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 ...
In the 1980s resource managers were increasingly concerned about effects of timber harvest on ungulates in National Forests. Land and resource management plans incorporated restrictions on timber harvest to maintain cover for Rocky Mountain elk (Cefvus elaphus nelsoni V. Bailey) and mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus hemionus Rafinesque), and habitat models were used to predict effectiveness of various habitat components for these ungulates. Many of the assumptions on which these models were based were untested, however. The Starkey Project, in northeastern Oregon, was begun to address some of these issues through manipulative experiments in a landscape representative of inland National Forests in the West. A 25,000-acre (10 125-ha) area was surrounded with game-proof fencing to support studies on elk, mule deer, and cattle (SOS Taurus). A newly developed telemetry system, using loran-C (long range navigation-C) signals, tracks distribution of the three species in relation to common land management activities and habitat variables. Four primary research projects are underway: animal-unit equivalencies, intensive timber management, effects of roads and traffic, and breeding efficiency of bull elk. Activities at Starkey include trapping, feeding, and handling of deer and elk, radio-telemetry data collection, road and traffic monitoring, hunting, timber harvest, cattle grazing, and vegetation monitoring. An intensive technology transfer program is also an integral part of the Starkey Project. The physical site, including handling facilities and telemetry-related structures, and chronology of events related to the Starkey Project are described. A bibliography of project publications also is included.Keywords: Cattle, deer, elk, forest management, ungulates, Blue Mountains, Oregon, radio telemetry, habitat, Starkey Project, technology transfer, wildlife research. IntroductionLand-use planning for National Forests (NFs) in the 1980s illustrated the growing conflict over public lands management. In land and resource management plans (Forest plans) for the NFs of the Blue Mountains in Washington and Oregon, interactions of livestock with wildlife, especially deer' and elk, were identified as a major concern, as was the relation of wildlife to timber production. Constraints on timber harvest and road construction were incorporated in several Forest plans to meet objectives for deer and elk populations and habitats. These constraints may result in restricted timber harvest (Riggs and others 1993) and thus lower revenues for NFs, local governments, and timber companies, as well as road closures that potentially reduce opportunities for recreation and are costly to establish and maintain. During the 1980s models for predicting habitat effectiveness for deer and elk were being developed and implemented that promoted closing roads or maintaining certain cover:forage ratios for wildlife (Lyon 1983, Thomas and others 1979, Wisdom and others 1986.National Forests support, during some part of the year, more than 90 percent of the e...
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