Aspen toolbox: tools, techniques and commonsense guidelines for promoting, restoring, and managing aspen on the landscape. Draft

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As the most widespread tree in North America, the aspen (Populus tremuloides) enjoys a special place in the heart of many people. With leaves that flutter in the slightest breeze and paint the hills in swaths of yellow each fall, aspen are revered for their aesthetic beauty. However, many years of research has determined that aspen is not just another pretty face. Aspen communities are recognized as extremely important wildlife habitat, providing for a wide and diverse array of wildlife species. Healthy aspen communities provide many times the volume of forage compared to conifer-dominated landscapes and are critical in reducing or eliminating erosion and providing consistent water to streams and rivers. Sadly, for a number of reasons, aspen presence on the landscape has dramatically declined throughout the American West. Arizona reports a loss of 90% of its aspen over the past 100 years. Eastern Idaho has witnessed an estimated 60% loss during the same period. Most other western states have similar losses. The lost wildlife habitat, forage, and water storage that this decline in aspen communities represents is dramatic and highlights the need for this document. Within this document, land managers, private landowners, and interested citizens will learn about the values of aspen communities, how to recognize when aspens need help, key considerations when deliberating an aspen treatment, and examples of aspen groves, both troubled and healthy. Readers will also be introduced to the Eastern Idaho Aspen Working Group. This group formed to promote aspen management and restoration within eastern Idaho and has been actively seeking to influence aspen management.

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ELECTRONIC FILE - Ecology

SWAP (2/19/2016) citation: [EIAWG] Eastern Idaho Aspen Working Group. 2014. Aspen toolbox: tools, techniques and commonsense guidelines for promoting, restoring, and managing aspen on the landscape. Draft. [place unknown]: Eastern Idaho Aspen Working Group. 70 p. [accessed 2015 Dec 3]. http://www.eiawg.org/uploads/AspenToolbox4-11-2014.pdf.

Note: Cover of document mentions it was prepared by the "East Idaho Aspen Working Group Technical Committee." Within the document, after the introduction, the "Eastern Idaho Aspen Working Group" is the name mentioned throughout for the working group. The group's logo online elsewhere says Eastern Idaho Aspen Working Group."