Transcript Current Conditions of Camp Sacajawea

Current Conditions of
Camp Sacajawea
Group 2
Matthew Dicks
Daniel Kaminski
Clarissa Spicer
Antoinette Spitz
Introduction
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Camp Sacajawea is
owned and operated by
the Moingona Girl
Scout Council of Iowa
Located on over 400
acres of land bordering
the Des Moines River
to the west
Trails/facilities used by
20,000 people per year
girlscouts-lonestar.org

Data on recreation, oak regeneration, and wildlife was
collected from 56 plots across 148 acres of woodland
 Each team collected sets of data from 8 plots
 Interpretation of combined results give us an idea of
possible management actions
Camp Sacajawea
TravelByGPS.com
Recreation
castlegarrvpark.com
birdphotography.com
glacierguides.com
geocities.com
Recreation Carrying Capacity
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High use by Girl Scouts
Evaluated for four activities
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General hiking
Primitive camping
Birdwatching and wildlife observation
Horseback riding
Determine optimum carrying capacity
for each activity
Distribution of Recreation
Values Across 56 Plots
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
14
12
10
General
hiking
(people
per mile)
8
Primitive
camping
(acres per
campsite)
6
4
2
0
3
9.8
16.5
10 19.8 36.5
Distribution of Recreation
Values Across 56 Plots
25
12
20
10
15
10
8
Bird
watching &
wildlife
observation
(people per
acre)
6
Horseback
riding
4
5
2
0
1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0
0
2.0
4.6
7.3
Possible Management Actions
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geocities.com
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Current conditions
indicate that Camp
Sacajawea is most
suitable for general
hiking
Maintain and develop
hiking trails to
encourage use
Increase suitability for
other activities by using
value criteria as
guidelines
Oak and Other Desirable Tree
Regeneration
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56 systematic 1/20th
acre plots
7 rows with 8 plots per
row
1st plot in each row was
placed 2 chains north of
southern forest
boundary
Each plot was 5 chains
north of the previous
plot
corbis.com
Adequacy of Regeneration
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Adequacy of
regeneration for both
oak and other desirable
species is poor
Average of 570 oak
seedlings per acre
Average of 3300 other
desirable species per
acre
Need 5000 seedlings
per acre for both
corbis.com
Species
Results of Combined Regeneration
Inventory From 1/1000 Acre Plots
Total per acre
Other species per acre
Oaks per acre
0
1000 2000 3000 4000 5000
Seedlings/Acre
Oak Stump Sprouting
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A plot percent of 59
requires no stump
sprouts for adequate
regeneration
Camp Sacajawea’s plot
percent is 8.3 & will
require more than 250
stump sprouts per acre
Camp Sacajawea is
very inadequate for oak
regeneration
corbis.com
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•
Undesirable Management
Methods
Clearcut – seedlings will
not be competitive
enough in their small
numbers
Group selection –
openings will not be
large enough to reduce
shade effects and will
result in less oak
regeneration than
clearcuts
corbis.com
Possible Management Actions
• Shelterwood – most
desirable
• Maintain forest appearance
for Girl Scout use
• Remove understory with
some soil disturbance
• Good acorn producing year
• Remove some large trees
• May need nursery
plantings
corbis.com
Wildlife
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pictures.fws.gov
Wildlife Habitat Unit Values
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Tells you how good the habitat is for a
specific species
Range from 1.33-10 points
Many things taken into consideration
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Tree size
Canopy closure
Food plant diversity
Cover
Water
Class Avg. & Std. Error of
HUV
Avg HUV for squirrel
Avg HUV white-tailed deer & turkey
7
6
6
Avg HUV
4
Avg
3
Avg
Avg HUV
5
5
4
3
2
2
1
1
0
0
Avg
0
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
1
2
3
Std error
3
4
5
plot number
6
7
8
9
Std error
Std error
1.6
1.4
1.2
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
2
6
7
8
9
Std error of mean for White-tailed deer & turkey
Std error of mean for squirrel
1
5
plot number
plot number
0
4
9
1.6
1.4
1.2
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
Std error
0
1
2
3
4
5
plot number
6
7
8
9
Possible Management Actions
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Maintain a variety of cavity producing trees
Maintain several mast producing trees per
acre
Build brush pile to create brood raising
habitat for turkey
Keep water quality at healthy levels
Manage for dense cover types as well as
opened areas for optimal deer habitat
Conclusion
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Current management plan is to take no action
Camp Sacajawea needs hands-on
management approach
Highest priority is maintaining appearance
and suitability for visitors
Increasing suitability of recreation and wildlife
habitat, and adequacy of oak regeneration,
are possible long-term goals
Further Considerations
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Our purpose in this presentation was to
highlight the current conditions of Camp
Sacajawea
We will present our recommendations for the
camp on Thursday, December 11, 2003
Our priority will be to combine feasible
management actions that will optimize
benefits for both human and ecological
communities