Oak Management by County Jurisdictions in the Central Sierra Nevada, California

We evaluated county planning policies and procedures to determine what protection is provided to oak woodlands during the land development process. We selected three Sierra Nevada counties to do a pilot assessment: El Dorado, Placer and Madera. The assessment methodology included three components: 1) analysis of county plans, policies, guidelines, and ordinances to determine if oak woodland management is addressed and if so, how; 2) analysis of development case studies to document the planning process used to conserve oak woodland; and 3) field evaluation of typical oak management activities at the site scale. The counties vary widely in the extent and detail of their oak protection policies and in how they approach oak conservation at the landscape, stand and site scales. In particular, conservation and protection measures often focus on individual trees or groves at the expense of larger woodlands. At the site scale, we observed both ineffective protective measures as well as innovative approaches to site planning that resulted in the protection of oak groves or specimen trees. The results of our assessment should prove useful to county and local agencies interested in oak conservation. This research also provides an assessment methodology for a statewide evaluation of county policies and procedures.