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The Centennial Valley supports thousands of acres of old-growth Douglas fir forests
© Nathan Korb/TNC |
A coalition of private and public land managers in southwest Montana's Centennial Valley initiated a landscape-scale fire restoration program in 2006. The project is the first of its kind in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
In 2008 the group will:
- complete experimental prescribed burns in sandhill areas and thinning treatments in conifer and aspen forests in the Bean and Price watersheds;
- build wildlife exclosures and gather post-fire monitoring data in aspen areas; and
- conduct post-thinning prescribed fires in the Lone Tree area.
The coalition expects that the lessons learned in the Centennial Valley will facilitate and accelerate similar efforts throughout southwest Montana and eastern Idaho.
Project Vision
Our vision consists of improving the long-term viability of conservation targets that have been negatively affected by altered fire regimes. In this rural valley, we envision the process of fire being safely restored to its natural role across diverse ecological systems through prescribed fires and wildland fire use fires. This objective is only possible through restoring the resilience of those systems and addressing a variety of other problems such as impaired riparian zones, altered hydrologic regimes, excessive wildlife browsing, impacts of roads, and habitat connectivity threats. Through the collaborative learning process of the FLN, we will be capable of dealing with not only fire but also other ecological issues to make progress toward this vision at a meaningful scale.
Background
The 450,000-acre Centennial Valley is a hotspot of biological diversity and the last large, undeveloped, low-elevation valley in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. As in most of the West, a century of fire exclusion has altered much of the project area, threatening the continued existence of a number of species as well as their habitats.
The private landowners in the valley are organized through the Centennial Valley Association, a non-profit group that meets regularly and works toward a vision of the landscape that values traditional family-owned ranches and thriving natural resources.
Public lands in the project area include large tracts administered by the US Bureau of Land Management, the Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, Montana state lands and Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest.
Resources:
Project Components:
- Aspen inventory, mapping and planning
- Old-growth Douglas-fir restoration
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- Sandhill conservation
- Bean Creek Watershed /
Westslope cutthroat trout project
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Leader: Nathan Korb
Aspen Ecology and Restoration Workshop / West Yellowstone, MT
21-22 September 2006
The objectives of this meeting were to:
(1) define restoration needs and develop ecological goals for aspen in the Centennial Valley and surrounding areas of southwest Montana;
(2) review ongoing restoration projects and synthesize lessons learned;
(3) develop key points for an adaptive conservation plan including range of acceptable prescriptions for aspen, information gaps, and strategies; and
(4) identify common priorities for aspen restoration and discuss how to move them forward most effectively.
Downloads
Forest Ecology and Management Workshop
Meeting Postponed -- Date TBD
The objectives of this meeting are to:
(1) foster in-depth, proactive communication about forest and fire management among
Centennial Valley stakeholders;
(2) explore benefits and impacts of various forest management strategies from an
interdisciplinary perspective; and
3) develop a list, however short, of commonly agreed upon recommendations and
guidelines for management of low-elevation Douglas-fir forests in this biologically
diverse region.
Downloads
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