Acres of Land Improved or Restored

Purpose

The purpose of this Performance Measure (PM) is to track efforts to improve natural resource conditions, such as site productivity and wildlife habitat, through site improvement or restoration activities and reduce the risk of natural disasters, such as catastrophic wildfire, flood, avalanche, etc. Wherever possible, acres should be categorized by importance or priority rating, such as acres of critical habitat, or acres in moderate, high and very high fire hazard areas as delineated by CAL FIRE’s Fire Hazard Severity Zoning Map.

Likely Project Categories

This PM would likely be applicable for projects in the following category:

• Site improvement/restoration projects.

Variations

This PM is further classified by the following two variations:

• Site Importance or Priority Rating
• Restoration/Improvement Project Purpose
  • Natural Disaster Risk Reduction—Fire
  • Natural Disaster Risk Reduction—Other
  • Natural Resource Protection, e.g., invasive species removal, erosion control, vegetation planting, trail/bridge replacement, forest health, etc.
  • Water Quality
  • Habitat, both aquatic or terrestrial
  • Resource Management, e.g. increasing site productivity, vegetation management, forest management, etc.
  • Recreation

Guidance on Applying this PM to Your Project

This is a recommended approach to collecting data and reporting on this PM. Grantees are asked to further evaluate how these steps may best be applied to their specific projects and to discuss with SNC any steps or considerations that may be unique.

Data Collection

• Document total acres treated.
• Identify land restoration or improvement purpose(s) for the acres treated, using the following list (check all that apply and provide number of acres for each purpose or topic area):
  • Natural Disaster Risk Reduction—Fire
  • Natural Disaster Risk Reduction—Other
  • Natural Resource Protection, e.g., invasive species removal, erosion control, vegetation planting, trail/bridge replacement, forest health, etc.
  • Water Quality
  • Habitat, both aquatic or terrestrial
  • Resource Management, e.g. increasing site productivity, vegetation management, forest management, etc.
  • Recreation
• Where appropriate, identify the federal, state, or local government site importance or priority rating for the treated acres and the source of the rating
  • For fuel treatments, document the acres treated by risk category (moderate, high, very high) based on Cal Fire severity rating.
  • For habitat restoration, identify, if applicable, acres that contain rare natural communities (i.e., those communities that are of highly limited distribution); priority acres based on the California Wildlife Habitat Relationships System; or habitat for threatened or endangered species as listed by the California Department of Fish and Game or U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service).
  • Consider other applicable importance or priority ratings as determined by federal, state, or local government resource management or planning agencies.

Reporting

Report total number of acres improved or restored by importance/priority rating and treatment purpose. Note: one acre may be counted more than once if improvement/restoration of that acre meets more than one purpose. Suggested reporting format as follows:

Other

The level of effort required to measure, analyze, and report acres of land improved or restored should be minimal, less than 40 hours. Accurate measurement and reporting requires careful record-keeping, but no special skills or knowledge are required.