1 / 26

Using Birds to Guide Post-fire Management in the Plumas & Lassen National Forests

Using Birds to Guide Post-fire Management in the Plumas & Lassen National Forests. Ryan D. Burnett, Nathaniel Seavy, and Diana Humple 4/21/2011. Study Objectives. Assess the influence of post-fire conditions on spatial and temporal variation in landbird populations

happy
Download Presentation

Using Birds to Guide Post-fire Management in the Plumas & Lassen National Forests

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Using Birds to Guide Post-fire Management in the Plumas & Lassen National Forests Ryan D. Burnett, Nathaniel Seavy, and Diana Humple 4/21/2011

  2. Study Objectives • Assess the influence of post-fire conditions on spatial and temporal variation in landbird populations - diversity and abundance of a suite of landbird species - woodpecker cavity use - linking avian metrics with habitat conditions at multiple spatial scales • Inform forest management decisions to promote diverse and resilient forest ecosystems across multiple spatial scales

  3. Study Sites

  4. Fire Age, Size, Patch Size, and Severity Varies Moonlight ~ 66,000 acres Summer 2007 56.5% high severity Cub ~15,000 acres – Summer 2008 12% High Severity Storrie ~”52,000” acres – Fall 2000 28% high severity

  5. Site Selection • Random Stratified sample (public land, slope<40 percent, 1km from road or trail, 1500m between starting points) • Sample size per fire based on accessible area • 17 Storrie Fire Transects (4 private) • 32 Moonlight Fire Transects (6 private) • 13 Cub Fire Transects (0 private)

  6. Sampling Transect Five exact distance point count surveys per transect 2-4 hour cavity nest search of 20ha plot

  7. Habitat Surveys • 50m radius vegetation surveys at each point count station • 11.3m radius snag plot at each nest, point count station, and 5 random locations –DBH, decay class, tree species, scorch height, etc. • Classified Severity Using Composite Burn Index Point Count Stations & Random Snag Plot - example

  8. Storrie Greatest Diversity and Abundance

  9. Riparian Areas Serve as Refugia on Private Land

  10. Avian Abundance Varies by Severity & Fire

  11. Nest Tree Size Varies by Woodpecker Species

  12. Most Species Select for Broken Tops

  13. All Species Selecting for Dead & Decaying Trees

  14. Black-backed Woodpecker Nest Sites = High Snag Densities ~277/ha (111/acre)

  15. Black-backed Woodpecker Use = Very High Snag Densities beyond the micro-nest site Mean Snag Density across 20ha plots with BBWO Nests Mean Snag Density within 11.3m of BBWO nests

  16. Post-fire habitat is Unique & Heterogeneous

  17. Early Successional - Disturbance Dependent Species left out in the rain ← Decrease in Owl Habitat Increase in Owl Habitat → Regression Coefficient

  18. Early Seral & Habitat Mosaics R2=0.21, p<0.0001

  19. Conclusions • Post-fire habitat – including areas that burned at high severity – are an important component of the ecosystem necessary for maintaining biological diversity in the Sierra Nevada • Time since fire & fire severity both appear to influence avian community • Post-fire salvaged areas on private land support significantly less diverse and abundant avian community • Existing snags on the landscape (prior to fire) are important resource for cavity nesting birds the first 3 to 5 years post-fire • Black-backed Woodpecker are nesting in areas with very high snag densities (100 – 300 per acre)

  20. Future Direction • Temporal & spatial effects of fire severity on bird diversity, abundance, and cavity use • Spatially explicit habitat suitability models to help guide future post-fire management • Compare bird assemblages between green forest and post-fire habitat with and without treatments

  21. Bird Response to Commercial DFPZ Harvest • 122 points treated with DFPZs (only) 2005 – 2009 • Lassen and Plumas National Forests • 122 reference points selected using cladogram to determine most appropriate reference for each treated sites

  22. Cladogram to Select Reference Sites

  23. Analysis • Dependent variables: abundance of 15 focal species, total bird abundance, & species richness • Data from 2004-2010 • Generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) with Poisson distributions • Controlled for random effects (point, year, transect) • Compared: -reference to pre-treatment -year-since-treatment to reference sites -year-since-treatment to pre-treatment sites

  24. Preliminary Results

  25. Sierra Nevada Avian Monitoring Information Network Four main uses of the website: 1) view project results through ‘packaged’ analyses 2) view study locations and presence/absence on a map 3) download raw data (survey results and locations) 4) Access reports, publications, and other literature

  26. Thank You! Plumas & Lassen National Forests H.F. Quincy Library Group Monitoring Program PSW SNRC – Peter Stine Resources Legacy Fund Field Crew: Paul Taillie, Mel Preston, Tiffany Russell, Brendan McGarry, Jason St. Pierre, Meghan Horne-Brine, Alicia Arcidiacono, Simone Cook, Joe Michael, Doug Zimmerman

More Related