A LAND MANAGEMENT PROPOSAL FOR
JEFFERSON COUNTY
Managing western hemlock plantations for marbled murrelet
Governance and Conservation of Rare Species, Spring 2015
Professor John Marzluff
School of Environmental and Forest Sciences
Professor Marc Miller
School of Marine and Environmental Affairs
Presentation by
Jennifer Ginn (jennginn@live.com)
Claudia Munoz (claudiak@uw.edu)
Kylie Turner (kylienicolet95@gmail.com)
Phina Yan (phinayan@uw.edu)
Daniel Dawson (dawsod@uw.edu)
http://www.thingstodo.com/states/WA/nationalparks/mtrainier2.htm
TABLE OF CONTENTS
•Client
•Project Background
•Location
•Ecological role of the land
•Impact and importance of management for marbled murrelet
•Management strategies
•Implementation of management and possible management
conflicts
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CLIENT
Thomas DeLuca [Professor and Director]
School of Environmental and Forest Sciences
•Institutional Authority
•Interested in management possibilities for
hemlock forests within:
http://www.cfr.washington.edu/SFRPublic
/People/FacultyProfile.aspx?PID=405
•Washington State Department of Natural
Resource (DNR)
•United States Forest Service (USFS)
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PROJECT BACKGROUND
•State vs Federal forest lands
•Money is always an issue
•Community organizations
•Marbled murrelet
http://www.kxro.com/marbled-murrelet-leading-to-reimbursements-locally/
•Old-growth nesting seabirds
•4-7% annual decline in Washington (Pearson et al.
2011, Lance et al. 2012)
http://www.nps.gov/redw/learn/nature/marbled-murrelet.htm
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LOCATION
Map by Kirk Davis, WA State DNR 2015
(Raphael et. al. 2008)
JG
LOCATION RATIONALE
•DNR land designated as the Queets marbled murrelet Landscape Planning
Unit (LPU)
• Plantation promotion on DNR land, creation of contiguous habitat in LPU
•USFS land
• Thinning is the dominant management strategy, habitat creation planned for OESF area
•High density of suitable marbled murrelet nesting habitat on federal land in
the OESF planning area and proportional density of suitable nesting habitat
to available habitat in the DNR managed portion (Raphael et. al. 2008)
•Confirmed and probable nesting sites
•Representative of other low-elevation stands
JG
ECOLOGICAL ROLE OF LAND
• Overview of old-growth vs current stand conditions
https://ncfp.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/elk-in-clearcut.jpg
CM
ECOLOGICAL ROLE OF LAND
Current Conditions
•Planting of monocultures after logging has simplified the robust
composition
•Restricting diversity for nesting habitat
•A forest with little diversity is less prone to adapting to climate
change and resisting infestation
•Fragmentation in landscapes due to logging creates edge inherent
in the land increasing the risk of wind throw
CM
FRAGMENTED FOREST
•Predation effects on marbled murrelet, Steller’s jay
abundance increases as landscape is harvested
•Predation increases nest failure and reduces population
growth
•Creates edge effects exposing habitat and increasing
disturbances
CM
ECOLOGICAL ROLE OF LAND
•Old stands are the ideal habitat – important because of
the vulnerability of existing habitat fragmented by logging
•Critical in determining the scale of predation risk as it
provides safety from predators
•Only 5-20% of original old-growth forests remain in
Washington, Oregon, and California
CM
IMPACT AND IMPORTANCE FOR MARBLED MURRELET
•Limiting factors and conservation needs
http://animal-kid.com/marbled-murrelet-nest.html
http://naturemappingfoundation.org/natmap/maps/wa/birds/WA_marbled_murrelet.html
http://blackhills-audubon.org/marbled_murrelets.htm
KT
IMPACT AND IMPORTANCE FOR MARBLED MURRELET
•Restoring Old Growth conditions has the ability to:
•Create more nesting habitat
•Protect against stochastic events like hazardous weather
•Broad platforms for the marbled murrelet to land and take of
easily
•Decrease predation at the nest
“Changes in the amount or distribution of suitable nesting habitat
should result in detectable changes in murrelet numbers” (Raphael
et. Al, 2002)
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MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES
•Old-growth Promotion
• Crop tree thinning
• “Release” of fast growing species
• Variable density thinning
• Less discriminate, easier to implement
• Creating “gaps” to promote stand heterogeneity and undergrowth
• Increased variability of tree density and tree growth (Harrington et. al. 2005)
http://www.maineforestmanagement.com/news/
http://www.teagasc.ie/forestry/advice/thinning_ready_reckoner.asp
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IMPLEMENTATION OF MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES
•The federal NWFP allows for management proposal of thinning
out younger trees to promote old stand growth
• “Wildlife habitat enhancement activities on up to 500 acres…removal of small
trees (<18" dbh)…expand existing openings or create new openings densely
stocked stands” http://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=44764
•Implementation complicated on state lands
• Sustainable harvest calculation
• Fiduciary responsibilities
• Implementation of this plan would bring DNR closer to fulfilling original interim HCP
•Interagency relationships
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POSSIBLE LAND MANAGEMENT CONFLICTS
•Locating nest sites
•Secretive nesting behavior
•Time
•The next 50 years will be the most critical period for murrelet
conservation
•Promotion of nesting conditions can occur in 30 – 40 years, creation
of complex system can occur in 260 year rotation (Busing and
Garman 2002) Habitat for early-seral adapted species
•Cost of land management
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CONCLUSION
•Action required quickly
•Habitat creation is essential for slowing
decline
•DNR and USFS can coordinate in proposed
management area to create contiguous
habitat
http://www.junglewalk.com/animal-pictures/656/Marbled-murrelet-12363.jpg
http://blackhills-audubon.org/images/chick-full.jpg
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