Technical Report

Low Intensity Monitoring 2010 Water Year

URL: https://webapps.usgs.gov/mrgescp/documents/MRGESCP%20Monitoring%20Plan%20Team_2011_Low%20Intensity%20Monitoring%202010%20Water%20Year.pdf

Date: 2011/03/11

Author(s): MRGESCP

Publication: Prepared for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Prepared by the Monitoring Plan Team of the Middle Rio Grande Endangered Species Collaborative Program, 23 p.

Abstract:

The Middle Rio Grande Endangered Species Collaborative Program (Program) funds habitat restoration projects as a management action designed specifically to achieve RPA Element S of the 2003 Biological Opinion and more broadly to improve habitat conditions for the benefit of the federally listed Rio Grande silvery minnow and Southwest Willow Flycatcher. Determining the effectiveness of the restoration projects over a range of elements and scales can provide crucial information to resource managers with which to make future management decisions. The Program initialized an Effectiveness Monitoring Plan that focused on collecting, analyzing and presenting physical information collected on a set of representative habitat restoration sites as a two year pilot program beginning in the 2010 water year. This report provides the preliminary data from the first year of this two year program.

Four major elements were included in the Program’s Effectiveness Monitoring Plan: species (minnow and flycatcher), hydrology, vegetation and geomorphology. The species element addresses the questions of whether the target species are present on the restoration sites and potentially can provide insight into the species’ life histories and habitat preferences. The hydrology element looks at both the larger scale inundation metric and site specific habitat characteristics of restoration sites. The vegetation and geomorphology monitoring both investigate structure, function, and maturity of restoration sites with a particular focus on potentially determining a range of expected site longevity and, as a result, future restoration maintenance schedules.