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Snag Management: Options and Incentives for
Private Landowners 1
Lorin L. Hicks !:_/
Abstract.--Existing and needed incentives for snag
management on private lands are discussed. Realistic
management objectives must identify areas where habitat
can be continuously supplied for minimum viable populations using cost effective methods. The economic and
biological feasibility of some options are discussed.
Until further incentives are developed, reasonable options include snag retention in riparian· zones and limited-use areas, recognition of priorit1 tree species and
road management to reduce snag loss to firewood cutters.
INTRODUCTION
incentives encourage snag management
on private
land.
Avian control of deleterious insect pests is
commonly promoted as a reason to support insectivorous cavity-nesting birds. However, this argument is unrealistic when compared to the cost of
providing the required habitat and the effectiveness
of other control methods such as forest chemicals.
Birds exert some control on insect populations at
endemic levels, but are ineffective in reducing
insects at epidemic levels when significant damage
occurs to standing forest crops (Bruns 1960, Beebe
1974).
The primary incentive for maintaining snagdependent wildlife habitat on industrial forestlands stems from a recognition of public concerns
and corporate responsibilities.
One way in which public concern is expressed is
through the pursuit of wildlife-oriented recreation.
A national survey by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service in 1980 revealed that 83 million Ameri~ans,
or 49 percent of all adults 16 years of age or
older, engaged in recreational activities directed
at the nonconsumptive appreciation
of .wildlife
(Lyons 1982). The extent of participation in these
activities reflects not only a substantial demand
for the products of wildlife management, but also an
increasing interest by the public as to where these
products will be produced and who should provide
them.
Corporations are owned by stockholders who
desire a reasonable return on their investment.
Stockholders also expect their companies to operate
in a responsible and ethical manner. Consequently,
consideration of social and environmental concerns
must be recognized as a cost of doing business.
Although providing for the needs of snag-dependent
wildlife may require extra attention by the private
landowner, ignoring the needs of these species
invites conflict and restrictive regulation.
A wide variety of forest wildlife requires snag
habitat for their existence. Approximately nine
percent of all wildlife species in the U.S. Fores~
Service Northern Region are dependent on dead or
dying timber of all size or age classes, including
25 percent of the bird species breeding in Rocky
Mountain Forests (Harger 1978, McClelland et al.
1979).
Many questions have been raised regarding the
role of private lands in the management of snagdependent habitat. Some segments of the public feel
that high intensity, short-rotation timber management commonly practiced on industrial forestlands is
inconsistent with snag management practices for
wildlife. Landowners want to know what population
levels are required, why private lands are needed to
support snag-dependent wildlife, and what costs must
be incurred to provide this habitat.
The purposes of this paper are to identify
existing and needed incentives for maintaining snagdependent wildlife on private lands, establish realistic management objectives, evaluate the costs of
two management approaches, and recommend snag management options which are compatible with intensive
management of industrial forestlands.
INCENTIVES FOR MAINTAINING
SNAG-DEPENDENT WILDLIFE
Although there
are many options available, few
1/Paper presented at the Snag Management
Symposium. [Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff,
Ariz., June 7-9, 1983].
2/Lorin L. Hicks, Wildlife Biologist, BN
Timberlands Inc., Missoula, MT.
60
There is no direct economic benefit which flows
to industrial forest landowners as a result of any
level of snag management. Perhaps the most effective incentive has yet to come in the form of tax
reductions and other methods' which
allow the
landowner to defray the direct costs of providing
this habitat in the public interest. However, for
legislation of this nature to be passed, the general
public as well as the private landowner will have to
be convinced that public lands, wilderness areas,
and parks do not provide enough habitat to support
desired population levels of SQag-dependent wildlife.
In the Rocky
Mountains, 75 percent (43.2
million acres) of the commercial timberland is in
public ownership with industry controlling only 4
percent (2.1 million acres) of the total (Beuter
1980). Private lands are often intermingled with
public land in a checkerboard ownership pattern. A
definite need for this habitat on private lands must
be established in order to determine priorities and
mechanisms to offset management costs.
to illustrate the impacts of snag retention on.wood
production in the Blue Mountains of Oregon and
Washington. Using this familiar example, 1 calculated the present-day value of income foregone by
employing this technique on 100 acres of commercial
timberland (table 1). The basic assumptions are
that suitable snags will be continously supplied to
support populations of cavity-excavating species at
60 percent of maximum potential in a ponderosa pine
stand managed on a 150-year rotation
with a
shelterwood silvicultural system.
Table 1.
Present-day value of volume forgone on
100 acres to provide snag habitat at
the 60 percent level in a ponderosa pine
stand managed on a 150-year rotation.
Stand
Age
(yrs)
0 or 150
80
100
140
Total
OBJECTIVES FOR SNAG MANAGEMENT
To be effective on intensively managed forests,
snag management must have clearly defined objectives. A realistic snag management plan must recognize four points.
First, intensively managed industrial forestlands should not be expected to support more than
minimum viable populations of snag-dependent wildlife species. Second, management approaches which
do not address all existing wildlife species or uses
are not wise investments. Third, snag retention
methods must be employed which minimize direct costs
or value reductions to the landowner. Fourth, areas
must be selected on private lands where the natural
processes which perpetuate snags can be preserved as
well as the snags themselves.
PDV
Volume
Forgone
Forgone
(MBF) 1/
($) 2/
143.4 - 11,472.00
22.8
183.46
57.0
258.29
4.2
6.04
227.4
11,919.79
Silvicultural
Treatment
Overs tory Cut
Thinning
Thinning
Shelter Cut
1-Data on volume foregone
Conversion rate used was 6 BF
from Thomas (1979).
one cubic foot.
=
2-Stumpage value (average)
$80.00/MBF, 3% real
increase on stumpage value, 6%
discount rate.
Total wood volume sacrificed over 150 years to
meet these objectives on 100 acres amounts to
228,400 board feet at a present-day
value of
$11,919.79, or $119.20 per acre. To put these
figures into perspective, forestland of this type
currently sells for $300-$400 per acre. Planting
costs in this timber type average . $100 per acre.
Implementation of this alternative would cost nearly
a third of the current market value of the land and
exceed the costs of putting a similar site back into
wood production.
SNAG MANAGEMENT OPTIONS
In order to discuss the feasibility of snag
management options on private lands, a realistic
assessment of anticipated costs must be developed.
Two management options have been widely discussed.
The first approach, which has been employed on
public lands, involves the retention of merchantible trees to serve as a continual supply of
snags on a "per-acre" basis throughout a stand
rotation (Thomas 1979). lbe second approach, which
has been recommended for private lands, uses bird
boxes to replace snags and merchantible timber
removed during harvest (Bruns· 1960, Brawn and Balda
1981).
Bird Boxes
To evaluate a bird box program applied to the
same 100 acres, breeding territory
sizes were
obtained from the literature for secondary cavityusing mammals (Chapman and Feldhamer 1982) and birds
(Franzreb 1977). These data indicated that 130
boxes would be required to provide for 60 percent of
optimum populations. As shown in Table 2, the total
present-day cost of maintaining this program on 100
acres for 150 years amounts to $6,786.00, or $67.86
per acre.
Snag Retention
In his publication,
"Wildlife Habitats in
Managed Forests," Thomas (1979) developed an example
61
Table
2.
deRendent wildlife in a managed forest (Franzreb
1977, Webb 1977, Titterington 1979). However, operations such as broadcast burning and aerial application of fertilizers or herbicides can be complicated
by leaving large standing snags within cutting
units. This problem may be partially avoided by
retaining snags and cull trees on the edge of
cutting units. This option has value, but should be
recognized as a short-term solution to the problem
of providing suitable habitat over time, since no
provision is made for replacement snags.
Cost summary for a bird box program: to
maintain secondary cavity- using species
at 60 percent level for 150 · years on 100
acres in ponderosa pine timber type. All
units are in dollars.
E!2ense Item
Initial:
Construction
Installation
Per
Box
lf
Total
Present
Day·
Program
(130 Boxes) ~y
$1,785
$1,785
$319
$5,001
$11.49
$2.24
RECOMMENDATIONS
Annual (150 yrs)
Replacement lf
Maintenance
$13.73
$1.40
Based on the previous discussion of objectives
and feasibility of management options, the following
recommendations are offered to
integrate
snag
management on
management into intensive forest
industrial lands:
$6,786
Total Present-Day Cost:
1) Utilize riparian zones, inoperable sites,
visual zones, and other ''limited use" areas for snag
management. This reduces direct cost and conflict
with other land use objectives, while preserving a
continual supply of snags in various size and age
classes.
1-cost data are from a 3-year bird box feasibility
study on public land near
Missoula,
MT (Rob
Hazlewood, Wildlife Biologist, Bureau of
Land
Management,
Missoula, MT, pers. comm. ) • Annual
box loss rate on this study averaged 8%
per year.
2-A 6% discount rate was used
calculations.
for
present-day cost
2) Although all tree species are used to some
extent by snag-dependent wildlife, attention should
be given to retain tree species most preferred by
wildlife in the area. For instance, in northwestern
Montana the most valuable tree species for wildlife
are (in descending order): western larch (~
occidentalis), ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa),
cottonwood/aspen (Populus ~.), ~paper birch
(Betula papyrifera), (McClelland et al. 1979).
In addition to being expensive, the bird box
alternative has a number of biological shortcomings.
Most important is the fact that bird boxes alone
will not support the major woodpecker species which
must excavate holes as part of their courtship
behavior. In addition, bird boxes are attractions
for predators and parasites (Tardell and Doerr 1982,
Pinkowski 1977) and may increase mortality of
resident species during winter months. Finally,
bird boxes will not provide for the other wildlife
uses of snags such as roosting,
feeding, and
perching sites.
There are actually
two
different "costs"
involved with these options. In the snag retention
option, costs represent present-day wood fiber value
foregone to meet long-term objectives. With bird
boxes,· an immediate out-of-pocket expense is required for initial construction and installation, as
well as a financial commitment to maintain and
replace the boxes over time.
It should be recognized that the anticipated
costs for both options would probably be reduced if
applied to ownerships larger than 100-acre units.
However, these figures indicate that widespread
provision for snag-dependent wildlife habitat on a
sustained ''per-acre•• basis represents a substantial
and prohibitive cost for
an industrial forest
landowner.
3) Road management has become· one of the most
important tools for snag management. Due to heavy
woodcutting pressure in Montana, we have been forced
to "write off" snags within 200 feet of an open
road. Loss to firewood cutters is a strong argument
against leaving snags for wildlife in flat, accessible areas. The problem is widespreadJ as indicated
by Scott et al. (1980) in Colorado, where 97 out of
100 signed "wildlife trees" were removed by woodcutters within two years. Increased road management
and public education will be necessary if snag
management programs are to be successful on both
public and private lands.
SUMMARY
Recognition of social concerns and corporate
responsibility are the only existing incentives to
provide habitat for snag-dependent
wildlife on
industrial forestlands. With the abundance of public land present in the west, a clearly defined need
for this habitat on private lands must be established. Some options which have been proposed or
employed on public lands are
not economically
feasible for the private landowner. Realistic snag
developed which
management objectives must be
identify areas where a continual supply of habitat
Logging Residue as Snag Habitat
Logging residue, natural mortality, and the
retention of existing snags and cull trees in
cutting units can support
a variety of snag62
components can be provided
for minimum viable
populations of all existing species using the most
cost-effective methods. Programs to provide habitat
for snag-dependent wildlife on industrial forestlands must be balanced with the need to meet
economic objectives.
Until more tangible incentives are developed,
~he retention of snags in limited
use and special
management areas, recognition
of priority tree
species to retain for wildlife, and road management
to reduce loss of snags to firewood cutters are the
most feasible options for snag
management
on
intensively managed private forestlands.
LITERATURE CITED
McClelland, B. Riley, Sidney s. Frissel, w.c.
Fischer, and C.H. Halvorson. 1979. Habitat
management for hole-nesting birds in forests
of western larch and Douglas-for. Journal
of Forestry 77(8):480-483.
Beebe, Spencer B. 1974. Relationships between
insectivous hole-nesting birds and forest
management. Yale University Sch. For. Env.
Studies., New Haven, Conn. 49 p.
Beuter, John H. 1980. Timber in the United
States: a strategic resource for the
twenty-first century. Working paper for
the National Conference on Renewable Natural
Resources. [Washington, D.C., Nov. 30-Dec 3
1980] American Forestry Assn., Washington,
D.C. 39 P•
Pinkowski, Benedict C. 1977. Blowfly parasitism
of eastern bluebirds in natural and artificial nest sites. Journal of Wildlife Management 41(2):272-276.
Scott, Virgil E., Jill A. Whelan, and Peggy L.
Svoboda. 1980. Cavity-nesting birds and
forest management. p.311-324. In Management of western forest and grasslands for
nongame birds: workshop proceedings. [Salt
Lake City, Utah, February 11-14, 1980] USDA
Forest Service General Technical Report
INT-86, 535p.
Brawn, Jeffrey and Russell Balda. 1981. Progress report of nest-box study. Federal
Timber Purchasers Assn. and National Forest
Products Assn., Washington, D.C. 14 p.
Bruns, Herbert. 1960. The economic importance
of birds in forests. Bird Study 7(4):193-208.
Tardell, J.H. and P.D. Doerr. 1982. Black bear
damage to bluebird nest boxes in southeastern
North Carolina. Journal of Wildlife Manage46(2):244-245.
Chapman, Joseph A. and George A. Feldhamer. 1982.
Wild mammals of North America: biology,
management, and economics. 1,147p. The
Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, Baltimore, Md.
Titterington, R.W., HS. Crawford, and B.N.
Burgason. 1979. Songbird response to
commercial clearcutting in Maine spruce-fir
forests. Journal of Wildlife Management
43(3):602-609.
Franzreb, Kathleen E. 1977. Bird population
changes after timber harvesting of a mixed
conifer forest in Arizona. USDA Forest
Service Research Paper RM-184, 26p. Rocky
Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station,
Fort Collins, Co.
Thomas, Jack W., technical editor. 1979. Wildlife habitats in managed forests: the Blue
Mountains of Oregon and Washington. USDA
Forest Service Agricultural Handbook No. ~53
512 p. Washington, D.C.
Barger, Rosemary. 1978. Managing old-growth
forests as wildlife habitat: an ecosystems
approach. USDA Forest Service. Northern
Region, Missoula, Mt. 50 p.
Webb, William L., Donald F. Behrend, and Boonruang.
Saisorn. 1977. Effect of logging on songbird populations in a northern hardwood
forest. Wildlife Monographs No. 55, 35 p.
Lyons, James R. 1982. Nonconsumptive wildlifeassociated recreation in the U.S.: identifying the other constituency. Trans. North
American Natural Resources Conf. 42:226-236.
63