Old Forest Habitat – 2011 Report
The HFQLG Record of Decision requires that suitable habitat for old forest-dependent
and aquatic/riparian-dependent species not be reduced by more than 10 percent of levels
originally measured in 1999 within three specific old forest vegetation types across the
Pilot Project. California Wildlife Habitat Relationship (CWHR) labels 5M, 5D and 6 are
used to represent habitat required by old forest-dependent species.
Each project planned to date under the HFQLG Pilot Project was evaluated to determine
the reduction, if any, in the vegetation strata in CWHR labels 5D, 5M and 6. The
vegetation strata CWHR size class 5 represents a single-story, predominantly large tree
(greater than 24-inch diameter at breast height (DBH)) stand. Density class D has a 60100 percent canopy cover and density class M has a 40-59 percent cover. CWHR size
class 6 represents a multi-layered stand where CWHR size class 5 is over a distinct layer
of size class 4 (11-24 inch DBH) or size class 3 (6-11 inch DBH) and where total tree
canopy is 60 percent or greater.
Reductions are documented and a cumulative total is tracked to make sure no greater than
a 10 percent reduction occurs over the life of the HFQLG Pilot Project. Vegetation strata
analysis and mapping has calculated there are 204,770 acres with these strata labels in the
Pilot Project. A more accurate assessment was completed in 2009 to amend the 1999
baseline. A cumulative total of reductions in habitat are tracked to monitor loss of old
forest habitat. To date, 4,518 acres (2.2 percent) have, or will have, a reduction based on
projects with a signed Record of Decision. For comparison, wildfire through 2011
reduced an additional 25,953 acres (12.7 percent). There were no reductions across the
HFQLG Pilot Project area from either HFQLG projects or wildfire in 2011. See Tables
1, 2 and 3 for more details.
Table 1. HFQLG Projects related old forest habitat reductions.
Ranger District
Beckwourth
Feather River
Mount Hough
Sierraville
Almanor
Eagle Lake
Hat Creek
Riparian
Habitat
Acres Old Forest
Removed
Habitat Reduced
614
3
1299
0
2419
0
25
0
33
0
0
0
128
0
Table 2. Wildfire related old forest habitat reductions.
Ranger District
Beckwourth
Feather River
Mount Hough
Sierraville
Almanor
Eagle Lake
Hat Creek
Riparian
Habitat
Acres Old Forest
Removed
Habitat Reduced
657
0
601
0
24431
598
0
0
45
0
6
0
213
0
Table 3. Total reductions of old forest habitat within the HFQLG Pilot Project Area
1999-2011. Reductions are shown both for HFQLG implemented projects, and for
comparison, reductions from wildfires are also shown. The reference condition is based
on 1999 levels from the HFQLG vegetation layer CWHR labels 5M, 5D and 6.
Old Forest Habitat Reductions
HFQLG Projects
Results of Wildfire
Old Forest Habitat - 1999 Level
Prepared by:
Colin Dillingham
HFQLG Monitoring Team Leader
7 Feb 2012
Acres
4518
25953
204,770
Percent of
Percent old
Total
forest reduction
Reductions
15
85
2.2
12.7