Good project planning is essential to developing appropriate and achievable restoration programs. This paper discusses the history of the Bunker Hill site and its prior condition. It further discusses the planning approaches that were used and the guidance statements that were obtained. These guidance statements generated clarity for prescription development and measurement of success on the Bunker Hill hillsides project in the Silver Valley of northern Idaho. The hillsides are part of the Bunker Hill Superfund site, a 54 km 2 area centered in Kellogg, Idaho that has been contaminated by heavy metals from a long history of mining and metallurgical activity. Environmental documentation found within the site's remedial investigation/feasibility study (RI/FS) and Record of Decision provided some general concepts of restoration work that could occur on the site but was insufficient to avoid long-term conflicts between stakeholders. In particular, a 425 ha area on the south end of the site was composed of steep, heavily eroded, denuded, and inaccessible hillsides that were contributing substantial quantities of sediment to the Coeur d'Alene River basin. Successful restoration of the hillsides required agreements between stakeholders with respect to specific goals, objectives, performance standards, and monitoring methods. These and other guidance elements guide design and execution of the restoration program. Accordingly, the authors convened a series of three workshops with project stakeholders that outlined project-specific guidance statements for this undertaking to ensure that conflicts were minimized and that the path forward for the project was well-founded.These statements have guided project development, execution, monitoring, and mid-course corrections and has resulted in a successful project with few to no stakeholder conflicts.
Matrix models for 5-year projections of natural bottomland hardwood stands in the Southeastern Coastal Plain are presented. The diameter distribution projection of species groups is based on diameter class, stand basal area, and trees per ac. The models were developed from data collected on 43 permanent 0.2 ac plots installed on six site types in the southeast. Predictions, based on 25 continuous forest inventory plots, show good agreement between the actual and projected diameter distributions. The models will be useful for short-term inventory projection and inclusion in forest management optimization routines. South. J. Appl. For. 14(4):189-195.
Active hillsides restoration included development and installation of site prescriptions using adaptive management and monitoring of results. Initial prescriptions for hillsides restoration and their implementation were based on a combination of site characterization and demonstration studies. Prescriptions were modified over time as the results of past activities became evident. Hillsides have responded well to prescriptions and successional processes appear to have been re-initiated. Adaptive management induced prescription modifications including changing liming materials to improve performance, increasing seeding rate to improve initial plant canopy cover, adjusting seed mix composition to remove poorly germinating species and adding herbaceous species with exceptional establishment and growth performance, increasing shrub sizes to improve establishment, and selecting tackifiers that reflected actual site performance of the products. Target plant covers were 50 percent or greater and overall plant canopy cover from 1998 and 1999 operational hydroseeding averaged over 61 percent after two growing seasons. Red top, bluegrass, sheep fescue, Idaho fescue, and timothy dominate the seeded communities. Plant and mulch cover is approximately 10 percent higher on east-facing slopes compared to west-facing slopes. Areas of low cover are often composed of rock pavement surfaces. New seedlings are emerging and volunteer plant species are appearing on the slopes. Turbidity of surface water emanating from the hillside watersheds has dropped substantially from past years. Instantaneous comparisons between background turbidity at the mouths of Government and Deadwood creeks indicate that State of Idaho water quality standards are being met in most cases. Early successional processes appear to be emerging on the hills with assistance provided by wildlife.
Abstract. Adaptive management follows a general model of study, prescribe, monitor, and refine management approaches. The original Record of Decision concerning remediation activities at the smelter-affected Bunker Hill site in northern Idaho contained little guidance on how to evaluate the success of remediation. Therefore, the Bunker Hill project team convened a series of three workshops in 1998 and 1999 to develop remediation guidance statements including goals, objectives, and performance standards. Project purpose and goals defined broadly based visions for the project. Objectives identified specific approaches to achieving the purpose and goals, assuming all work would be conducted under the umbrella of adaptive management. Performance standards were developed for each objective to measure its success. Owing to significant uncertainty regarding performance of site soils at varying levels of plant cover, performance standards were considered interim until monitoring could measure parameters of site performance. Site remediation activities are now essentially complete and monitoring has been ongoing since 1998. An interagency project team workshop was convened in 2004 to evaluate site performance and to validate or invalidate the ability of the interim performance standards (IPSs) to clearly reflect the project's objectives. Based on the workshop and site performance, proposed final performance standards (FPSs) were developed at the workshop. This paper presents the evolution of the performance standards and how monitoring results were used to validate or modify those standards. The role and importance of goal setting and their evolution in remediation projects are presented in the context of actual project performance. Additional
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