California Forests and Rangelands: 2015 Assessment

Not all fires will be suppressed equally. The degree of effort put into suppressing a fire may depend on its location relative to communities, the desire of agencies to promote natural fires in a particular area, and the difficulty of reaching and trying to manage the fire. The degree of effort is likely to determine the cost.

Poverty can be measured in a number of ways. The most common and less accurate is to just look at per capita income, however, this can miss the relationship between income and household expenses. Two ways of measuring poverty are: a. Official (US) Poverty Measure- the Census Bureau uses a set of income thresholds that vary by family size and composition to detect who is poor. If the total income for a family or an unrelated individual falls below the relevant poverty threshold, then the family or an unrelated individual is classified as being "below the poverty level." b. California Poverty Measure- tracks the full range of necessary expenditures, adjusts for geographic differences in housing costs, and includes food stamps and other non-cash benefits as resources available to poor families. This measure is an Average of the 33rd - 36th percentile of national expenditures on food, clothing, shelter, and utilities, based on five most recent years of the Consumer Expenditure survey, multiplied by 120% to account for other “key” spending. Thresholds are also adjusted for the regional cost of living.

As the climate naturally varies and is forced by climate change, precipitation amounts and timing are likely to change. Climate change models suggest that, in the future, California will have less winter snow and more rain-on-snow events. Precipitation may also vary spatially compared to its current distribution. Because both natural processes and economic activities depend on a certain range of precipitation amounts and timing, these potentially new conditions could result in both ecosystem and economic disruptions.

Native and non-native forest insects and diseases can kill thousands of trees in patches of outbreak. For example, the California oak borer, the goldspotted oak borer, tthe fruit tree leaf roller, sudden oak death, and Port Orford cedar root disease have all affected many acres of hardwood forest in California. The native pests and diseases are naturally-occurring, so concerns about them may be restricted to the effect of climate change on range of impact and mortality that might affect structures and communities built within forests.

Recreation is an important social activity on rangelands and in forests. It can include many activities, but sight-seeing, wildlife-viewing, and walking/hiking are typically the most popular. This indicator is a measure of the support of particular areas for recreation activities.

Regional Boards sometimes provide waivers to limitations on water quality impairment by agricultural activities. The requirements that accompany the waivers often includes provisions for the waiver recipients to monitor conditions.

Communities may partly depend economically on ranching (non-confined raising of animals on rangelands) as a direct or indirect source of income and economic opportunity.

Diversity of species (commonly called biodiversity) refers to the number and variety of species in a local area (alpha diversity), among associated areas (beta diversity), or across a region (gamma diversity). There are different indices of diversity, which usually include the relative abundance of individuals within a species as part of the diversity calculation.

Genetic diversity means the diversity of genes and alleles particular to species and populations of species. Protecting ecosystem diversity and biodiversity can protect genetic diversity, but it depends on the degree of protection. Protecting a diverse and large number of representative habitats, populations, and individuals is most likely to conserve genetic diversity of species.

Many existing and new urban areas lack standardized approaches to adding, or requiring shade trees as part of an overall sustainability strategy. Standards provide a predictable tool to communicate with the public and devlopers about expectations for urban tree canopies.

Carbon is stored in woody material in forests and shrublands. Part of sequestered carbon will remain stored for decades and even centuries. The remainder will cycle as forests burn, plants die and decay, and plants naturally grow and respire. Increasing and maintaining the above-ground stock of carbon reduces the atmospheric load of carbon-containing gases.

The proportion of community landscapes that are occupied by trees, or covered by tree canopy is one direct measure of the potential for urban forest to provide cooling and (limited) habitat needs.

These are descriptive metrics that can tell us about urban forest demographics, current heights, and potential heights.

Healthy, intact watershed uplands are more likely to collect, store, and gradually release water to downstream areas. The largest surface water reservoirs in California are the snow-covered upper watersheds in the Sierra Nevada, which release their water through spring melt and into summer.

The US Forest Service created lists of species that could aid forest scientists and managers in understanding impacts to biological features (species) and patterns from management activities and natural events like fire. These lists are publicly available for all National Forest and may be useful for others working in the same areas.

There are dozens of possible water quality indicators, some of which were used previously in the 2003 and 2010assessments: temperature, sediment, nutrients, and herbicides. Indicators of water quality can be combined into a water quality index, depending on the availability of information about specific indicators.