Avian Monitoring in the Lassen and Plumas National Forests
Ryan D. Burnett & Diana Stralberg
Plumas-Lassen Symposium – 4/10/2009
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PRBO 2008 Northern Sierra Report
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http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/hfqlg/monitoring/resource_reports/wildlife/Landbird_Monitoring-2008.pdf
or
Google – HFQLG wildlife reports
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Today’s Focus
5 Treatment Types…
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Defensible Fuel Profile Zones
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Group Selection
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Pre-commercial Thinning
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Mastication
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Prescribed Fire
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Study Area
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Eagle Lake DFPZ’s
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Brown’s Ravine (Almanor R.D.)
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Meadow Valley-Kingsbury Rush
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Methods
• 50m radius point counts
• Almanor, Eagle Lake, and Mt. Hough Ranger Districts
• 1194 point count stations
• 2002 – 2008
• 2 visits per year
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Analysis
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Abundance indices of 17 species, species richness, Shannon diversity
Time since treatment
Untreated sites time since treatment (fire = 75, mechanical = 35)
Mixed effects models
Linear (w/Gaussian Distribution) for species richness/diversity
Generalized linear (w/negative binomial distr.) for individual species
Covariates (elevation, solar radiation, veg. type, slope, RHCA)
Site included as a random effect
Treatment effect value set at 1 year post-treatment for predictions
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A suite of species as management indicators
Species Abundance
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Chipping Sparrow
Hairy Woodpecker
Steller's Jay
MacGillivray's Warbler
Brown Creeper
Hammond's Flycatcher
Fox Sparrow
Western Tanager
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Nashville Warbler
Mountain Chickadee
Audubon's Warbler
Dusky Flycatcher
Oregon Junco
Hermit Warbler
0
0.5
1
1.5
Detections/Station/Year
2
2.5
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Species Richness and Diversity
Metric
DFPZ
Group
PCThin
Mast
Burn
-0.0025
0.0005
0.0135**
0.0079
-0.0047
Species Richness
0.0033
-0.0131
0.0283***
0.0175*
-0.0086
Shannon Diversity
0.0003
-0.0037
0.0069***
0.0039*
-0.0017
Focal Richness
* = p<0.05, ** = p<0.005, *** = p<0.0005
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Summary of Species Responses to Treatment
Treatment
Positive Response
Negative Response
No-effect Detected
DFPZ
3
4
10
Group Selection
4
1
12
Pre-commercial
1
5
11
Mastication
0
7
10
Prescribed Fire
6
1
10
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DFPZ - Positive
1
Olive-sided Flycatcher
***
0.05
0.8
Audubon's Warbler
*
0.04
***
0.6
*
*
Predicted Abundance/Point
0.03
0.4
0.02
0.01
***
0.2
0
0
DFPZ Group PCT
Mast
DFPZ Group PCT
Burn
Chipping Sparrow
***
0.1
***
***
***
*
0
DFPZ Group PCT
Mast
Burn
All
Mast
Burn
All
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DFPZ - Negative
1.2
0.6
Dusky Flycatcher
Golden-crowned Kinglet
1
**
0.8
0.4
*
Predicted Abundance/Point
0.6
0.4
***
**
*
0.2
0.2
0
0
DFPZ Group PCT
0.8
Mast
Burn
DFPZ Group PCT
All
1.6
Nashville Warbler
0.6
1.2
0.4
0.8
***
0.4
0
0
Mast
Burn
All
Burn
All
Hermit Warbler
***
**
0.2
DFPZ Group PCT
Mast
Burn
All
DFPZ Group PCT
Mast
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Group Selection
1.2
Olive-sided Flycatcher
***
0.05
0.6
Dusky Flycatcher
1
MacGillivray's Warbler
*
**
0.04
Predicted Abundance/Point
*
0.03
0.6
0.02
0.4
0.01
0.4
0.8
***
***
*
0.2
0.2
0
0
0
DFPZ Group PCT
Mast
Burn
DFPZ Group PCT
Chipping Sparrow
Mast
Burn
DFPZ Group PCT
All
0.2
Mast
Burn
All
Hammond's Flycatcher
*
***
0.1
***
***
***
*
0
0
DFPZ Group PCT
Mast
Burn
All
DFPZ Group PCT
Mast
Burn
All
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Pre-commercial Thinning
0.4
1
Brown Creeper
Audubon's Warbler
Chipping Sparrow
***
0.8
0.1
*
0.6
Predicted Abundance/Point
0.2
*
*
*
0.4
***
***
0.2
***
0
DFPZ Group PCT
Mast
Burn
All
DFPZ Group PCT
Mast
Burn
DFPZ Group PCT
All
1
0.05
0.8
0.04
0.4
Mast
Burn
Olive-sided Flycatcher
***
Western Tanager
***
**
0.6
*
0
0
0.03
0.02
*
0.2
0.01
0
***
0
DFPZ Group PCT
Mast
Burn
All
DFPZ Group PCT
Mast
Burn
All
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Mastication
0.8
1
Nashville Warbler
Audubon's Warbler
0.8
0.6
*
0.6
*
*
Predicted Abundance/Point
0.4
***
0.4
**
0.2
0.2
0
0
DFPZ Group PCT
Mast
Burn
DFPZ Group PCT
All
0.2
Chipping Sparrow
Mast
Burn
All
Fox Sparrow
***
0.1
*
***
***
***
***
*
0
0
DFPZ Group PCT
Mast
Burn
All
DFPZ Group PCT
Mast
Burn
All
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Prescribed Fire - Positive
1.2
0.2
Dusky Flycatcher
Hammond's Flycatcher
1.4
*
Mountain Chickadee
1.2
1
**
**
1
0.8
*
0.8
0.6
Predicted Abundance/Point
0.6
0.4
*
0.4
0.2
0.2
0
0
DFPZ Group PCT
Mast
Burn
0.2
Chipping Sparrow
0
DFPZ Group PCT
All
Mast
Burn
All
DFPZ Group PCT
Fox Sparrow
Mast
Burn
All
Western Tanager
1
***
0.1
0.8
*
0.4
***
***
***
***
*
0.2
*
0
0
DFPZ Group PCT
**
0.6
Mast
Burn
All
0
DFPZ Group PCT
Mast
Burn
All
DFPZ Group PCT
Mast
Burn
All
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Predicted Abundance/Point
Prescribed Fire - Negative
0.6
Golden-crowned Kinglet
0.4
***
**
0.2
0
DFPZ Group PCT
Mast
Burn
All
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Fuel Treatment Effects Summary
• Fuel treatments significantly influences abundance of most
species investigated
• Prescribed fire positive, Mastication & Pc-thin negative
• Group selections mostly positive
• DFPZ’s have mixed effects
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Shaping Future Forests
←
Desired Condition →
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Landscape Configuration (from Howell & Burnett In review)
1.0
HEWA 500m
OSFL 1k
DUFL 2k
1.5
Abundance (predicted)
Abundance (predicted)
2.0
1.0
0.5
0.0
0.8
GCKI 1k
DUFL 2k
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
0
20
40
60
80
2
4
6
Edge density (contrast weighted)
12
80
100
2.0
WETA 2k
GCKI 1k
DUFL 2k
Abundance (predicted)
Abundance (predicted)
10
Patch richness
1.0
0.8
8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
HEWA 500m
GCKI 1k
DUFL 2k
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
40
60
80
Interspersion/Juxtaposition Index
100
0
20
40
60
Similarity Index
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Landscape Cover Variables
2.0
HEWA 500m
NAWA 1k
MOCH 2k
2.0
Abundance (predicted)
Abundance (predicted)
2.5
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
HEWA 500m
NAWA 1k
HAFL 2k
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
0
20
40
60
80
100
0
Large crown tree cover
40
60
80
100
Medium crown tree cover
2.0
Abundance (predicted)
4
Abundance (predicted)
20
FOSP 500m
GCKI 1k
DUFL 2k
3
2
1
0
HEWA 500m
NAWA 1k
DUFL 2k
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
0
10
20
Shrub cover
30
40
0
20
40
Hardwood cover
60
80
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Land Allocations in the PLAS
Allocation
N.F. Land in
Study Area
% of N.F. in
Study Area
SPOW PAC
117,966
11.49
SPOW Core
204,939
19.95
SOHA
98,812
9.62
NOGO PAC
31,481
3.07
Wilderness
23,738
2.31
Offbase
291,884
28.42
Total
768,819
NA
Total - Overlap
581,459
56.62
W/O Core
453,185
44.13
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Landbirds in Spotted Owl Habitat (from Burnett et al. in review)
←Negative
Regression Coefficient
Positive→
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Olive-sided Flycatcher and Edge Habitat
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
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Fox Sparrow and Shrub Cover
8
1.4
R2=0.21,
1.2
Fox Sparrow Abundance (predicted)
Mean Abundance/Point
1.6
p<0.0001
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0
20
40
60
Shrub Cover
80
100
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
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Open Forest and Shrub Limiting Factors
• Shrub and other open forest habitats are likely to decline under
current management (both HFQLG and SNFPA).
- Fire suppression (>90% reduction in area burned – Stephens et al. 2007)
-50% of forest is on “closed canopy trajectory”
-Fuel reduction treatments retain 40 – 60% canopy cover
-Many fuels projects target shrub areas for mastication
-Private land plantations inhibit shrubs
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Conclusions
• Balanced ecosystem approach is necessary to meet the
needs of the full compliment of wildlife
• Disturbance dependent species should be a priority along
with late seral species
• Integrate Local & Landscape scales and consider
cumulative effects
• Look to the past but manage for the future
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Next Steps
• Incorporate Vegetation Data into models (collect posttreatment data in Meadow Valley in 2009)
• Continue monitoring treated sites and subset of untreated in
PLAS, Brown’s Ravine, and ELRD
• Add more treated DFPZ’s to monitoring in the LNF
• Incorporate post-fire habitat monitoring (Storrie, Moonlight, Cub)
- landbird abundance in post-fire habitats
- cavity use
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Acknowledgements
Region 5 of the USFS, Lassen National Forest, National
Fire Plan, PSW, HFQLG Monitoring
Colin Dillingham, John Yembu Ngwembo, Ryan
Tompkins, and Sharon Brockman – Plumas National
Forest
Tom Rickman, Coye Burnett, and Linda Wrenn - Lassen
National Forest
40+ field biologists who collected data
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