Using Birds to Guide Post-fire Management in the
Plumas & Lassen National Forests
Ryan D. Burnett, Nathaniel Seavy, and Diana Humple
4/21/2011
PRBO Conservation Science
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
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Study Sites
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Fire Age, Size, Patch Size, and Severity Varies
Moonlight ~ 66,000 acres
Cub ~15,000 acres –
Summer 2008
Summer 2007
56.5% high severity
12% High Severity
Storrie ~”52,000” acres
– Fall 2000
28% high severity
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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)
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Sampling Transect
Five exact distance point count surveys per transect
2-4 hour cavity nest search of 20ha plot
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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
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Storrie Greatest Diversity and Abundance
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Riparian Areas Serve as Refugia on Private Land
Private Land
Upland vs. Riparian Sites
8
7
# per point count station
6
5
Riparian
4
Upland
3
2
1
0
Species Richness
Total Bird Abundance
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Avian Abundance Varies by Severity & Fire
Detections/Point Count Visit
Cub Total Bird Abundance
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
<.1
.1 - 0.5 .51 - 1.0 1.01 - 1.5 1.51 - 2 2.01 - 2.5 2.5 - 3
Burn Severity (Composite Burn Index)
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
<0.1
0.1 - 0.5 0.5 - 1.0 1.0 - 1.5 1.5 - 2 2.0 - 2.5 2.5 - 3
Burn Severity (Composite Burn Index)
Moonlight Total Bird Abundance
Detections/Point Count Visit
Detections/Point Count Visit
Storrie Total Bird Abundance
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
<.1
.1 - 0.5 .51 - 1.0 1.01 - 1.51 - 2 2.01 1.5
2.5
Burn Severity (Composite Burn Index)
2.5 - 3
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Nest Tree Size Varies by Woodpecker Species
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Most Species Select for Broken Tops
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All Species Selecting for Dead & Decaying Trees
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
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Black-backed Woodpecker Nest Sites = High Snag Densities
~277/ha (111/acre)
Black-backed Woodpecker
Porportion (+/- CI )
1.0
0.8
All nests (N = 19, p < 0.001)
Cub nests (N = 10, p < 0.001)
Moonlight nests (N = 9, p = 0.006)
Available (N = 247,114,133)
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
Selection ratios (+/- CI )
5
4
3
2
1
0
< 4 snags per plot
4-8 snags per plot
> 8 snags per plot
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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
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Post-fire habitat is Unique & Heterogeneous
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Early Successional - Disturbance Dependent Species left out
in the rain
← Decrease in Owl Habitat
Increase in Owl Habitat →
Regression Coefficient
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Early Seral & Habitat Mosaics
8
0.5
Fox Sparrow Abundance (predicted)
Olive-sided Flycatcher Abundance (predicted)
0.6
R2=0.21, p<0.0001
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
0
10
20
30
40
50
Edge Density within a 1000m radius (Contrast Weighted m/ha)
60
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
% Shrub/Brush within a 500m radius
40
45
50
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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)
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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
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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
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Cladogram to Select Reference Sites
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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
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Preliminary Results
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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
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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