Protocols

• Monitoring Manual for Grassland, Shrubland and Savanna Ecosystems - Volume 1: Quick Start Guide

  This manual describes how to monitor three rangeland attributes: soil and site stability, watershed function, and biotic integrity. The Quick Start guide includes only the basics; details are provided in Volume II. 
• Monitoring Manual for Grassland, Shrubland and Savanna Ecosystems - Volume 2
  Volume II of the Monitoring Manual provides more detailed guidance on monitoring program design, data analysis and interpretation.It also includes a number of supplementary methods. Refer to Volume I for basic guidance. 

   
• Multiple Indicator Monitoring of Stream Channels and Streamside Vegetation
• A User Guide to Assessing Proper Functioning Condition and the Supporting Science for Lentic Areas
• A User Guide to Assessing Proper Functioning Condition and the Supporting Science for Lotic Areas
• Rapid Monitoring Protocols

  These protocols, developed by Tamarisk Coalition, are designed to provide an outline of suggested monitoring efforts that could be conducted on a restoration site in order to efficiently track restoration progress and inform the planning and implementation of management activities. The blank Rapid Monitoring Datasheets are designed to accompany this protocol (see separate document). 
• Rapid Monitoring Datasheets - Example

  This document contains example Rapid Monitoring Datasheets to accompany the Rapid Monitoring Protocol document. 
• Rapid Monitoring Datasheets - Blank

  This document contains blank Rapid Monitoring Datasheets to accompany Rapid Monitoring Protocol document. 
• AloTerra Restoration Services - Monitoring, Maintenance, and Adaptive Management Planning and Resources for Riparian Restoration Projects

  The purpose of this resource, created by AloTerra Restoration Services, is to provide general recommendations for monitoring and maintenance of restored conditions in restored riparian areas of Colorado, such that information gathered from monitoring efforts can influence ongoing land management necessary to accomplish project goals. It is important to note that monitoring plans and maintenance strategies must be tailored to the specific site in question. The unique abiotic and biotic conditions of the site, restoration and other management goals, available resources, and other factors will have a large influence on the final monitoring and adaptive management protocols being employed for a given restoration project.
• AloTerra Restoration Services - Noxious Weed Report Form

  This form accompanies Monitoring, Maintenance, and Adaptive Management Planning and Resources for Riparian Restoration Projects, developed by AloTerra Restoration Services. 
• AloTerra Restoration Services - Shrub/Tree Survivorship Data Sheet

  This form accompanies Monitoring, Maintenance, and Adaptive Management Planning and Resources for Riparian Restoration Projects, developed by AloTerra Restoration Services. 
• AloTerra Restoration Services - River Resilience Assessment Form

  This form accompanies Monitoring, Maintenance, and Adaptive Management Planning and Resources for Riparian Restoration Projects, developed by AloTerra Restoration Services.
• AloTerra Restoration Services - Line-Point Intercept Form

  This form accompanies Monitoring, Maintenance, and Adaptive Management Planning and Resources for Riparian Restoration Projects, developed by AloTerra Restoration Services.
• AloTerra Restoration Services - Streambank and Bed Stability Asessment Protocol

  This streambank and bed stability assessment protocol has been developed to rapidly assess factors contributing to channel stability and identify which areas along a stream reach have the greatest amount of active erosion or are at the greatest risk of future erosion. It also considers the stability and effectiveness of channel restoration structures as a post-restoration monitoring class. Each sub-reach (100-200 feet) is evaluated for bed and bank material properties, bank slope and vegetation coverage, as well as evidence of active bed and bank erosion. An aggregated score is calculated for each sub-reach allowing one to identify which sub-reaches pose the greatest concern to channel stability along the reach as well as identify what factors contribute to this. Finally, this protocol can be used for repeated assessments to monitor change over time and compare pre- and post-restoration results in a manner that allows for targeted maintenance treatments necessary to address project goals.  Please see the accompanying field sheet. 
• AloTerra Restoration Services - Streambank Stability Assessment Field Sheet

  This form accompanies Monitoring, Maintenance, and Adaptive Management Planning and Resources for Riparian Restoration Projects, developed by AloTerra Restoration Services.
• Russian Olive Monitoring and Retreatment Form

  This brochure, produced by Boulder Community Alliance (BCA), provides instructions on how to properly monitor your property for Russian olive resprouts. This form should be used in conjuction with another BCA produced document entitled: Controlling Russian Olive Seedlings on Your Property. 
• Field-Based Evaluations of Sampling Techniques to Support Long-Term Monitoring of Riparian Ecosystems along Wadeable Streams on the Colorado Plateau
  To better plan for and implement long-term ecological monitoring, the authors of this report measured riparian vegetation and fluvial geomorphic features at pilot study sites on four wadeable perennial stream reaches, representative of drainages across the Colorado Plateau. The primary objectives were to (1) collect field data, (2) evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of various ecological measures and measurement techniques for riparian ecosystems, and (3) use field-based sampling to inform and refine the development of standard operating procedures for use in implementing integrated, long-term monitoring of riparian ecosystems. Ultimately, this work was aimed at providing National Park Service (NPS) staff with some of the information and methods needed to design and implement long-term monitoring of NPS riparian resources, which is both relevant to management, and fully operational within institutional resource constraints. 
• Dolores River Restoration Partnership Rapid Monitoring Protocol

  Rapid Monitoring Protocol used in the DRRP
• Quantifying and addressing the prevalence and bias of study designs in the environmental and social sciences

  Christie et al. 2020

  Building trust in science and evidence-based decision-making depends heavily on the credibility of studies and their findings. Researchers employ many different study designs that vary in their risk of bias to evaluate the true effect of interventions or impacts. Here, we empirically quantify, on a large scale, the prevalence of different study designs and the magnitude of bias in their estimates. Randomised designs and controlled observational designs with pre intervention sampling were used by just 23% of intervention studies in biodiversity conservation, and 36% of intervention studies in social science. We demonstrate, through pairwise within-study comparisons across 49 environmental datasets, that these types of designs usually give less biased estimates than simpler observational designs. We propose a model-based approach to combine study estimates that may suffer from different levels of study design bias, discuss the implications for evidence synthesis, and how to facilitate the use of more credible study designs.