Date Initiated:

• 2002

Description:

In early 2002, the Ecological Restoration Institute joined with the Forest Trust, Four Corners Institute, the National Forest Foundation, and the USDA Forest Service Collaborative Forest Restoration Program to develop a framework and guidelines for multiparty monitoring and assessment of forest restoration projects. Forty-three ecological scientists, social scientists, Forest Service employees, and community-based restoration practitioners worked together for 8 months to develop the draft document, Multiparty Monitoring and Assessment Guidelines for Community Based Forest Restoration in Southwestern Ponderosa Pine Forests. This report was the basis for the Collaborative Forest Restoration Program‘s multiparty monitoring technical assistance program.

In 2003-2005, staff from the Ecological Restoration Institute, Four Corners Institute, and Forest Guild revised and expanded the monitoring guidelines into a series of six self- guiding handbooks on conducting multiparty monitoring for Collaborative Forest Restoration Program projects.

ERI is the lead organization on the USDA Forest Service’s Collaborative Forest Restoration Program multiparty monitoring technical assistance team, which continues to develop training materials and provide technical assistance to CFRP grantee communities.

Project Status:

The multiparty monitoring handbooks and other training and outreach materials are periodically updated to reflect new learning. ERI staff use these materials to teach multiparty monitoring methods to community groups interested in forest restoration. Although designed for southwestern forest communities, many of the publications are appropriate to community-based monitoring in other areas. The ERI’s contract to provide technical assistance to Collaborative Forest Restoration Program grantee communities in New Mexico continues through September 2006.

Publications:

• Ecological Restoration Institute, Forest Trust, Four Corners Institute, National Forest Foundation, Pinchot Institute for Conservation, and USDA Forest Service – Collaborative Forest Restoration Program. 2003. Multiparty Monitoring and Assessment Guidelines for Community Based Forest Restoration in Southwestern Ponderosa Pine Forests. 94 pp.
• Derr, T., A. Moote, M. Savage, M. Schumann, J. Abrams, and K. Lowe. 2005. Handbook One: What is multiparty monitoring? The Multiparty Monitoring Handbook Series. Ecological Restoration Institute, NAU, Flagstaff, AZ. 11 pp.
• Derr, T., A. Moote, M. Savage, M. Schumann, J. Abrams, and K. Lowe. 2005. Monitoring Handbook Two: Developing a multiparty monitoring plan. The Multiparty Monitoring Handbook Series. Ecological Restoration Institute, NAU, Flagstaff, AZ. 13 pp.
• Derr, T., and M. Schumann. 2005. Monitoring Handbook Three: Budgeting for monitoring. The Multiparty Monitoring Handbook Series. Ecological Restoration Institute, NAU, Flagstaff, AZ. 17 pp.
• Savage, M., T. Derr, M. Schumann, and J. Abrams. 2005. Monitoring Handbook Four: Monitoring ecological effects. The Multiparty Monitoring Handbook Series. Ecological Restoration Institute, NAU, Flagstaff, AZ. 81 pp.
• Derr, T., A. Moote, M. Savage, M. Schumann, J. Abrams, and K. Lowe. 2005. Monitoring Handbook Five: Monitoring social and economic effects of forest restoration. The Multiparty Monitoring Handbook Series. Ecological Restoration Institute, NAU, Flagstaff, AZ. 54 pp.
• Lowe, K., A. Moote, T. Derr, M. Savage, J. Ranger-Moore, and J. Abrams. 2005. Monitoring Handbook Six: Analyzing and interpreting monitoring data. The Multiparty Monitoring Handbooks Series. Ecological Restoration Institute, NAU, Flagstaff, AZ. 87 pp.
• Derr, T. 2005. Collaborative Forest Restoration Program Monitoring Curriculum: Background and Activities for Ecological Monitoring. USDA Forest Service, Collaborative Forest Restoration Program and Ecological Restoration Institute, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ. 118 pp.