We defined habitat requirements (source habitats) and assessed trends in these habitats for 91 species of terrestrial vertebrates on 58 million ha (145 million acres) of public and private lands within the interior Columbia basin (hereafter referred to as the basin). We also summarized knowledge about species-road relations for each species and mapped source habitats in relation to road densities for four species of terrestrial carnivores. Our assessment was conducted as part of the Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project (ICBEMP), a multiresource, multidisciplinary effort by the USDA Forest Service (FS) and the USDI Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to develop an ecosystem-based strategy for managing FS and BLM lands within the basin. Our assessment was designed to provide technical support for the ICBEMP and was done in five steps. First, we identified species of terrestrial vertebrates for which there was ongoing concern about population or habitat status (species of focus), and for which habitats could be estimated reliably by using a large mapping unit (pixel size) of 100 ha (247 acres) and broad-scale methods of spatial analysis. Second, we evaluated change in source habitats from early European settlement (historical, circa 1850 to 1890) to current (circa 1985 to 1995) conditions for each species and for hierarchically nested groups of species and families of groups at the spatial scales of the watershed (5th hydrologic unit code [HUC]), subbasin (4th HUC), ecological reporting unit, and basin. Third, we summarized the effects of roads and road-associated factors on populations and habitats for each of the 91 species and described the results in relation to broad-scale patterns of road density. Fourth, we mapped classes of the current abundance of source habitats for four species of terrestrial carnivores in relation to classes of road density across the 164 subbasins and used the maps to identify areas having high potential to support persistent populations. And fifth, we used our results, along with results from other studies, to describe broad-scale implications for managing habitats deemed to have undergone long-term decline and for managing species negatively affected by roads or road-associated factors.Our results indicated that habitats for species, groups, and families associated with old-forest structural stages, with native grasslands, or with native shrublands have undergone strong, widespread decline. Implications of these results for managing old-forest structural stages include consideration of (1) conservation of habitats in subbasins and watersheds where decline in old forests has been strongest; (2) silvicultural manipulations of mid-seral forests to accelerate development of late-seral stages; and (3) long-term silvicultural manipulations and long-term accommodation of fire and other disturbance regimes in all forested structural stages to hasten development and improvement in the amount, quality, and distribution of old-forest stages. Implications of our results for managing ...
We modeled the dynamics and restoration of sagebrush ( Artemisia spp.) habitats for Greater Sage‐Grouse ( Centrocercus urophasianus) in the interior Columbia Basin and adjacent portions of the Great Basin ( referred to as the basin). Greater Sage‐Grouse have undergone widespread decline and are the focus of conservation on over 13 million ha of sagebrush steppe in the basin, much of which is managed by the U.S. Forest Service ( FS) and U.S. Bureau of Land Management ( BLM ). Consequently, we evaluated changes in the amount and quality of sage‐grouse habitat on 8.1 million ha of FS–BLM lands in the basin. Changes were estimated from historical to current conditions and from current conditions to those projected 100 years in the future under proposed management and under two restoration scenarios. These two scenarios were designed to improve long‐term (100 ‐year) projections of sage‐grouse habitat on FS–BLM lands in relation to current conditions and proposed management. Scenario 1 assumed a 50% reduction in detrimental grazing effects by livestock ( through changes in stocking rates and grazing systems) and a six‐fold increase in areas treated with active restoration relative to proposed management. Scenario 2 assumed a 100% reduction in detrimental grazing effects and the same level of active restoration as scenario 1. Under the two scenarios, the amount of FS–BLM habitat for sage grouse within treated areas declined by 17–19% 100 years in the future compared with the current period, but was 10–14% higher than the 100‐year projection under proposed management. Habitat quality under both scenarios was substantially improved compared with the current period and proposed management. Our results suggest that aggressive restoration could slow the rate of sagebrush loss and improve the quality of remaining habitat.
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