San Bernardino National Forest Land Management Plan - Part 2

Land Management Plan Part 2
San Bernardino National Forest Strategy
FH 1 - Vegetation Restoration
September 2005
Restore vegetation through reforestation and revegetation or other appropriate methods after
stand replacing fires, drought, or other events or activities that degrade or cause a loss of plant
communities. Post reforestation activities may require treatment of competing vegetation to
ensure the ability of the planted trees to out-compete vegetation for moisture, nutrients and
sunlight. Treatment may require use of pesticides including herbicides.
• Where needed, implement reforestation using native species grown from local seed
sources. In such plantings consider long-term sustainability of the forest vegetation by
taking into account factors, such as fire regime and regional climate.
• Consider small nursery operations to facilitate reforestation and revegetation and to
improve restoration success where direct seeding is ineffective.
• Use noxious-weed-free seed in all plantings.
• Consider limited use of giant sequoia because of their resistance to air pollution and
insects.
Linked to National Strategic Plan
Goal 5 - Improve watershed condition, objective 3.
FH 2 - Prevention of Fire Induced Type Conversion
Minimize vegetation type conversion (permanent or long-term loss of plant communities)
resulting from increased human caused fires:
• Promote intervals greater than 35 years between fires in all coastal sage scrub types to
reduce the likelihood that they will be converted to annual grasslands or other vegetation
types. Within the range of the California gnatcatcher treat chaparral adjacent to coastal
sage scrub to reduce the threat of wildland fire and/or to reduce the intensity of fires that
burn into it.
• Use prescribed fire and other methods to protect subalpine forest and woodlands from
stand replacing fires.
• Protect closed-cone woodlands and forests (Coulter) with developing seed (cone) banks
until they are sufficiently large to perpetuate stands after fire. In Coulter pine woodlands
not growing in chaparral, or other highly flammable vegetation types reduce the potential
for high-intensity, stand replacing fires.
• Protect desert woodlands (e.g., pinyon-juniper) and desert scrub vegetation from burning
outside the desired range of variability. After fires, protect these types from disturbances
and additional fires to ensure natural regeneration.
• Emphasize fire prevention, strategically placed treatments, and fuelbreak maintenance to
reduce the number of fires burning at excessively short fire-return intervals (less than 25
years) that have degraded, or could degrade, low-elevation (below 2,000 feet) chaparral.
Linked to National Strategic Plan
Goal 5 - Improve watershed condition, objectives 1 and 3.
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