Blackfoot-Swan Landscape Restoration

CBI is assisting the US Forest Service, Region 1, with reconciling habitat conservation efforts with long-term forest resiliency planning in the northern Rocky Mountains.

CBI is assisting the US Forest Service, Region 1, with reconciling habitat conservation efforts with long-term forest resiliency planning in the northern Rocky Mountains. Partners include the Southwest Crown Collaborative, Montana State University, and the USFS Rocky Mountain Research Station. Conceptual deliverables include a framework for integrating the habitat requirements of threatened species into a forest restoration plan that recognizes the dynamic nature of forest ecosystems and the importance of large-scale ecological processes.  More definitive deliverables include an analysis of how habitat composition and configuration has changed over the past 90 to 100 years, a plan for restoring the dynamic nature of forests at the watershed scale, and analytical tools to facilitate similar efforts in other areas.

This effort reflects CBI’s commitment to assisting in the restoration of western public lands, recognizing the importance of promoting resilient forests in the face of a changing climate, and the conservation of native biodiversity. Future implications would include helping federal agencies such as the Forest Service transition into an analytical model that views habitat as a critical but dynamic component of forest planning, one the requires intact, large-scale ecological processes for long-term maintenance.