The Kelly Creek Restoration Crew has been hard at work as the summer continues to heat up, successfully completing two of their five summer hitches. The field season is a time of growth and enlightenment for the crews. With this in mind, here's a brief overview of their recent achievements and upcoming plans:
Treatment
The Kelly Creek Restoration Crew has completed the treatment of 15.8 miles of Kelly Creek Trail #567, the primary trail in the Kelly Creek area. Treating this trail is a critical component of the crew's general season objectives and goals. Within the world of backcountry restoration, trails like Kelly Creek Trail #567 represent the primary vector point that enables the movement of invasive species deeper into drainages, making early-season detection and treatment critical to the success of other projects within the Kelly Creek area. In addition to trail treatment, the crew has completed approximately 2 acres of treatment within meadow areas throughout the Kelly Creek drainage, including hand-pulling roughly 20 pounds of weeds. The treatment of these meadow areas represents an ongoing annual restoration process. Each year sees a gradual reduction in invasive species’ presence, thereby allowing native plants to flourish.
Monitoring
Monitoring within restoration projects is critical to understanding overall treatment effectiveness. Monitoring data helps managers make decisions regarding treatment strategies moving forward. The crew employs two standard monitoring protocols: Line Point Intercept (LPI) and Standardized Impact Monitoring Protocol (SIMP). LPI is designed to capture species presence and diversity, while SIMP is designed to detect biological control agents and estimate their effectiveness on the landscape. The Kelly Creek Restoration Crew has completed monitoring on six sites, including four LPI blocks and two SIMP plots. These sites will be monitored once more in the fall to capture any changes and determine trends. The data collected from these sites will be analyzed in the fall to guide management decisions for the subsequent season.
Looking Forward
In the coming hitches, the Kelly Creek Restoration Crew will continue implementing critical treatment projects in the many meadows of Kelly drainage and complete the remaining sections of Kelly Creek Trail #567. Additionally, the Kelly Crew will partner with the Missoula County Youth in Restoration Program (YIR). These budding future conservationists will pull weeds in various critical locations throughout the drainage and help complete the remaining SIMP plots in the Hanson Meadow area. The crew looks forward to future hitches with restless anticipation as they imagine the potential challenges and rewards of their endeavors in the field.
