State Trust Lands Habitat Conservation Plan
Monitoring
The state trust lands Habitat Conservation Plan directs DNR to learn better ways of accomplishing our conservation goals. One way we do this is through monitoring. We use the results of our monitoring, along with those from related research, to amend our implementation strategies as needed, allowing us to better protect and enhance plant and wildlife habitat while meeting trust responsibilities. For our HCP we practice three main types of monitoring, which are carried out in different parts of the state as appropriate:
Implementation Monitoring - Also known as compliance monitoring, this simply determines whether the Habitat Conservation Plan's conservation strategies are implemented as written.
Effectiveness Monitoring - Determines whether implementation of the conservation strategies results in anticipated habitat conditions.
Validation Monitoring - As we implement the HCP, we will evaluate cause-and-effect relationships between habitat conditions resulting from implementation of the conservation strategies, and the animal populations the strategies are intended to benefit. At this time, we are in the process of evaluating validation monitoring approaches for the Olympic Experimental State Forest (OESF) Planning Unit.