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Carrizo Demonstration Area
Restoration of a Southwest Forest Ecosystem
Richard S. Edwards
1
Abstract.-The Carrizo Demonstration Area is located on the Smokey Bear
Ranger District, Lincoln National Forest. It encompasses 55,000 acres of
National Forest and private land, and is comprised mainly of pinon-juniper
forest. The Carrizo Demonstration Area was established in 1989 as a pilot
project designed to restore and sustain watersheds, increase natural food
production for wildlife and livestock, and increase biological diversity by
managing the area based on ecological principles. The Carrizo program is
a demonstration of the Forest Service's ecologically based, multiple resource management. The primary purpose is to provide stewardship of the
land to achieve and sustain desired conditions, cooperative partnerships to
plan and implement projects, and utilize research and technology to provide quality on-the-ground resource management and protection. Over
4,000 acres of multi-resource improvements have been planned and implemented thus far to begin a transformation of the area toward desired future condition. The desired future condition will be achieved when active
accelerated soil erosion is stopped, steep gully slopes are stabilized, and
permanent riparian vegetation is restored. A mosaic of vegetative structural
age classes and densities will exist within the different ecotypes, moving
toward a balanced and stable ecosystem. Enduring partnerships with landowners and permittees will be permanently established to aid in sustaining
the desired condition of the land.
INTRODUCTION
livestock. Much of the productive soil beneath
these dense woodland stands has eroded away,
leaving behind an extensive gully system which
continues to transport silt-laden water into streams
and rivers, and serves to lower the water table. The
need for this project was brought about through
the urging of area private landowners and grazing
permittees, who for years have had to contend
with the deposition of millions of tons of sediment
that originated on National Forest land, as well as a
steady decline in livestock grazing capacity due to
a decrease in forage.
The pifton-juniper woodlands have gone
through many changes over the past 20,000 years.
Due to gradual global warming, they have
migrated from lower elevations to higher
elevations and extended their range from southern
latitudes to northern latitudes (Betancourt et al.
1986). By the middle of the 19 th century, most of the
The Southwestern Region is gearing up to implement a program that emphasizes an ecological
approach to multiple-use management of the
pifton-juniper ecosystem. The Lincoln National
Forest started on a project about four years ago,
called the Carrizo Demonstration Area. Much of
the Carrizo area now contains large expanses of
continuous canopy pifton-juniper forest. Under
these present conditions, natural openings are
dominated by young pinon (Pinus edulis) and juniper Uuniperus monosperma, Juniperus deppeana, and
Juniperus scopulorum) trees, and historically open
woodlands have become dense thickets. Due to the
increased competition from trees, these ecosystems
are devoid of the grasses and other vegetation that
hold 'the soil in place, contribute to plant diversity,
and provide food or cover for vario~ wildlife and
1Forester, USDA Forest Service, Lincoln National Forest, Smokey
Bear Ranger District, Ruidoso, NM.
198
River Valley and Tularosa Basin, and local wildlife
and livestock are affected by the condition of the
watershed.
pifton-juniper woodlands in south-central New
Mexico were located on steeper, rockier slopes,
although transition zones existed between piftonjuniper and the short-grass rangelands and piftonjuniper and ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa).
Much of the woodland area, in particular the lower
elevation zone, was very open in appearance. It
had been maintained in that condition by periodic
fire. Tree ring studies in New Mexico indicate that
many forests burned, on the average, at 7 to 10 year
intervals (Stoddart et al. 1975) prior to settlement of
the area.
But one of the most remarkable changes occurred during the last 100 years. During the late
1800's and early 1900's, much of New Mexico received intense grazing pressure from domestic
livestock. Lincoln National Forest records show
that by 1902 on what is now the Smokey Bear
Ranger District, 80,000 head of livestock were
grazing on the Lincoln Forest Reserve (Hightower,
1902). To put this in perspective, today the permitted livestock - the grazing capacity is 5,000 head of
livestock. Because of this heavy livestock grazing,
the grasses were reduced to the point where they
could no longer carry these periodic wildfires
which kept the pifton and juniper trees in check.
The reduction in available fuels in combination
with fire suppression by public land management
agencies, led to a proliferation of young pifton and
juniper trees that throughout this century have
increased, and are out-competing native grasses
and forbs. As tree canopies became closed, grasses
and plants that prevented erosion and provided
forage for wildlife and livestock rapidly declined
beca use they could not compete with the pifton
and juniper trees (Evans, et al. 1988). Many of the
perennial streams and springs, life-blood for the
rich diversity of riparian and wetland ecosystems,
were in part lost because of the excessive water
requirements of these woodland trees (Ponce and
Lindquist, 1990).
Livestock producers throughout the Southwest
have for many years been concerned because of the
long-term loss of forage productivity associated
with this situation. Deer, elk, wild turkey, many
songbirds, and other species of wildlife have been
adversely affected by this change in habitat
conditions. Private landowners adjacent to the
National Forest have had to contend with the
deposition of millions of tons of sediment that
originated on the forest. Water, a scarce and
precious commodity throughout the southwest,
requires healthy forest watersheds. The quality,
and potentially the quantity of water supplies for
nearby communities, agricultural centers in Pecos
MISSION
Our mission for the Carrizo area is to establish
cooperative partnerships to aid in the development
of sound land stewardship principles and to serve
as examples in the implementation of land management activities to restore watersheds to satisfactory condition. Stewardship goals also include
providing for a variety of wildlife habitats, increasing plant and animal diversity, restoring the natural beauty of the landscape, and improving overall
ecosystem health. Management strategies focus on
soil stabilization practices, vegetation management,
water resource development, vehicular travel
management, and sound range management practices, and are based on the best scientific and management information available.
The desired future condition will be achieved
when active accelerated soil erosion is stopped,
steep gully slopes are stabilized, and permanent
riparian vegetation is restored. A mosaic of vegetative structural age classes and densities will exist
within the different ecotypes,moving toward the
balance and stability which Occurred prior to European man's settlement of the area. Prescril;>ed fire
will be introduced to resemble the natural fire
frequency that evolved with, and shaped the natural ecosystem. Enduring partnerships with adjacent landowners, traditional and non-traditional
users, and nearby communities will be permanently established to aid in sustaining the desired
condition of the land.
ECOLOGICAL APPROACH
The focus in the development of the Carrizo
project was the recognition that al1 resources are
interrelated and the integration of all resources
into a management system is essential for long
term success. Each aspect of the project was evaluated for it's effects on all resources, including the
human environment. Our past custodial management philosophy for pifton-juniper ecosystems has
led to a steady decrease of resource values
(Doughty, 1987). The Carrizo area interdisciplinary
planning team devised strategies to restore and
sustain woodland watersheds. The major identified
199
TES UNIT
~-
3
7
8
11
265
3014
302
3034
3054
3074
311
336
3404
3484
401
402
404
405
TOTAL
ACRES
6,284
2,853
3,908
1,404
1,449
1,499
3,154
5,057
2,212
2,209
3,527
2,516
1,276
2,094
2,17.9
5,781
1,345
2,475
CARRIZO DEMONSTRATION AREA
TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEM SURVEY
MAPPING UNIT PRESCRIPTIONS
SLOPE
DFC DESCRIPTION
0-15%
0-15%
15 - 40%
0-15%
0-15%
+40%
15 - 4()oA,
+40%
+40%
+40%
0-15%
15 - 40%
+40%
+40%
0-15%
15 - 40%
0-15%
15 - 40%
Gra~and/Savannah
Savannah/PJ Woodland
PJ Woodland/Oak Woodland
Grassland/Savannah
Savannah/PJ Woodland
Oak Woodland
PonderosalPJ Woodland
Ponderosa/PJ Woodland
Mixed Conifer
Mixed Conifer
Ponderosa/PJ Woodland
Savannah/PJ Woodland
Oak Woodland
Oak/Mt. Mahogany
Savannah/PJ Woodland
PJ Woodland/Oak Woodland
Ponderosa/PJ Woodland
Ponderosa/PJ Woodland
elements of this program are watershed, wildlife,
vegetation, ecology, and range management.
Through the use of the Southwestern Region's
Terrestrial Ecosystem Survey the team identified
high priority potential treatment areas as those
with unsatisfactory watershed condition and high
soil productivity. The Terrestrial Ecosystem Survey
is also used as the basic ecological unit to display
objectives and prescriptions for desired future·
condition. The planning team compared the existing condition with the desired condition to develop
a list of possible management practices and prescriptions for each Terrestrial Ecosystem Survey
mapping units.
The following table displ~ys the major Terrestrial Ecosystem Survey mapping units and their
desired condition descriptions:
With the help of cooperative partnerships,
treatments to produce desired conditions have
included rehabilitating gullies by constructing
small dams and reshaping gullies; establishing
native vegetation to stabilize the soil by thinning
trees for fuelwood, removing unwanted trees
excess trees through mechanical means, prescribed fire, and by reseeding disturbed areas;
providing dependable water supplies for wildlife
by restoring and protecting riparian areas, installing inverted umbrella trick tanks, and developing existing springs; increasing overall forest
health through thinning or harvesting trees in
diseased or overstocked timber stands and
through prescribed fire; and establishing travel
access in line with resource needs by closing or
obliterating unnecessary roads, relocating roads
to more stable or suitable areas, and maintaining
necessary roads and trails.
200
MAX. OPENING
SIZE
10 -200Ac.
1 - 30 Ac.
1 - 10 Ac.
10 - 100 Ac.
1 - 30 Ac.
0- 4 Ac.
0- 4Ac.
0- 4 Ac.
0- 4 Ac.
0- 4 Ac.
0-10 Ac.
1 - 20 Ac.
0- 5Ac.
Open
1 - 30 Ac.
1 - 15 Ac.
0- 10 Ac.
0- 10 Ac.
STEWARDSHIP
The restoration of watersheds is designed to
stop excessive downstreanl sedimentation, preserve soil productivity and increase the duration of
channel flows. In addition to stabilizing watersheds, benefits of the ecosystem approach being
implemented include increased wildlife habitat
capability, improved rangeland condition, increased visual diversity, and an increase in supply
of forest products such as fuelwood, fence posts,
vigas and poles. Once ecological restoration is
established, the emphasis will be on sustaining a
healthy ecosystem. Sound range management
practices, such as deferred rotation grazing, fuelwood harvest, and the use of prescribed fire to
maintain diversity, will be used to achieve a sustainable ecosystem. Where treatments have been
implemented, watershed conditions have improved dramatically. Cool season native species of
grass and forbs which were once thought to be lost
have returned in abundance. In several drainages,
springs have begun to flow again, creating many
opportunities to establish or enhance riparian
vegetation. As a result of these changes, many
species of wildlife which were declining in numbers have returned to the area. A more diverse
setting across the landscape has increased the
scenic quality of the area, and will allow future
resource management to more easily maintain a
natural appearance.
Positive changes have even begun to occur on
adjacent private land following treatments accomplished on National Forest. In one area, a pond
loca ted on private land had filled with sediment
from past gully and sheet erosion transported by
sold for firewood, leaving hundreds of excess trees
per acre. Commercial fuelwood cutters
within the Carrizo area now cut all trees not
designated to be left. In fact, some partners can
harvest a fuelwood area by written prescription, no
longer needing the Forest Service to designated
leave trees, creating additional savings to the government. Private landowners have purchased
fuelwood sales on the national forest, and perform
the same treatment on their adjacent private land.
One landowner even entered into a cooperative
agreement where vegetation on both National
Forest and private land was managed with a prescribed burn.
In Fiscal Year 1993, a partnership involving
South Central Mountains Rural conservation and
Development, the Administrative Council of the
Western Region's Sustainable Agriculture Research
and Education Programs at the University of California at Berkeley, New Mexico State University
and the Forest Service was formed to produce and
distribute a high quality video portraying ecosystem management with the Carrizo Demonstration
Area. The primary objective of the video is to educate a wide range of publics and develop support
for an ecological approach to multiple-use management in the pifton-juniper woodlands. Participants in the video include agencies and environmental groups such as Soil Conservation Service,
Forest Service, New Mexico State University, Nature Conservancy, American Wildlands, as well as
many private individuals.
overland flow from the National Forest. The landowner removed 4,800 cubic yards of topsoil from
this pond at the same time watershed restoration
treatments were being implemented above the
pond on the National Forest at the same time watershed restoration and vegetation treatments were
being implemented above the pond on the National Forest. During Spring season, a spring which
had not run in at least 35 years began to flow. The
large spring, as well as many other new, but
smaller springs in adjacent drainages, continued to
flow throughout the summer, filling the pond with
clean, clear water. In addition to baseflow increases,
sediment coming from the National Forest was
minimal. The landowner was able to stock the
pond with trout and catfish, and is now the permanent summer residence for many waterfowl.
Opportunities to improve economies within the
surrounding rural communities have been enhanced due to increased production of forest
products such as fuelwood and poles for vigas, and
an increase in big game wildlife. Partnerships with
adjacent landowners and others have opened up
new lines of communication and have substantially
increased the level of trust with our public.
PARTNERSHIPS WITH PEOPLE
Partnerships are an integral part of this effort.
Thirteen grazing permittees, three adjacent private
landowners, New Mexico Department of Game
and Fish, New Mexico Division of Forestry and
Resource Conservation, New Mexico State University (NMSU), New Mexico Range Improvement
Task Force, and NMSU Cooperative Extension
Service participated in long range project development. Numerous field trips involving diverse
groups of constituents have been hosted to inform
the public of the need for a stewardship approach
to management of the pifton-juniper ecosystem.
Congressional representatives have been closely
involved throughout both the planning and initial
implementation phases of the project.
Grazing permittees and private landowners have
been the primary partners with the Forest Service for
site specific watershed restoration and vegetation
management . projects. Project implementation
partnerships are designed to meet multi-resource
objectives by achieving complete treatments. For
example, commercial fuelwood cutters have
historically harvested only those trees which can be
COLLABORATION WITH RESEARCH
An ongoing focus of the Carrizo project has
been to attract interest from researchers to explore
the many questions associated with managing
pifton-juniper. woodlands on a landscape scale.
Many institutions, organizations and individuals
are involved in ongoing piii.on-juniper research.
The Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment
Station is currently researching on-site soil productivity and modeling soil erosion in the Carrizo
area. Other efforts include Southwestern Region's
New Mexico pifton-Juniper management initiative,
U.S. Department of Agriculture's cooperative Pecos
River Basin Study, NMSU Cooperative Extension
Service's rangeland watershed program, and New
Mexico Department of Game and Fish - Habitat
Improvement Stamp (Sikes Act) program.
201
PROJECT REVIEW
Since the inception of the Carrizo Demonstration Area in 1989, a number of projects have been
implemented which are moving the area closer to
the desired condition. With the help of cooperative
partnerships, approximately 2,500 acres of unsatisfactory condition watershed have been treated
through vegetation management to increase herbaceous ground cover, four miles of gullies have been
treated through installation of structural improvements or gully sideslope stabilization, and five
miles of roads have been obliterated to reduce
another source of downstream sedimentation.
Specific improvements for wildlife habitat have
been implemented on almost 1,100 acres through
prescribed fire or creation of wildlife openings. In
addition, two wildlife water developments were
installed, and 15 acres of existing riparian have
been fenced to manage livestock grazing. Forest
products sold as a result of vegetation treatments
include 2,850 cords of fuelwood, 4,000 board feet of
timber, and 500 small and medium poles.
Implementation of another project is underway
to improve habitat for big game wildlife, as well as
northern goshawk, using prescribed fire. Except
under extreme conditions, use of prescribed fire to
create openings within most areas of pifton-juniper
is very difficult to accomplish successfully. This
project was designed to thin seedlings and saplings
prior to burning to create the necessary ground
fuels to carry the fire. The fire will then result in a
natural appearing mosaic of different habitat structural stages across the landscape. The natural food
supply for big game wildlife as well as goshawk
will be increased, and watershed conditions will be
improved through increased ground cover.
CONCLUSION
The management situation in northern New
Mexico is different than in south-central New
Mexico, primarily from the cultural value standpoint and usage of pmon-juniper woodlands. But
the ecological condition is essentially the same.
Watersheds are being severely degraded to the
point where site productivity is being lost. We
cannot afford to lose much more topsoil from our
woodland watersheds without seriously endangering production of commodities such as the pmon
202
nut crop and fuelwood. As pointed out earlier, we
have already experienced the loss of understory
vegetation critical to wildlife and livestock And
possibly worst of all, damage to riparian areas has
been extensive.
The ecological approach to multiple use management is a win-win proposition. Take piiion nut
production for instance. Years of research and
implementation have shown that if you thin selected piiion-juniper sites, larger piiion trees can
be grown, and thereby increase the production of
piiion nuts. By lopping and scattering slash from
the thinning, ground cover would be increased,
red ucing erosion. And as shown by projects implemented within the Carrizo area, diversity for all
resources would be increased.
For Carrizo, one of our basic objectives is to test
different treatments for managing woodland watersheds. Some of the treatments will not respond
the way they are designed. But the point is, we
have already learned a great deal from past mistakes and successes, and we will continue to monitor our projects to learn and make the necessary
adjustments to achieve the desired future condition. The Southwestern Region of the Forest Service has already taken a major step forward in recognizing the values and complexities of the piftonjuniper ecos ystem.
REFERENCES
Betancourt, Julio L. 1987. Paleoecology of Pinyon-Juniper
Woodlands: Summary. Proceedings - Pinyon-Juniper
Conference. USDA Forest Service General Technical
Report INT-215: 129-139
Doughty, Jim W. 1987. Problems With Custodial Management. Proceedings - Pinyon-Juniper Conference.
USDA Forest Service General Technical Report INT215: 29-33
Evans, Raymond A. 1988. Management of PinyonJuniper Woodlands. USDA Forest Service General
Technical Report INT-249.
Hightower, Clement 1902. Grazing Report from -Forest
Supervisor, Lincoln Forest Reserve.
Ponce, Victor M. and Lindquist, Donna S. 1990. Management of Baseflow Augmentation: A Review. Water
Resources Bulletin - American Water Resources Association: 259-268
Stoddart, L.A., Smith, A.D., and Box, T.w. 1975. Range
Management Third Edition. McGraw Hill Book Co.
St. Louis, MO.