Songbird ecology in Southwestern Forest Service ponderosa pine forests: A literature review

This publication reviews and synthesizes the literature about ponderosa pine forests of the Southwest, with emphasis on the biology, ecology, and conservation of songbirds. Critical bird-habitat management issues related to succession, snags, old growth, fire, logging, grazing, recreation, and landscape scale are addressed. Overviews of the ecology, current use, and history of Southwestern ponderosa pine forests are also provided. This report is one of the outcomes of the Silver vs homasco urt-settlement agreement of 1996. It is intended for planners, scientists, and conservationists in solving some of the controversies over managing forests and birds in the Southwest

Environmental assessment: Wildcat fuels reduction and vegetation management project

307 pp. Tables, maps, charts, references, appendices. T.5S., R.27E., Sections 13, 2228, 3336; T.5S., R.28E., Sections 1820, 2832; T.6S., R.27E., Sections 14, 817, 2127, 3536; and T.6S., R.28E., Sections 59, 1621. Captured March 16, 2009.Proposed action includes commercial thinning on 2218 acres, non-commercial thinning on 3286 acres, 40 acres of aspen restoration, mechanical fuels treatment, and landscape burning

The response of an avian community to intercropping and forest management practices in a private working pine forest

Within managed pine forest systems, a plethora of bird species exist throughout the lifecycle of a stand akin to what may be experienced through post-disturbance regeneration in a natural forest system. I sought to address how breeding avian communities shift across time in response to stand aging and forest management, evaluate species-specific responses to stand conditions, investigate the responses of at-risk avian species to forest management, and determine avian non-breeding, over-wintering presence in a managed loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) forest. I conducted breeding bird point count and vegetation surveys within five stands of privately owned and managed pine forest in Mississippi, each of which was split into quadrants with different management strategies implemented. I designed and executed night surveys for Chuck-will’s-widow (Antrostomus carolinensis). Lastly, I conducted winter bird banding to explore over-wintering diversity, dietary isotope assimilation, and parasite prevalence. I found evidence that the avian community shifted in response to forest stage and structure, with differences created by management practices and forest succession. Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) intercropping allowed some grassland and early successional species to remain in forest stands with closing canopies longer than in plots with standard management, with few diversity differences between treatments. Abundance of Chuck-will’s-widow was found to relate positively with the percent cover of early successional forest stands, those which were recently harvested and replanted and were in a pine-grassland state. Over-wintering bird species richness remained relatively low, and capture rates were consistently greatest in a young open canopy stand, which contained a higher level of vegetation structure and plant abundance when compared to three older stands. This represents a limited number of studies where investigations into bird community responses to forest management took place in the same forest stands across a long temporal period. Managers in forest systems should consider the implications of management undertaken at different stages in the rotational lifetime of a forest stand. To focus on conservation of priority bird species, managers should increase heterogeneity by maintaining or creating pine-grassland and early successional forest conditions within forest stands while also ensuring stands of various ages exist concurrently within the forest ecosystem

Utah Master Naturalist, Mountain Adventures Manual

The Utah Master Naturalist Mountain Adventures Manual provides a comprehensive view of mountain ecosystems in Utah, from the geology and climate that influence mountain ecosystems, to the plant and animal communities and their unique adaptations for survival. The Manual explores the human perspective from historic peoples to current management

Richfield Fire Management Plan Environmental Assessment

This Environmental Assessment (EA) documents results of an analysis of proposed changes to the current management of wildland fire and hazardous fuels for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Richfield Support Center. Proposed revisions of the Richfield Fire Management Plan (FMP) serve as the “Proposed Action” for this EA. The revised FMP incorporates current planning requirements associated with fire management on public lands, including wildland fire management and fuel treatments. The EA analysis is designed to ensure compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). It allows determinations to be made as to whether any “significant,” as defined by the President’s Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) in Regulation 40 CFR 1508.27, impacts could result from the analyzed actions

Vegetation classification and mapping project report: Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve

NPS 140/101150.February 2010.Natural Resource Report NPS/ROMN/NRR--2010/179.Includes bibliographical references