Restoration Project Documents - Project Planning and Management for Ecological Restoration - page 139

run hundreds of feet in length are common, with every ten to twenty-five feet along the baseline
marked in the field. For larger-scale projects, baselines might be thousands of feet in length, with
fifty-foot intervals (fig. 9-4).
Planting Plans
Planting plans are used to identify all the species that are to be planted on your project site and
to define the spatial relationships between plantings and between assemblages or groupings of
species. The amount of detail you show on the planting plan is determined by the level of detail
required for actual installation on the site. We have found that the level of detail required for plant-
ing plans is far less than many practitioners and permitting agencies realize. There is a cost-benefit
ratio that must be considered when deciding the level of detail to include in the planting plan.
Many restoration planting plans contain too much detail, in which the location of each indi-
vidual plant is shown on the plan even though that individual plant is part of a larger grouping
of the same species or part of a repetitive pattern of plantings. Too much detail can translate into
confusion in the field during implementation and can lead to questions and undue time spent on
plant placement when that level of detail is not warranted. Most restoration projects are not gar-
den designs focused on the placement of individual specimens. Indeed, most restoration projects
consist of planting rather large assemblages of the same or similar species. In these and most cases,
time-saving drawing techniques are recommended. Figures 9-5 and 9-6 depict the placement of
several riparian species for two projects. Notice the use of species callouts—with each callout con-
FIGURE 9-5. Planting
template for Mission
Trails project derived
from data collected for
the endangered least
Bell's vireo. Template is
marked off of a baseline,
and plants are placed
on-site. Each area has
species and quantities
identified to ensure that
the habitat requirements
of this endangered vireo
are met.