Wildlife Habitat Management

Transcription

1 Wildlife Habitat Management

2 EC 1470 Reprinted August 2006 $2.50 Managing Wildlife Habitats in Forested Ecosystems

3 Managing Wildlife Habitats in Forested Ecosystems W.D. Edge Strategies for conserving biodiversity need the participation of private land managers. Have you ever thought about how your property fits into a larger ecosystem? Regardless of the size or nature of your property, it is connected to the landscape beyond. How you manage your property can affect the health of the larger ecosystem of which it is a part. To understand these connections, scientists and federal land managers talk about ecosystem management, biodiversity, and landscape ecology. These terms are applicable not just to public lands, but to private ownerships as well. But what do they really mean and what do they have to do with you? To help you understand and use the concepts of ecosystem management, this publication will: Explain the ideas and vocabulary commonly used when talking about ecosystem management Describe why private forest lands play an important part in stewardship of forest ecosystems Discuss issues concerning wildlife Offer suggestions for managing your property for wildlife Ecosystems why do they matter? Many plants and animals have become rare, and some face possible extinction. These species often are listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The purpose is to prevent them from becoming extinct and to allow them to recover so that special protection no longer is needed. An average of 34 species per year were listed as threatened or endangered in the United States between 1976 and 1986, and listings have increased to more than 50 per year since then. By 1990, more than 3,500 species were listed as candidates for protection (i.e., they have been proposed as threatened or endangered, but there are insufficient data to list them). The ESA has been criticized for its species-by-species approach because the magnitude of the extinction threat was unanticipated when the act was developed. The feasibility of continuing a speciesby-species protection strategy is questionable given the sheer number of threatened, endangered, and candidate species. 2 W. Daniel Edge, Extension wildlife specialist, Oregon State University.

4 Also, many species are listed not because of any direct attack on their population, but because loss of habitat makes it difficult for them to survive. Therefore, for financial, logistical, and ecological reasons, it makes sense to base conservation strategies not on protecting individual species but on managing the habitats, communities, and ecosystems they call home. This realization has led to the emergence of ecosystem management as a conservation strategy. The Society of American Foresters defines ecosystem management as an ecological approach to resource management at the landscape level that blends social, physical, economic, and biological considerations to ensure the sustainability of healthy ecosystems while providing desired values, goods, and services. In order to understand the ideas behind ecosystem management, you need to be familiar with some of the terms scientists use. Habitats are vegetation communities that plants and wildlife use to meet their daily and yearround needs. Ecosystems are biological communities interacting with their physical environment. Landscape is a large regional unit of land consisting of many forest stands or patches, irrespective of political or other artificial boundaries. Ecological Level of diversity relationship Geographic scale Regional (gamma) Ecosystems Watershed or landscapes Between-stand (beta) Communities One to many stands Within-stand (alpha) Habitats Stands Microhabitats Within stands Biodiversity what does it mean? One of the key concepts of ecosystem management is the importance of maintaining biodiversity.* Biodiversity describes the variety of living organisms. We can look at biodiversity at several levels. For example, we can study genetic differences among individuals; count the number of species, genera, or families in an area; or compare the amount of diversity in different habitats. Biologists are concerned with three levels of diversity (Figure 1). Within-stand diversity (alpha diversity) is the variety of organisms in a particular place or habitat. This also is known as local diversity. Between-stand diversity (beta diversity) is the difference in variety of organisms among habitats in a particular region. This depends on the number of different habitats and the contrast of adjacent habitats. For example, a clear-cut adjacent to an old-growth stand may have higher between-stand diversity than an old-growth stand adjacent to a sawtimber stand. Regional diversity (gamma diversity) is the variety of organisms in all habitats within a region. One way to measure biodiversity Figure 1. Ecosystem management considers ecological processes at several scales ranging from entire watersheds down to small, specialized microhabitats. *Key terms are highlighted in bold type and are defined in the glossary on page 11. 3

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6 Management practices that make sense at local scales may cause undesirable effects at landscape scales if they are overused or uncoordinated. of species increases with plant diversity The term plant structural diversity describes the number and complexity of vegetation layers. For example, shrub habitats are more complex than grassland habitats. Old-growth stands or unevenaged stands are more complex than even-aged saw-timber stands. As vegetation complexity increases, more organisms can find the food and shelter they need. As a result, the number of species generally increases. Thus, clear-cuts with remnant logs, snags, or green trees retained have more species than clear-cuts without these components. Uneven-aged forest stands typically have more species than even-aged stands within the same forest type (Figure 2). Pattern #2: The number of species declines as elevation increases The more productive forest lands, which have more species, generally are at lower elevations. Thus, the number of species declines as you go up in elevation (Figure 3). As you move from low elevation forests to subalpine forests and alpine areas, habitats become less structurally complex and the environment becomes harsher, reducing species richness. However, these harsh, isolated habitats often are important because they have species that are found nowhere else. Because most lower elevation areas in the Pacific Northwest are privately owned, the bulk of species richness occurs on private lands in this region. Conversely, most national parks, wilderness areas, research natural areas, and federal forest lands occur at midelevations and above. Thus, strategies for conserving bio-diversity need the participation of private land managers. Pattern #3: Different types of ecosystems have different levels of endangerment Within the United States, species listed for protection under the ESA are concentrated in certain areas and ecosystems. Forest ecosystems contain the most threatened and endangered species, probably because these habitats have greater diversity and because they are intensively managed. The majority of endangered forest species are animals. Listed invertebrates primarily are associated with aquatic ecosystems, particularly those found in forested landscapes. Conifer forests have more threatened and endangered species than do mixed or deciduous forests. Slightly more listed species are associated with mature and old-growth forests than with earlier successional stages. Wetland ecosystems cover only 5 percent of the land base in the 48 contiguous states, but they contain nearly 30 percent of listed animal species and 15 percent of listed plant species. Landscape ecology looking at the big picture Landscape ecology is the study of ecological processes at large scales (watershed or larger). This is one of the most important ideas of ecosystem management. Ecosystem management may require coordinating local-scale management activities in order to have a desired effect at landscape scales. Management practices that make sense at local scales may cause undesirable effects at landscape scales if they are overused or uncoordinated. The following section details landscape-scale issues of concern to wildlife ecologists. Habitat fragmentation Habitat fragmentation means that the total amount of a habitat within a landscape is reduced, and the remaining habitat is divided into smaller, more isolated patches (Figure 4). Fragmentation usually results from human land use practices such as agriculture, silviculture, and urban development. Fragmentation occurs in all vegetation types in the Pacific Northwest, but especially in old-growth forest, westside white oak-savannah and ponderosa pine communities, and sagebrush habitats. Habitat fragmentation is thought to be one of the most serious causes of the decline in native plant and 5

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8 edge habitats, brood-parasitism is a major reason for the decline of forest birds in heavily fragmented landscapes of the eastern United States. Similar studies have not been conducted in the western United States, but cowbirds do abound here, and population trends for many western songbirds show declines similar to those in the east. Edge effects also can influence what plants grow in an area. Edge zones usually are drier and less shady than forest interiors. Thus, plants that tolerate shade and limited water have an advantage over typical forest plants, which require more water. In Douglas-fir forests of the Pacific Northwest, effects such as reduced humidity and increased rates of blowdown may extend two to three tree-heights into a forest. These effects increase growth and mortality rates, reduce stocking density, and affect regeneration of conifer species in old-growth forests up to 137 meters from clearcuts. Interior species Just as some species prefer edge habitats, others use only interior habitats. These species require core habitats, habitat patches with large interior areas. For reasons not entirely understood, some species avoid small tracts of seemingly suitable habitat. Many songbirds usually breed only in tracts of forest many times larger than the size of their territories. Studies in grassland prairie fragments in Missouri showed that several species failed to breed in patches smaller than 25 acres, even though this is several times larger than the average territory size. In highly fragmented landscapes, the average patch size may be too small to contain such core habitats. Their loss results in a decline in species that need them for reproduction. Most data come from the eastern United States, where woodlots are isolated among agricultural or urban habitats. One study in the Oregon Coast Range found that winter wrens also are associated with less fragmented landscapes. However, study limitations and the relatively recent nature of landscape fragmentation in the Coast Range limit the conclusions that can be reached for this region. Metapopulation dynamics As landscapes become more and more fragmented, plant and animal populations become isolated on islands of suitable habitat (Figure 6). Some islands are too small to contain more than a few Figure 5. Edges occur at the borders of two or more habitat types. Ecological processes such as predation or nest parasitism may accelerate along habitat edges. 7

9 Looking at your property as it relates to other ownerships within your drainage or subbasin is the crux of ecosystem management. Figure 6. In a metapopulation, source habitats (shaded) provide excess individuals, which emigrate to sink habitats (nonshaded). The sink habitats might be larger than the source habitats, and may even have more animals, but because of lower habitat quality, subpopulations in sink habitats would go extinct without an influx of animals from the source habitats. Arrows indicate the direction of animal movements among patches (Source: Meffe and Carroll, 1994). 8 individuals. These small groups are known as subpopulations. Subpopulations are vulnerable to environmental change, catastrophes, genetic problems, and random population declines, and some will go extinct. In fact, many population ecologists believe all subpopulations go extinct over a period of hundreds to thousands of generations. There is a bigger picture, however. The many subpopulations of a species make up its metapop-ulation, its entire population within the landscape. Although individual subpopulations go extinct, the metapopulation may survive because individuals move among habitat islands and repopulate habitat islands where subpopulations have gone extinct. As habitat fragmentation increases, however, it becomes more difficult for the metapopulation to survive. The overall loss of habitats and habitat isolation reduce the metapopulation, while subpopulations go extinct more rapidly and are less likely to be recolonized. Corridors Corridors connect two or more patches of habitat and allow the movement of organisms among patches. Corridors have two main functions: (1) periodic migration of animals among different habitats (for example, seasonal movements to find food), and (2) permanent immigration among habitat patches to replace subpopulations that have gone extinct. Three types of corridors are needed: Fencerow scale corridors contain narrow rows of appropriate habitat and connect close habitat patches such as stands. This scale lets small vertebrates move among patches. But because they are narrow, these corridors are composed entirely of edge habitat and do not provide habitat for interior species. Landscape mosaic scale corridors are broader and longer. They connect major landscape features, such as forests. These corridors allow daily, seasonal, or more permanent movement of both interior and edge species. Examples include large strips of forest connecting forest habitats that are separated by agricultural lands, riparian habitats along rivers, and mountain ridges. Regional scale corridors connect nature reserves in regional networks. For example, corridors have been designed to connect Glacier National Park in Montana to regional wilderness areas in Idaho, Montana, and Canada. Most conservation plans recognize the importance of corridors and include maintenance of corridors as part of their management plan. What can you do? On your own property Your property probably supports or could support many plant and animal species. Thus, it may be important for conserving biodiversity on a landscape or regional scale. You can directly influence diver-

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11 seeps, springs, ponds, and other wetland communities greatly increase the diversity of your property. Protect them with ample buffer strips. Increase plant community diversity Different plant species provide food and shelter to different animal species. Thus, the greater the plant diversity in an area, the greater the overall biodiversity. The typical clear-cut silvicultural system with only Douglas-fir has lower biodiversity potential than a stand where several species are planted. Thus, consider planting more than one species when you regenerate your stand. You also can increase plant diversity by controlling competing vegetation less aggressively and allowing some less-desirable species (from a timber-production perspective) to develop. Riparian zones typically have more plant diversity than the surrounding upland vegetation. Consider widening riparian buffer zones and extending protection to even the smallest streams and those that have water only part of the year. Rare or uncommon plant communities contribute more than their share to local and regional diversity. Examples include Oregon white oak forests, the Willamette Valley race of ponderosa pine, and peat bogs. Consider protecting or even promoting these plant communities on your property. Looking beyond your property Don t stop at your property line though. Consider your property in a landscape context. Applying concepts of landscape ecology to your property may require more than managing habitats on your own property. You may need to coordinate efforts with your neighbors. A good place to start is by obtaining vegetation maps or aerial photographs of the drainage or subbasin where your property is located. Use them to evaluate your efforts as they relate to the entire landscape. Riparian zone management Riparian zones are important habitats for local and landscape diversity, and may be corridors for species requiring moist habitats. These areas help protect aquatic habitats and your water quality, and are the most obvious connections between your property and your neighbors. Again, remember that at least 70 percent of private woodlands in Oregon and Washington were harvested before riparian protection rules or guidelines existed. These habitats need additional protection and attention. Depending on your other objectives, consider widening riparian zones and extending protection to additional sites such as small or seasonal streams. You, your neighbors, and beyond Looking at your property as it relates to other ownerships within your drainage or subbasin is the crux of ecosystem management. Depending on your objectives and those of your neighbors, you have a number of alternatives. You may choose to manage your property independently of your neighbors simply by looking at aerial photographs or vegetation maps of your drainage. Or, in order to be more effective, you may wish to discuss your neighbors objectives and future plans with them. You also might consult state fish and wildlife biologists to determine the value of your property in maintaining biodiversity; some areas are more important for biodiversity conservation than others. Each property differs in respect to its contribution to the ecosystem, so hard and fast rules or guidelines are not possible. Some of the following questions may help you 10

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13 think about your property with a landscape perspective. Do you have habitats that are uncommon in your watershed or region? Rare plant communities such as Oregon white oak, Willamette Valley ponderosa pine, peat bogs, or old-growth contribute disproportionately to local and regional diversity. Can you manage these habitats to maintain or increase their occurrence? In some cases, protection suffices; in others, creative use of silvicultural practices can accelerate occurrence of these habitats. For example, thinning practices or uneven-aged silviculture may allow you to enhance diversity and mimic old-growth conditions in younger, second-growth stands. Can you reduce habitat fragmentation? For example, if a stand is located in a watershed that is largely in a late successional stage condition, can you defer harvest? Or perhaps you have a small stand of late successional stage forest in a watershed that has been largely converted to young plantations. If so, harvesting your stand so that most of the watershed is in early successional stage conditions would reduce habitat fragmentation. Does your property contain logical corridors, in addition to riparian management zones, that connect one uncommon habitat to another? Maintaining or planning for the widest strip possible within your objectives may allow movement of animals among patches as well as provide habitat itself. For further reading OSU Extension publications Bennett, M. Ecosystem Management: Opportunities and Implications for Woodland Owners, EC 1469 (1996). Many OSU Extension Service publications may be viewed or downloaded from the Web. Visit the online Publications and Videos catalog at edu/catalog/ Copies of our publications and videos also are available from OSU Extension and Experiment Station Communications. For prices and ordering information, visit our online catalog or contact us by fax ( ), ( puborders@oregonstate.edu), or phone ( ). Other publications Harris, L.D The Fragmented Forest: Island Biogeography Theory and the Preservation of Biotic Diversity (The University of Chicago Press, Chicago), 211 pages. Meffe, G.K., and C.R. Carroll Principles of Conservation Biology (Sinauer Associates, Inc., Sunderland, MA). 600 pages. USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Region A Draft Glossary for Ecosystem Management Oregon State University. This publication was produced and distributed in furtherance of the Acts of Congress of May 8 and June 30, Extension work is a cooperative program of Oregon State University, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Oregon counties. Oregon State University Extension Service offers educational programs, activities, and materials without discrimination based on age, color, disability, gender identity or expression, marital status, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or veteran s status. Oregon State University Extension Service is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Published March Reprinted August 2006.

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15 What is enhancement? Enhancing wildlife populations means causing an increase in number and/or quality of animals within those populations. The objective might be, for example, to produce more deer or quail, to have more trophy-class animals, or to increase diversity (the number of species). How do we get enhancement? All wildlife species are products of their environment or habitat. Each species has specific habitat requirements that are different from those of other species. The habitat provides basic life requirements including food, protection from enemies and weather, and a place to rear young. As the amount of specific habitats and the diversity of habitats increases, diversity and numbers of wildlife species on a given piece of land also increase. So, the question How do you enhance wildlife species? can be rephrased as How do you enhance habitat? Enhancement must provide for year-round wildlife needs. For some species, such as deer and elk in eastern Oregon, quality and quantity of some habitat elements vary seasonally. The quality and quantity of forage in summer and fall determine the amount of fat animals store in preparation for the tough winter. If forage is not plentiful and of high quality on summer ranges, the animals might starve on winter ranges where food typically is of low quality and quantity. Also, if deer and elk are not in prime condition in fall, they might not breed, and fawn and calf crops could fail in the spring. Enhancing habitat Habitat diversity Vegetation (trees, shrubs, grasses) provides wildlife habitat. Different species live in different places within this structure. Various birds, such as some warblers, live only in the tops of conifer trees. Here they find food (insects), build nests, and take shelter from weather and predators. Other species, such as pocket gophers, live underground in grassy meadows. Some species, such as certain frogs and salamanders, have a special requirement for the riparian zone the moist, often forested area alongside streams. Most species, however, including deer, quail, and chipping sparrows, require combinations of habitat meadows and other forest openings to feed in and timber for breeding sites and for protection from weather and predators. Habitat variety is natural when natural events such as fire, windthrow, and insect and disease attacks open portions of forested areas. These areas usually are revegetated in stages, beginning with grasses, progressing to shrubs, then seedling trees, saplings, mature trees, and finally old-growth trees. With each successive stage, different combinations of wildlife species likewise appear, persist awhile, and then decline (Figure 1a). The diversity of wildlife species depends on habitat diversity associated with these stages. Providing a diversity of habitats (and thus a diversity of wildlife species) requires a diversity of areas in different stages of vegetative development. Clearcut logging works like nature in opening forest lands and beginning the progression of vegetative stages, starting with grassy meadows. Reforestation (planting conifer seedlings) and brush control provide other vegetative stages, but the time sequence is shortened (Figure 1b). The last stage, old growth, usually is not attained. Habitat quantity Can I grow deer on a 10-acre plot? How many acres does a covey of quail require? What quantities of habitat support viable, reproducing populations of wildlife species? The diversity and abundance of wildlife populations that a given parcel of land supports are directly related to the amount and kinds of land available. Table 1 (page 5) gives minimum space requirements of representative species. Deer require a minimum of 30 acres per animal of combined forest lands and openings. Quail require a minimum of 5 to 10 acres per bird of open meadows, with brushy 2 THE WOODLAND WORKBOOK

16 areas interspersed within the meadows and adjacent forest lands. Songbirds, such as chipping sparrows, require about 5 acres per bird, again of open areas adjacent to forested acreage. The size and timing of timber harvest can be a major tool in simultaneous management of timber and wildlife. Instead of creating large (more than 100 acres) clearcuts in single cuttings, many smaller cuts can be spread over a number of years (40 to 60 acres could be cut every 5 to 7 years). This would even out the flow of dollar returns from timber and the supply of forage and habitat diversity for wildlife. Thinning timber also provides forage and habitat diversity. Habitat placement Wildlife species use different habitats to meet different needs (openings for food, forested areas for cover). These different habitats must be close enough to each other that wildlife can move readily from one to the other with minimal exposure to predation and weather. Wildlife species with small home ranges (songbirds, quail, grouse, rabbits, and deer and elk in western Oregon) must have these different habitats close together (mere hundreds of feet for quail and rabbits and usually less than 0.25 mile for deer and elk). Problems may arise in eastern Oregon with animals such as deer and elk. They deer grouse woodpecker songbirds spotted owl quail rabbit songbirds squirrel songbirds songbirds flying squirrel MATURE & OLD GROWTH red tree mouse YOUNG HERB & SHRUB 30 years 70 years 100 years 150 years 350 years Figure 1a. Wildlife species that live in a natural, unmanaged forest. quail grouse deer rabbit songbirds YOUNG squirrel HERB & SHRUB years 60 years yrs 60 years yrs yrs 350 years Figure 1b. Wildlife species that live in a managed forest. 10 yrs 60 years 10 yrs 60 years MULTIPLE USE 3

17 have seasonal habitats that are miles apart summer range at higher elevations in mountain meadows, winter range down on sagebrush flats. Preserving migration corridors used for traveling to and from such seasonal ranges is another habitat requirement. If these migrating animals have to cross many logging roads, they are exposed to hunters and vehicles. Deer and elk might be hunted when they are on summer range, on winter range, or traveling on migration corridors. If your property includes only one of these seasonally used habitats, your management of these animals could be influenced by management on land over which you have no control. Enhancement doesn t stop at merely providing amounts, diversity, and habitat placement. Wildlife have additional habitat needs, primarily food and breeding places, that you can manage and thus indirectly influence wildlife numbers and well-being. Special requirements Managing forest lands for timber production generally provides a variety of habitats. However, practices such as brush control and snag removal alter or remove special habitats of some wildlife species. In some cases, one management practice can provide multiple habitat requirements, such as food and cover, for several species. Leaving a few standing snags and allowing logs to remain on the ground provide nesting sites (cavities in snags) and a food source (insects that burrow into decaying wood) for birds. Slash often is removed from clearcut sites, usually by burning. Small amounts of this slash instead could be piled for quail and rabbits to use as protective cover, breeding sites, and food sources (berries and leaves). Other management practices might provide for only a single need of wildlife. The rapid establishment of conifer seedlings on forested openings (clearcuts, small meadows, etc.) within 3 to 10 years greatly shortens the time that these areas would otherwise provide forage for deer (7 to 25 years). One way to provide additional forage for deer in the shortened time span is to plant forage on parts of clearcuts. Deer especially like grass and legume seedings. Quail, grouse, and rabbits also will take advantage of this additional food source. You can t always maintain snags and other dead standing trees as nesting sites for cavity-nesting birds and mammals such as flying squirrels. However, you can build nest boxes for bluebirds, other songbirds, squirrels, and wood ducks and place the boxes in appropriate locations as an alternative to natural nest sites. The key to providing special requirements is to identify those animals you wish to enhance, determine whether they have special requirements that current management does not provide and, if so, implement those activities that will benefit the desired populations. Constraints on enhancement One manages forest lands for a variety of reasons for timber production and recreation as well as for wildlife. The manner of management on neighboring private or public lands can influence wildlife on your land. You must account for these factors in your management plan to avoid conflicts and to increase wildlife abundance. Conifer damage Game such as deer and elk can damage conifer seedlings. Managing habitat to enhance populations of these animals should not increase amounts of damage. However, habitat enhancement could increase populations of some animals to a level where they deplete normal food sources and begin to damage conifers. Planting forage crops for deer might increase populations of pest species such as mice; they girdle conifer seedlings and can cause significant economic loss. Building brush piles provides food and cover for quail and rabbits; however, if you have too many brush piles close to conifer seedlings and not much forage available in winter, you could find the rabbits cause significant damage to the seedlings. 4 THE WOODLAND WORKBOOK

18 Table 1. Habitat requirements of representative wildlife species. Wildlife Representative Required habitats Special habitat group species and acreages requirements Meadow wildlife California quail, Open areas with grasses Brush piles essential brush rabbit, and forbs; some shrubs (one per 2 acres) meadowlark (15 acres) Meadow/forest Deer, elk Openings (50 acres); Migration corridors closed canopy (15+ years old); between seasonal ranges conifers (150 acres) Chipmunk Opening (15 acres); secondgrowth timber (15 acres) Junco, bluebird Opening (5 acres); second- Snags with nest cavities growth timber (5 acres) Young forest Red squirrel Mixture of 15- to 75-year-old Cone-bearing trees conifer trees; understory of for food grasses, forbs (100 acres) Ruffled grouse mixture of conifers Moist streamside and alder (15 acres) MacGillivray s Mixture of 15- to 75-year-old warbler conifers (15 acres) Mature forest Flying squirrel Conifers 75+ years old Nest cavities in older wildlife (100 acres); understory trees (100+ years old) with forbs, small shrubs Spotted owl Conifers 100+ years old (400 acres) Pileated Conifers 100+ years old Conifer snags; minimum woodpecker (100 acres) 20 inches diameter at breast height (dbh) for nest trees Riparian wildlife Salamanders, Moist, streamside vegetation frogs, snakes with closed canopy (0.25 to 2 acres); flowing streams Large predators Bobcat, bear, Mixtures of closed canopy Large (more than coyote, goshawk with openings (300 to 15 inches dbh) trees 1,500 acres) for nesting or denning Conflicts with timber production Often the primary product on forest lands is timber. In some cases, increasing habitat for wildlife will reduce the yield of timber products. Keeping meadows open to produce deer forage precludes producing timber for market. Maintaining stands of old-growth forest for species such as spotted owls and pileated woodpeckers prevents the short-term rotation (50 to 80 years) required to maximize timber production on forest lands. Maximizing diversity of wildlife species requires maximizing diversity and location of habitat sites. Altering vegetation to maximize diversity will lower production of timber on forest lands. MULTIPLE USE 5

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20 progressing through regeneration, and ending with mature forests. As for a private game reserve, selling the privilege to observe wildlife on your land will not bring in much money public lands are available for this. The best approach is to design habitat improvements around silvicultural practices. The variety of species and numbers of individual species may be less than ideal, but small unused areas, riparian zones, steep slopes, and other areas where timber production cannot be maximized will provide many of the requirements you need for a diversified habitat. What habitat(s) do you have? When you decide what kinds of wildlife you want, identify the habitats required and check them against what is available. Assess the diversity of habitats and acreage of each as well as the habitats of neighboring parcels of land. If the species you want match the type and amount of habitat available, the situation is ideal. If the matchup is not good, you must decide whether to manipulate the habitat to increase species diversity or to increase the number of animals or perhaps both. To do this properly, an inventory of your property is essential. Make a sketch of your land with the various habitats roughed out, including acreages. Then list the wildlife species that each type of habitat favors. Draw habitats that would result from vegetation enhancement and list the wildlife that these modified habitats would favor (Figure 2). Make a plan If you intend to enhance vegetation to provide a greater variety of habitats for wildlife, you must make a plan for the desired changes. The plan should include the location and acreage of habitat you desire to manipulate, the expected cost of the enhancement, and provisions for special habitat requirements not provided by typical vegetation manipulation. Table 2 gives an example of such a plan. Where to go for help A number of public agencies and private groups in Oregon can provide assistance. The Oregon State University Extension Service has publications that describe how to provide special habitat needs such as nest boxes. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has information on preferred habitats of wildlife, and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service provides help with habitat manipulation. The Audubon Society is an excellent source of information on providing for special needs of songbirds; most large towns have an Audubon Society chapter. Table 2. Sample habitat enhancement plan. Wildlife species Habitat enhancement and acreages Provision for special requirements Deer, elk Provide openings in forest (20 to Seed 5- to 10-acre patches in meadows 50 acres each); harvest standing with grass legume mix. timber; suppress tree and shrub regeneration. Rabbits, quail Provide permanent openings (15 acres) and one to two brush piles per acre. Songbirds Maintain a good mixture of meadows, Establish nest boxes; establish a system second growth, and old growth (5 to of trails through all habitats for bird 10 acres for each habitat). watching. MULTIPLE USE 7

21 For more information OSU Extension publications are available from: Publication Orders Extension & Station Communications Oregon State University 422 Kerr Administration Corvallis, OR Fax: We offer discounts on orders of 100 or more copies of a single title. Please call for price quotes. You can view our Publications & Videos catalog and many of our publications on the Web at Other publications The Peterson Field Guide series for birds, mammals, animal tracks, trees and shrubs, reptiles and amphibians, insects, and bird nests (Boston: Houghton Mifflin). decalesta, D. and M.S. Deusen. Woodland Fish and Wildlife This series includes a number of separate publications. Order from Washington State University, or via the Web at then forestry, then wildlife and fish. Bennett, M. Ecosystem Management: Opportunities and Implications for Woodland Owners, EC 1469 (Corvallis: Oregon State University, 1996). $1.25 DeYoe, D., D. decalesta, and W. Schaap. Understanding and Controlling Deer Damage in Young Plantations, EC 1201 (Corvallis: Oregon State University, reprinted 1999). $2.00 decalesta, D. and K. Asman. Controlling Pocket Gopher Damage to Conifer Seedlings, EC 1255 (Corvallis: Oregon State University, revised 2002). $2.00 Edge, W.D. Managing Wildlife Habitats in Forested Ecosystems, EC 1470 (Corvallis: Oregon State University, reprinted 1998). $ Oregon State University. The Woodland Workbook is a collection of publications prepared by the Oregon State University Extension Service for owners and managers of private, nonindustrial woodlands. Information has long-range and day-to-day value for anyone interested in wise management, conservation, and use of woodland properties. The Workbook is organized in sections in a 3-ring binder with tabbed dividers for each section. To order, and to get a current list of titles and prices, inquire at the OSU Extension Service office that serves your county. This publication was produced and distributed in furtherance of the Acts of Congress of May 8 and June 30, Extension work is a cooperative program of Oregon State University, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Oregon counties. Oregon State University Extension Service offers educational programs, activities, and materials without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, marital status, disability, and disabled veteran or Vietnam-era veteran status as required by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of Oregon State University Extension Service is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Published Reprinted June THE WOODLAND WORKBOOK

22 Wildlife Habitat Management For more publications concerning wildlife habitat management in the Pacific Northwest, see on-line resources listed below. 1. Wildlife in Broadleaf Woodlands of Oregon and Washington 2004 MISC Managing Western Juniper for Wildlife 2001 MISC Wildlife on White Oaks Woodlands 1997 RHH 6/97 4. Coastal Douglas-Fir Forests and Fish and Wildlife 2008 MISC Thinning Young Douglas-fir west of the Cascades for Timber and Wildlife 2003 EB Riparian Areas: Fish and Wildlife Havens 2007 MISC Cavity Nesting Ducks 2007 MISC Managing Pacific Northwest Forests for Band-tailed Pigeons 2007 MISC Managing Forest Habitats for Neotropical Migrant Songbirds 2003 MISC0198