When
Restoration in a Hotter Drier/Wetter Climate:
Challenges Facing Practitioners
10 April 2021 -Las Ciénegas National Conservation Area
This will be a physically distanced, not socially distanced, mask on event
WMG is hosting a one-day Restoration Practitioners Workshop. The goals of the workshop are:
● Treat an important drainage on Las Ciénegas to encourage infiltration and native plant growth, slow erosion, protect endangered species, and preserve the connection between the channel and its floodplain.
● Strengthen connections among practitioners in our region working in urban, suburban, and rural contexts.
● Discuss and test novel restoration approaches that take into account future climate scenarios.
We will encourage discussion among practitioners of the following concepts:
● Strategies, approaches, terminology, reading the landscape, and best practices for treating drainages and uplands
● Designing work according to various land management goals (e.g., designing for cattle use, habitat for different wildlife species, etc.)
● Links between rural/wildland work, road work, and urban work
● Materials, resources, and activities needed to improve professional capacity and the overall quality of work in our region
● Using these practices to support local economies in restoring watersheds and developing provisioning economies/food systems
Anticipated outcomes will include:
● Strengthened connections between practitioners
● Experiential design on a number of structures and reaches
● Updates to WMG’s Field Guide to Riparian Restoration, and Upland and Arroyo Erosion Control, available here
We will evaluate the workshop through documentation of discussions, and through a post workshop survey. Dissemination of outcomes, ideas and results will be through multiple avenues including an update to WMG’s field guide, through the Sky Island Restoration Cooperative, through individual practitioner’s networks and SER networks, and through the USFWS and BOR’s Collaborative Conservation and Adaptation Strategy Toolbox.
Workshop Co-leads:
Trevor Hare, Restoration Director, Watershed Management Group
Dr. Elise S. Gornish, Cooperative Extension Specialist in Ecological Restoration, the University of Arizona
Background and Rationale
In 2010 and 2011 Trevor Hare developed and led a series of Bill Zeedyk trainings on Las Ciénegas National Conservation Area. In 2010 it was two 2-day erosion control trainings, and in 2011 it was an intensive seven-day restoration assessment and design training with co-teaching by Van Clothier, Stream Dynamics, Craig Sponholtz, Watershed Artisans, and Steve Carson, Rangeland Hands. These training met their participant caps and were highly rated in post workshop surveys.
In February 2020 a practitioner’s workshop was held on the Noon Ranch and hosted by the Altar Valley Conservation Alliance. The workshop’s focus was on developing a plan for erosion control structure placement on a small hillside ephemeral drainage with severe erosion. The workshop had a dozen participants and was led by Steve Carson, Rangeland Hands, and Brad Lancaster, Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond.
The audience we are trying to engage is varied from landowners and managers to restoration practitioners, wildlife managers, landscape professionals, and permaculturists.
The main management challenge we will be addressing is –How do we build erosion control and restoration structures that will function as intended in a more volatile monsoon season and hold more moisture in a drier winter? This challenge will be posited to our network in all invitations with an ask to bring ideas to the workshop.
Anticipated Outcomes
Anticipated outcomes will include:
● Strengthened connections between practitioners
● Experiential design on a number of structures and reaches
● Updates to WMG’s Field Guide to Riparian Restoration, and Upland and Arroyo Erosion Control
Please bring/wear closed-toed shoes, pants, hat, sunglasses, water, sunscreen, lunch and snacks
To register: https://watershedmg.org/civicrm/event/register?reset=1&id=1440