Sandbanks Draft Veg Mgmt Plan - Ontario Parks

APPENDIX F – Woodlands Monitoring Protocol
transect, and a photo is taken of the transect. The same transects will be evaluated
each time. Orange paint should be brought each year to touch up the marks.
10 m
25 m
75 m
Photographic Monitoring
One of the easiest methods of tracking vegetation change is to photograph an area in
the same location over regular intervals. Although this has not been initiated yet, it can
be initiated immediately in the forested area of the campground and repeated in 5 year
intervals or sooner, depending on staff availability and the rate of vegetation change
• Photos should be taken during downed woody debris monitoring (mid-May) and
during vegetation monitoring (mid-June)
• Photos should be taken with a digital camera. An attempt should be made to take
the pictures in favourable light conditions, and at as high a resolution as possible.
• Photos should be taken at the end of each 10 m transect, so that the transect, the
base tree, and some of the surrounding area is visible. The individual ID information
for the photo should be written on a board and visible within the photo. For example,
the photo taken at campsite 626, at the 75 m distance, in May 2006 should say: 626
– 75 May/06.
• Exact locations of all photos taken should be recorded and stored with the photos
(including campsite post number, direction photos taken in, and GPS coordinates if
possible).
• Photos should be stored on CD, but should also be printed and saved in hardcopy.
Vegetation
This protocol allows comparison of numbers, not percent cover, of native and non-native
plants species and tree saplings and shrubs among distances from campsites and
years. It is based on a protocol developed for monitoring tallgrass prairies. Number is
preferable to cover as it is less subjective, faster to evaluate, and simplifies the analysis.
• Vegetation monitoring should occur in mid June, prior to the end of the school year
and the July long weekend. This will allow us to evaluate vegetation abundance
without disturbing park visitors and before they can have an immediate impact on
these variables.
• The number of all herbaceous individuals less than 50 cm in height are counted within
a 1 m wide area centred on the 10 m transect (ie: a 10 m 2 plot). In most cases this is
quite easy as understorey diversity and abundance is low. In areas with high
abundance of individual plants numbers can be estimated.
• The number of tree saplings and shrubs (woody species greater than 50 cm in height
and less than 5 cm diameter at breast height) are counted within the same transect as
the herbaceous vegetation.
Downed Woody Debris
This protocol allows comparison of numbers, not volumes, of downed woody debris
among distances from campsites and years. It is based on elements of the Ecological
Sandbanks Vegetation Management Plan A-20
Ontario Parks, SE Zone
2009