Monitoring is crucial to the success of restoration projects; without it, there is no accurate measure of whether treatments have succeeded or failed. Yet monitoring is complex. There is an endless list of what might be measured in a given forest tract, but time, labor, money, and other resources are always limited. In addition, monitoring of many indicators of forest conditions requires specialized training and/or equipment.

For these reasons, it is important that monitoring be well targeted. Skillfully designed monitoring programs can do a good job of assessing how further restoration work should be carried out in the future. In many situations they can also be a good way to involve stakeholders in restoration projects.

In 2003 the ERI participated in a workshop series on multiparty monitoring that resulted in the publication of a series of handbooks for community practitioners. You can find those publications in .pdf format, and additional information about monitoring, by clicking on the links below.

Monitoring: An Overview
Handbook 1: What Is Multiparty Monitoring?
Handbook 2: Developing a Multiparty Monitoring Plan
Handbook 3: Creative Budgeting for Monitoring Projects
Handbook 4: Monitoring Ecological Effects
Handbook 5: Monitoring Social and Economic Effects
Handbook 6: Analyzing and Interpreting Monitoring Data
Multiparty Monitoring and Assessment Guidelines for Community Based Forest Restoration in Southwestern Ponderosa Pine Forests