Aspen Restoration in California: Examples from the Eagle Lake Ranger District, Lassen National Forest

The Eagle Lake Ranger District (ELRD) of the Lassen National Forest has developed an aspen restoration program that has been recognized as the most progressive in California. This program was initiated due to observed declines in health and distribution of aspen stands on ELRD. The overall goal of the program is to prevent further loss of aspen on ELRD. Objectives of this program are to, 1) map and assess all aspen stands on ELRD, and, 2) implement restoration treatments on all ELRD aspen stands. The perimeter of each inventoried aspen stand is delineated using Global Positioning Systems (GPS), and the condition of each stand is assessed using risk factors adapted from Bartos and Campbell (1998). We present inventory and monitoring data collected to date, and will discuss lessons learned in our implementation of restoration projects.