Identification of Optimal Timber Harvest Locations by Peter Lecourt More than a century of fire suppression and mismanagement have severely affected the forest and fire ecology of the Blue Mountains of Oregon. To clear these forests and raise funds for restoration, the USDA Forest Service would like to conduct timber harvests of the unnaturally abundant tree species from these forests. Harvestable areas must be compliant with the Oregon Department of Forestry's Forest Practice Rules. Once harvestable areas are identified, travel times from these areas to nearby timber mills must be generated. A tool was created with python scripting in ArcGIS to streamline this analysis. Of the 1617 square miles of the study area, 1391 square miles were found to be compliant with the Oregon Department of Forestry rules. Travel times from these compliant areas to 32 nearby timbers mills were generated with a mean travel time of 214 minutes, low travel time of less than one minute, and a high travel time of 443 minutes. The tool created by this project will be used for analysis of other forested areas in the future.
The nominate subspecies of the Striated Heron (Butorides striata striata) inhabits most of South America. Previous authors suggested that the southernmost populations are partially migratory based on anecdotal evidence. An analysis of 9352 eBird records from south of 20°S reveals that the proportion of Striated Heron records during the austral winter months (June–August) decreases south of 24°S. Breeding occurs as far south as 37°S, whereas individuals have wintered as far south as 39°S. The seasonal distribution data strongly suggest that populations south of 24°S are partially migratory, with most individuals departing during the winter period in southern Paraguay, southeastern Brazil, Uruguay, and most of Argentina. Given the absence of band recovery, geolocator recovery, or satellite tracking data, it is unknown how far north the southernmost populations migrate, but heat maps of 35304 eBird records in South America suggest most individuals winter in eastern Bolivia and central Brazil. Further studies are needed to elucidate the migratory pathways and destinations of migrant individuals of the Striated Heron.
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