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The United South and Eastern Tribe (USET) Proper Functioning Condition (PFC) and Tribal Focused Environmental Risk and Sustainability Tool (Tribal-FERST) Train the Trainers Workshop.October 6-9, 2014, in Nashville, Tennessee: PFC Assessment for Management and Monitoring
Citation:
Hall, R., S. Swanson, S. Terry, B. Schumacher, J. Lin, H. French, AND D. Heggem. The United South and Eastern Tribe (USET) Proper Functioning Condition (PFC) and Tribal Focused Environmental Risk and Sustainability Tool (Tribal-FERST) Train the Trainers Workshop.October 6-9, 2014, in Nashville, Tennessee: PFC Assessment for Management and Monitoring. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-16/046, 2016.
Impact/Purpose:
One of the many goals of a Tribe’s environmental and natural resource department is to maintain and restore functionality of stream and wetland riparian and upland areas, which could protect Tribal beneficial uses and values for those water bodies. Disturbances occurring within a watershed, or adjacent to a stream corridor, typically cause effects that may temporarily or permanently alter environmental and ecological risk factors. Focusing on where and how water moves and vegetation/soil trends in the riparian system can often determine if important Tribal goals and objectives are being met. It can then be determined what management changes are needed to move the environmental and ecosystem risk factors towards a desired condition. This report focuses on the Workshop’s training and assessment of the proper functioning condition of ecosystems for Tribal members.
Description:
The maintenance of wildlife and aquatic habitat is dependent on the development of a riparian area management strategy, which considers and adapts to certain basic ecological and economic relationships. These relationships are functions of riparian and terrestrial ecosystems, growth and reproduction of woody and herbaceous plant communities, hydrologic and geomorphic conditions and processes, soils, sediment, water quality and quantity, recovery rates, upland conditions, cultural, recreation and domestic uses. The class participants determined functional ratings, using the Proper Functioning Condition protocol for each field site visited. The methods used in this Workshop were found to work equally well in both eastern and western ecosystems in the United States.