Team Arundo del Norte
Arundo Surveying and Monitoring Protocol

Arundo Survey Instructions: Delineating Sites and Observations Deanne DiPietro, deanne@ucdavis.edu March, 2002 Print versions: This instruction sheet, Sample Site Description, Sample Observation for Grouped Arundo Clumps, Sample Observation for Single Arundo Clump

Definitions of site and Arundo observation:

A site is an area for which you are making observations about physical, biological, and human properties and usually contains an Arundo infestation (unless you are making an absence report)- it can be a reach of creek or riverbank.

An Arundo observation describes the Arundo in the site. Arundo observations are grouped inside sites, and once established these units can't be changed or rearranged for the life of the monitoring effort.

It's very important to carefully decide upon the boundaries of the areas you will describe in the Site Description form, as well as the areas of Arundo that you are calling a single observation and describing in an Arundo Observation form, because you will need to stick to this system throughout your treatment and monitoring visits. The reason for this is that the database is set up so that all the observations are associated with a site which cannot change in its boundaries. When you do the eradication treatments, the information that you will record on the Treatment Log will be associated with the original observation and site, and when you perform follow-up monitoring the new descriptions of the site and its Arundo observations must be associated with the original ones. This allows us to use the data you collect to monitor changes in the site and the effects of eradication on the Arundo.

Things to consider when deciding on your sites and observations:

Spatial continuity- a good site contains an obvious grouping of Arundo clumps that can be accessed in one walk
Environmental characteristics- the stream and surrounding area is similar throughout within the site
Access, ownership- make each property a separate site since you are likely to visit them at different times
Permits, plans for treatment methods- areas with different permits or plans for different kinds of treatments should be made separate sites.
The infestation pattern- you can group mulitple clumps into one observation instead of walking to and describing each one. This works well when there's a lot of Arundo in indistinct and dense clumps. If the clumps are distinct and far apart, it's recommended that you make each one a separate observation. Remember not to group clumps that will get different treatments!

Examples: A site with multiple Arundo clumps

	This is a section of creek on a single property and with one good access road. It has multiple clumps of Arundo. The landowner has given permission to eradicate and plans to do the Roundup application himself after a CCC crew cuts and stacks the tops all in one day. You are going to accompany the landowner on treatment day and fill out the Treatment Log.
	Here is a possible boundary for the site (yellow polygon) and a good place to put the site access point GPS coordinates (red dot). At the following link you can view the filled out Site Description form for this site. One way to delineate the observations in this site is to group them all into one observation. The site access point coordinates would then also serve as the observation location coordinates, and the infested area is the same size as the site with a cover class of 5-25%. Here is the resulting Arundo Observation form.
	Another way to make the observations is to describe each Arundo clump as a separate observation. This would be correct if the treatments are to be different among the clumps (ie., three with cut-stump, two with foliar spray, and one control) The small red dots show the location of the GPS coordinates. There would be six observations, the infested area is the size of the clump canopy, and cover class would be 95-100%. See the example Arundo Observation form for the largest clump in the picture.