Tweedsmuir Lichen Restoration Tactical Implementation Plan
In 2017, an operational trial explored lichen seeding as a restoration treatment with the intent of accelerating lichen colonization and growth post wildfire. Accelerated recovery of spatially distributed patches of restored habitat within critical low elevation core winter range will benefit the herd by acting as source populations for incremental lichen recovery and enhanced habitat options for predator avoidance. Initial monitoring results demonstrated that manual and aerial seeding of lichen fragments onto xeric to submesic sites is an effective means of reintroducing lichen to a burned landscape. The second phase of this project in 2019 involved scaling up the trial by seeding lichen to select habitats at a broader scale.
A tactical plan was developed to guide operational scale restoration of the low elevation winter range of the Tweedsmuir-Entiako caribou herd burned by the 2014 Chelaslie Wildfire. This plan identifies the operational activities required for broad-scale implementation.
Reports:
Tweedsmuir Lichen Restoration Trial
Application Criteria
SERNbc uses three general criteria to select specific ecosystems for restoration activities, which include:
- Ecosystem vulnerability,
- Functional importance of the ecosystem, and
- Existing management mechanisms and/or programs.
Vulnerable, degraded and damaged ecosystems are a high priority for ER activities if they have high functional importance in terms of providing important ecological services. This functional importance or management priority increases when the ER needs of a subject ecosystem is not being addressed by existing programming.
Potential ER projects must align with SERNbc’s objectives as identified in our strategic plan. All ER projects undertaken by SERNbc need to be supported by data and analysis that describes their current state, desired future condition, management objectives, and treatment rationale.
