in western Oregon and Washington, approximately five years).

Social—Projections of social consequences and

outcomes associated with the options were developed primarily through a series of panels involving a wide array of publics, elected officials, and

tribal members. These panels were particularly

helpful in narrowing the scope of concerns and

gaining insight into perceptions and values held

by participants.

From a social perspective the five main areas of

concern were: (1) predictability in commodity

The most significant negative effects will

be experienced by people employed by the

timber industry in the Basin.

138
Options 1 and 3 generally

were predicted to have greater

impacts and be less acceptable

to more people compared to

Option 2.

outputs and outcomes from the Federal lands;

(2) public access to the decision-making processes;

(3) primary or secondary effects that might occur

on private lands; (4) effects on communities and

the quality of life; and (5) effects on American

Indian tribes. Options 1 and 3 generally were

predicted to have greater impacts and be less

acceptable to more people compared to Option

2—although in reality, individuals will find

things they like and dislike about every option.

There is strong interest within the Basin concerning scenic quality, especially associated with

FS- and BLM-administered lands. Even though

90 percent of the FS- and BLM-administered

lands are rated as having high scenic integrity in

the current situation, Options 2 and 3 provide

slight increases in areas rated as high scenic integrity for the first decade.

There also is considerable public interest in

road access issues. Each option considered a different level of emphasis on road closure and obliteration. At the 100-year timeframe for all options,

FS- and BLM-administered lands would move to

a higher percentage of moderate road densities by

shifting away from higher road densities. In areas

projected to have increases in road densities the

increases were not projected to exceed moderate.

Aquatic ecology—The options were compared

relative to their effectiveness in maintaining and

protecting aquatic ecosystem function, structure,

and processes, and to their expected effects on the

effective distribution and abundance of habitat

with reference to populations of 22 native fish

species and subspecies. Specific emphasis was

placed on protection, maintenance, and restoration of aquatic and riparian habitats.

The evaluation by species centered on each

option's ability to conserve core and fringe areas,

prevent declines in habitat and populations, and

rehabilitate habitats and depressed populations.

Core areas are concentrations of strong populations where the species is well distributed among

adjacent watersheds. Fringe areas are where a relatively few occupied watersheds are isolated and

fragmented from the larger portions of the species

range, but have high genetic integrity or potentially unique genetic characteristics.

The species focus is primarily on seven key

salmonids that are viewed as important indicators

of aquatic integrity. Fifteen endemic, narrowly

distributed species were also evaluated. Option 1

is predicted to be deficient in sustaining aquatic

and riparian ecosystem function and structure

through time. The result is a projection that further declines would not be halted for all of the key

salmonids and 14 of the endemic species. Option

3 appears to provide a slightly more favorable outcomes associated with the key salmonids and the

narrow endemics. The options result in varying

levels of effectiveness in providing for ecological

functions and processes. Each provides a different

mix of protection and management processes

related to aquatic/riparian systems The restoration emphasis and reserve emphasis are generally

effective at maintaining and protecting riparian

functions; Option 2 has the added benefit, as

viewed from a manager's perspective, of increased

flexibility.

Option 3 appears to provide

a slightly more favorable,

outcome associated with the

key salmonids and the narrow

endemics.

139
Effects on Ecological

Integrity and Socioeconomic

Resiliency

The three options result in very different trends

in ecological integrity. Continuing current management approaches (Option 1) results in declining trends in integrity on 95 percent of the FSand BLM-administered land. If the goal is to

manage for stable or improving trends in ecological integrity, the restoration emphasis (Option 2)

meets this goal for all FS- or BLM-administered

lands while the reserve emphasis (Option 3) meets

the goal for 95 percent of the area. Management

strategies that take a landscape approach and

emphasize ecosystem processes and functions are

more effective in improving ecological integrity in

the future than are strategies that emphasize

stand-level treatments and commodity production. In the restoration emphasis, substantial forested area is shown as stable, a future projection

much improved over the declining trends projected for continuing the current management

approaches. In the reserve emphasis, declines in

intensity trends are mostly associated with impacts

from natural events (for example, flood, fire, sediment, and erosion) or from very large events

allowed within the reserves.

Changing the management approaches in the

restoration emphasis to result in more area with

improving trends (rather than the stable trends as

projected) involves a complex set of interactions

that must be considered. Decreasing road density

would tend to shift toward improving trends, yet

it complicates the ability to treat overstocked

stands, increase the mosaic patterns on the landscape, and suppress wildfire in highly fragmented

watersheds. Increasing prescribed burning, thinning, and harvest in the areas most susceptible to

insect, disease, and fire create potential risk to

aquatic resources. Addressing these issues requires

careful prioritization of risks and

identification of areas that will

respond most effectively to

treatment.

The rangeland situation also involves a complex set of interactions to consider in attempting

to move to higher integrity. Exotic weed expansion, trends in riparian conditions, changes in fire

regimes, and encroaching woody species remain

primary concerns in these vegetation types even

though rangeland areas have been improving over

the last several decades. Rangeland conditions

may not be as responsive as forested areas to the

aquatic conservation strategies. Risks are also

introduced when no restoration is undertaken.

Roads with poor drainage networks, and increased

insect and disease susceptibility, are examples

where failing to take action may increase risk to

ecological integrity.

Predicting trends for social and economic resiliency is difficult because of the inherent uncertainty in social systems. Some may draw the

conclusion that we have impoverished ourselves

and that ecosystem and human community sustainability is imperiled. Such a view at the Basin

level leads to erroneous conclusions. First, the

forest and range ecosystems do not, in themselves,

provide the economic foundations of the Basin.

Second, many of the ecosystems have been modified by human action to increase their production

of native (for example, timber and grass) or exotic

(for example, wheat or cattle) crops or animals.

Much of the Basin is expected to remain rural,

where risks are associated with residents, and in

primitive areas, where risks are associated with visitors. Local publics will be expected to continue

to express preferences for stability in scenery and

lobby to have projects put in someone else's backyard. Recreation use is expected to increase sharply leading to greater conflicts between recreation

use and land management actions including road

closures. The proportion of the Basin that is

sparsely populated and where Federal agencies are

a visible part of the communities is projected to

change very little, and people will continue to

140

In general the greatest opportunities for

restoration are in those areas with moderate or

low ecological integrity.
place demands on Federal resources that are seen as part of

their community infrastructures.

In general the greatest opportunities for restoration are in

those areas with moderate or low

ecological integrity; substantial opportunity exists

in the dry and moist forest clusters and the rangeland clusters having moderate or low ecological

integrity. There are also significant human populations in these same areas which could directly

benefit from improved ecological conditions. Another opportunity to improve ecological integrity

is in areas associated with moderate integrity that

are positioned between large blocks of high integrity. They represent areas where terrestrial and

aquatic systems can be connected; examples include the Blackfoot and Bitterroot areas of western Montana.

Managing FS and BLM resources under an

approach that continues current management

(Option 1) generally results in the lowest

ratings compared to other options.

Timber and range outputs can be concentrated

in those areas of moderate integrity with low fire

risk (for example, the moist forest and range

grouping). Commodity production can come

from areas that have low or moderate integrity but

are candidates for restoration. In these areas there

are low down-side risks both from fire and hydrologic problems. In addition, almost all of the isolated resource-dependent communities are in

these areas, where maintaining commodity flows

could have a positive effect on community resiliency.

141

Many of the opportunities for ecosystem restoration are in riparian areas.
Summary of Outcomes

Managing FS and BLM resources under an

approach that continues current management

(Option 1) generally results in the lowest ratings

compared to other options. Results would include declines in species habitat and populations,

increases in fire severity, continued declines in fish

habitat and population strongholds, and continued departures from historical disturbance processes. Trends would generally be decreasing

composite integrity and increasing risks in terms

of people and ecological integrity interactions.

From a social and economic perspective this

option would continue, and even accelerate,

many of the conflicts in resource use present

today.

Managing FS and BLM resources under a

reserve area approach (Option 3) generally results

in mixed outcomes relative to ecosystem management goals. This approach improves aquatic and

terrestrial habitat conditions compared to continuing current management approaches, yet large

severe fires are projected to have detrimental affects on landscape patterns and processes. Currently degraded systems within the reserve areas

would recover very slowly, with some not recovering for hundreds of years. Trends in composite

integrity and the risks to people and ecological integrity interactions will, for the most part, be improving (decreasing risk) or stable, albeit at a

slightly lower level than for the restoration management emphasis. The social and economic effects associated with a large reserve system will be

highly variable, mostly depending on the resiliency of the communities and counties in close proximity to the reserves.

Managing FS and BLM resources under a

restoration emphasis approach (Option 2) within

the Basin generally results in outcomes that are

more consistent with long-term disturbance processes, have fewer species with declining habitat

outcomes, and generally halt the decline of salmonid fish habitats as compared with the current

approaches or with managing a network of

reserves. It results in stable or improving trends

in composite integrity, and also results in decreasing or stable trends in the risk to people and ecological integrity for most of the area. While

having some negative effects on social and economic elements, it appears to be the most responsive to American Indian tribal concerns and

public acceptability objectives, and to contribute

to overall economic and social resiliency.

When compared with traditional approaches,

active management appears to have the greatest

chance of producing the mix of goods and services

that people want from ecosystems, as well as

maintaining or enhancing the long-term ecological integrity of the Basin.

142
CONCLUSION:

FROM SCIENCE

TO MANAGEMENT

The main purpose of the Science Team's

effort was to provide a description and

explanation of current physical, biological,

economic, and social conditions and trends in

the Basin. The next step is for land managers to

decide how to use these findings to manage Forest

Service and Bureau of Land Management-administered lands in the Basin. This is anticipated to

be done according to procedures specified by the

National Environmental Policy Act—in this case,

through development of two environmental

impact statements (EISs), one covering the eastside (eastern Washington and Oregon) and the

other covering the upper Columbia basin (Idaho,

northwestern Montana, and portions of Nevada,

Utah, and Wyoming).

The EISs are expected to describe and evaluate a

set of possible management alternatives, including

descriptions of desired future conditions, objectives

and standards for managing FS and BLM lands, and

the types of activities that would be undertaken to

address ecosystem conditions. Release of Draft EISs

is followed by a public comment period, after which

they are revised and published as Final EISs. Agency

decision-makers then publish a Record of Decision

describing which alternative has been selected for

management of FS- and BLM-administered lands,

and how it will be implemented. For this project,

the Record of Decision would contain additional

detail about how existing FS and BLM management

plans would be changed to reflect the new Basinwide emphasis. Any new direction is expected to

supplement and modify existing plans, not replace

them. This would be done to make sure that each

management unit is being administered with the

larger ecosystem picture in mind.

In conclusion, the role of this science assessment in the natural resource policy arena of the interior Columbia Basin is to characterize conditions,

describe risks and uncertainties, and project trends

and outcomes likely from management options. A

massive undertaking such as this is not likely to be

completely satisfying to anyone. It owes its existence,

its success, or its failure to no single individual. It

represents biophysical and socioeconomic elements

at a scale never before attempted, and is therefore

viewed by its authors as only a beginning. The task

of fully understanding ecosystem processes and functions is one that will never be completed.

The future holds uncertain outcomes. Politics,

the courts, public sentiment, policy, management,

and science all intermix in a complex web that defies

certainty in future projections. Science has provided

information about strengths and weaknesses in the

Basin's ecological and socioeconomic systems that

should enlighten and motivate the debate about

future options. The science process has improved

understanding of potential outcomes, consequences,

and interactions.

The role of science now shifts to a new arena as

the complex interactions in the public policy process

continue. In the end, society moves toward changed

relationships, new direction, and new processes that

will define stewardship of natural resources into the

next century. There is no stepping back nor denying

that change is imminent; as this round of change

concludes, another begins. We hope that the information contained in the science documents and

summarized here provides a starting point for these

discussions.

143
144
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. 1996. Status of the interior Columbia basin: summary

of scientific findings. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-385. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of

Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station; U.S. Department of the Interior,

Bureau of Land Management. 144 p.

The Status of the Interior Columbia Basin is a summary of the scientific findings

from the Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project. The Interior Columbia Basin includes some 145 million acres within the northwestern

United States. Over 75 million acres of this area are managed by the USDA

Forest Service or the USDI Bureau of Land Management. A framework for

ecosystem management is described that assumes the broad purpose is to

maintain the integrity of ecosystems over time and space. An integrated scientific assessment links landscape, aquatic, terrestrial, social, and economic characterizations to describe the biophysical and social systems. Ecosystem

conditions within the Basin have changed substantially within the last 100

years. The status of ecosystems is described in terms of current conditions and

trends under three broadly defined management options. The scientific information brought forward will be used in decision-making, and may potentially

amend Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management plans within the Basin.

The information highlighted here represents an integrated view of biophysical

and socioeconomic elements at a scale never before attempted. The risks and

opportunities are characterized in the broad context of the Basin for managers

and the public to use as a foundation for discussion about future management.

The Forest Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture is dedicated to the principle of multiple use management of the Nation's forest resources for sustained

yields of wood, water, forage, wildlife, and recreation.

Through forestry research, cooperation with the States

and private forest owners, and management of the

National Forests and National Grasslands, it strives as

directed by Congress to provide increasingly greater

service to a growing Nation.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)

prohibits discrimination in its programs on the basis of

race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability,

political beliefs, and marital or familial status. (Not all

prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with

disabilities who require alternative means of communication of program information (Braille, large print,

audiotape, etc.) should contact the USDA Office of

Communications at (202) 720-2791.

To file a complaint, write the Secretary of Agriculture,

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC

20250, or call 800-245-6340 (voice) or (202) 720-

1127 (TDD). USDA is an equal employment opportunity employer.

Pacific Northwest Research Station

333 S.W. First Avenue

P.O. Box 3890

Portland, Oregon 97208-3890