The ICO Approach to Quantifying and Restoring Forest Spatial Pattern: Implementation Guide. Version 3.0

This document is intended as a “How To” guide for managers and stakeholders wishing to implement the Individual, Clumps, and Openings (ICO) method for silvicultural prescriptions and/or monitoring. Since its release in 2013, ICO has undergone a lot of development and improvement. In the third version of the guide we have included these important advancements:
-Reference data from 4 regions is now available to assist in developing targets for clump sizes.
-We developed an Android app to make marking and implementation easier. See section VII (page 38) for link to download.
-Innovative implementation approaches developed by a number of silviculturists.
-We developed a desktop application to use with monitoring data to assess spatial pattern. See section VII (page 38) for link to download.

This guide has two companion papers that we strongly recommend reading. The scientific basis for the method is established in Larson and Churchill (2012). An operational case study was conducted in 2009-2011 and is presented in Churchill et al. (2013a). In addition, we have incorporated the ICO method into a larger framework for dry forest restoration in a new field guide (Franklin et al. 2013). Finally, the ICO method is still evolving, and this document will be updated again. Comments and feedback are welcome!

This guide is organized into stand-alone chapters. Managers should read and use chapters as they find useful to their own needs.