Using Birds to Help Guide Post-fire Management in the
Plumas & Lassen National Forests
Ryan D. Burnett & Nathaniel Seavy
4/2/2010
PRBO Conservation Science
Talk Overview
• Post-fire Habitat Monitoring
• PRBO’s climate change predictions
• MIS Project and New Online tools
PRBO Conservation Science
Managing for Mosaics in a “Conifer Sea”
PRBO Conservation Science
A Century of Fire Suppression
~95% reduction in annual
area burned in California
PRBO Conservation Science
Sierra Nevada Wildfire Trends (from Miller et al. 2008)
PRBO Conservation Science
Study Objectives
• Asses 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
PRBO Conservation Science
A Unique opportunity
PRBO Conservation Science
Fire Age, Size, Patch Size, and Severity Varies
Cub ~15,000 acres
Moonlight ~ 65,000 acres
Storrie ~52,000
acres
PRBO Conservation Science
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
•13 Storrie Fire Transects – burned Fall 2000
•26 Moonlight Fire Transects – burned Fall 2007
•12 Cub Fire Transects – burned Summer 2008
PRBO Conservation Science
Sampling Transect
Five exact distance point count surveys per transect
2-4 hour cavity nest search of 20ha plot
PRBO Conservation Science
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 - >50% overstory tree mortality=high, <50% = moderate/low
Point Count Stations & Random Snag Plot - example
PRBO Conservation Science
Effects of Fire Severity on Avian Community
Individuals per Point per Visit
Total Bird Abundance
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Cub
Cub
High
Moderate
to Low
MoonLight MoonLight
High
Moderate
to Low
Storrie
Storrie
PLAS
High
Moderate
to Low
Green
Forest
Storrie
Storrie
PLAS
High
Moderate
to Low
Green
Forest
Species per Point
Species Richness
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Cub
Cub
High
Moderate
to Low
MoonLight MoonLight
High
Moderate
to Low
PRBO Conservation Science
More High severity = more cavity nests
Nests per plot
5
Moonlight fire (2007)
Cub fire (2008)
4
3
2
1
0
0
20
40
60
80
100
% of plot with high severity
PRBO Conservation Science
Same pattern with 9 year old Storrie Fire
Nests per plot
5
Storrie fire (2000)
4
3
2
1
0
0
20
40
60
80
100
% of plot with high severity
PRBO Conservation Science
Why more nests in High Severity areas?
Hypothesis:
More high severity fire = more snags = more potential
nest sites
Test:
1. Quantify the types of snags used for nest
2. Compare availability of those snags in high and low
severity plots
PRBO Conservation Science
Snags used for nesting are not immediately created
by high severity fire
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Tree decay
classes
PRBO Conservation Science
Cavity Use by Tree Species
Cavity Use By Tree Species
Unidentified
16%
True Fir
Lodgepole Pine
2%
Aspen
6%
True Fir
38%
Yellow Pine
Doug Fir
Cedar
Black Oak
5%
Black Oak
Lodgepole Pine
Aspen
Cedar
2%
Doug Fir
17%
Unidentified
Yellow Pine
14%
Nest Tree Availability
Aspen
1%
Unidentified
13%
Lodgepole Pine
1%
True Fir
Yellow Pine
Black Oak
4%
Sugar Pine
4%
Doug Fir
Cedar
True Fir
51%
Cedar
7%
Sugar Pine
Black Oak
Lodgepole Pine
Doug Fir
6%
Aspen
Unidentified
Yellow Pine
13%
PRBO Conservation Science
(cm)
Nest Snag DBH
PRBO Conservation Science
Post-fire habitat is Unique & Heterogeneous
PRBO Conservation Science
Goals of Post-fire Management?
PRBO Conservation Science
Shaping Future Forests
PRBO Conservation Science
Disturbance Dependent Species left out in the rain
← Decrease in Owl Habitat
Increase in Owl Habitat →
Regression Coefficient
PRBO Conservation Science
Habitat Edges
Olive-sided Flycatcher Abundance (predicted)
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0
10
20
30
40
50
Edge Density within a 1000m radius (Contrast Weighted m/ha)
60
PRBO Conservation Science
Early Seral Habitats
R2=0.21, p<0.0001
Fox Sparrow Abundance (predicted)
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
% Shrub/Brush within a 500m radius
40
45
50
PRBO Conservation Science
Management Recommendations
• Restrict all activities that may “disturb” breeding birds to the nonbreeding season (August - April)
• Recognize post-fire habitat as important component of the ecosystem
necessary for maintaining biological diversity in the Sierra Nevada
• Consider the area of a fire burned at high severity when determining
what percentage of the fire area to salvage log
• Consider landscape context (patch, watershed, ranger district, forest,
ecosystem) and availability of different habitat types when planning
post-fire management
PRBO Conservation Science
Management Recommendations
• Manage a portion of post-fire areas for large patches (minimum of 50
acres) of high severity snag habitat
• Retain high severity patches in locations with higher densities of larger
diameter trees and existing snags with relatively high levels of decay
• Manage a portion of post-fire areas for early successional shrub and
herbaceous dominated habitats and natural regeneration of conifers
• Retain >4 snags/acre in salvaged areas
• Retain patches of high severity adjacent to green forest patches to
promote forest heterogeneity
PRBO Conservation Science
Future Direction
• Temporal & spatial effects of fire severity on bird
diversity, abundance, and cavity use
• Spatially explicit habitat suitability models to help
guide post-fire management
• Compare bird assemblages between green forest
and post-fire habitat with and without treatments
PRBO Conservation Science
Climate Change Predictions – Google “PRBO Climate Change”
PRBO Conservation Science
Spatially Explicit Occupancy Predictions
←Mt. Shasta
←Mt. Shasta
←Lake Almanor
Current
←Lake Almanor
Future
PRBO Conservation Science
Management Indicator Species Project
Distribution monitoring for:
• Mountain Quail (early-mid seral conifer)
• Hairy Woodpecker (snags in green forest)
• Fox Sparrow (montane chaparral)
• Yellow Warbler (riparian)
Tracking distribution across 10 N.F.’s
PRBO Conservation Science
Online Interactive Tools – Google “PRBO SNMIS”
Three 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)
PRBO Conservation Science
Thank You!
Paul Taillie & 40+ field biologists who have worked
on the PRBO PLAS project from 2002 - 2009
Region 5 of the USFS
Lassen National Forest
National Fire Plan
PSW SNRC – Peter Stine
H.F. Quincy Library Group Monitoring Program
Vicky Saab – RMRS