Monitoring is an essential component of the Blodgett Forest Plan, and funds for its successful execution should be made available from revenues generated by the Research Forests.

The Research Forests staff will be responsible for monitoring or contracting services to monitor activities on the Blodgett Forest to ensure that activities and actions are compatible with the forest plan. A monitoring plan should be developed that is consistent with the framework and philosophy of the one currently under development for the McDonald/Dunn Forest. This plan should encompass, but not be limited to, the following activities.

1. Compile a list of forest practices and operations.

2. Document costs of goal achievement. Procedures toward this end will be developed by the staff working with appropriate faculty during the first five years of plan implementation.

3. Inventory tree frequency distributions, by species and diameter.

4. Inventory amount, decay class, and distribution of dead wood.

5. Inventory the distribution and amount of different plant communities and their developmental stages.

6. Compile actual harvest levels and growth rates for stands.

7. Compile a list of sensitive species actually or potentially using the forest.

8. Assess use of plant communities by selected species.

9. Determine issues of interest and concern to neighbors and public.

10. Assess the location and spread of Swiss needle cast and exotic plants.

Sensitive species monitoring

The Research Forests staff will be responsible for monitoring or contracting services to monitor status of sensitive species on the Blodgett Forest. Protocols should be consistent with guidelines established by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service.

Response of biotic communities to dead wood

It is generally accepted within the scientific community that dead wood on the forest floor is an important component of wildlife habitat. However, specifics concerning the amount, distribution, size, and decay classes of dead wood that should be retained to provide for particular wildlife populations remain elusive. The Blodgett Forest initially will manage dead wood in an adaptive framework, in which different levels of dead wood will be retained or created in stands, and the response of selected wildlife species will be monitored through time. Final establishment of standards and guidelines for the Blodgett Forest will be based on data collected on the forest and on complementary data collected from other areas.