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based on historical data contained in the Baseline Document. Obviously all four species occur <br />outside this geographic area and the Program will incorporate information from other <br />contemporaxy studies of these species from areas outside the general study area. <br />The design of the monitoring and research includes three spatial scales: System, Program Lands, <br />and Project Scale (see also Section I.E.). <br />• System scale monitoring investigates the entire study area. The objective of this level of <br />monitoring is to evaluate the effects of the Program on the target species' and their <br />habitats throughout the associated habitats (see Program Document, Section I.A, for <br />description). This will be done through analysis of correlations of species use, species <br />abundance, use site characteristics and other variables (e.g., resource availability, changes <br />in land use, river stage, etc.). Examples of system level monitoring include tracking <br />trends in sediment budget, the abundance of sand bars and islands, the abundance of wet <br />meadows, the abundance of whooping crane roosting sites and their physical and biotic <br />characteristics throughout the study area, whooping crane monitoring, and least tern and <br />piping plover monitoring. System scale monitoring allows the estimation of habitat <br />selection (Manley et al. 2002) by target species, which is useful in the evaluating the <br />effectiveness of the First Increment of the Program in meeting goals and objectives in the <br />Program and evaluation of hypotheses related to species habitat needs. Little or no <br />research can effectively be conducted at the system scale due to long time-lags, diversity <br />of the overall system, etc. However, multiple smaller scale research experiments <br />(Program lands scale or project scale) could be nested to research issues on the system <br />scale. <br />Program lands scale monitoring and research will investigate specific actions taken to <br />implement the Land and Water Plaiis. The objective of Program lands scale research and <br />monitoring is to evaluate the effectiveness of the entire suite of management practices <br />implemented on each parcel of Program land, including documenting beginning <br />conditions prior to Program management. Coordination will be needed between those <br />implementing the IMRP and those iinplementing the Land and Water Plans to insure that <br />proper data are collected before management begins and to learn the nature and extent of <br />the proposed management actions. Examples of Program lands scale monitoring and <br />research include determining plant species composition and abundance and more detailed <br />measurements of sediment budget, channel widths, and abundance of sandbars and <br />islands on parcels of Program lands. <br />The objective of project scale monitoring and research is to evaluate processes (e.g., the <br />relation of flow to channel maintenance) and management methods (e.g., a specific <br />timber clearing activity, wet meadow development, island creation). Several research <br />areas and topics for the evaluation of processes and methods are identified in Table 1. <br />For example, the IMRP contains research items related to channel geomorphic processes <br />(e.g., sediment transport, island building, flows) and management methods to influence <br />channel geomorphology (e.g., sediment augmentation, island lowering) (see Tasks 1-4 in <br />Table 1). Specific monitoring and research studies will be adopted for each type of <br />project. However, it is important that research be conducted as soon as practical for use <br />September 1, 2006 Adaptive Management Plan 31