Managing Identified Wildlife:
Procedures and Measures
Volume 1
February 1999
Table of contents
General wildlife
measures
| These measures must be applied within a WHA approved for the
species The breeding
season is generally from March through September. However, breeding times vary for each
species and by location. MELP should be consulted for species-specific breeding times.
Access
- Do not construct roads within the core area.
- Do not construct roads or blast in the buffer during the breeding
season unless the district manager and regional fish and wildlife manager are satisfied
there is no other practicable option and the variance is approved by the district manager
and regional fish and wildlife manager.
Range
- Manage rangelands to a late seral stage.
- Avoid the use of pesticides, particularly rodenticides within the
WHA. Spot treatments with herbicides may be used in exceptional circumstances (e.g.,
noxious weeds) where it can be demonstrated that the herbicide will not be harmful to the
species or habitat being managed.
Recreation
- Do not establish recreation sites within WHA.
Silviculture
- Do not harvest or salvage in core area.
- Do not harvest buffer during the breeding season (March to September
15) unless the district manager and regional fish and wildlife manager are satisfied there
is no other practicable option and the variance is approved by the district manager and
regional fish and wildlife manager.
- Do not salvage during the breeding season (March to September 15)
unless variance is approved by the district manager and regional fish and wildlife
manager.
- Maintain a selection of mature trees (age class 6-9) and/or large
snags (e.g., largest within the stand; preferably decay class 2-4) and shrubs in the
buffer.
- Avoid the use of pesticides in the WHA. Spot treatments with
herbicides may be used in exceptional circumstances (e.g., noxious weeds) where it can be
demonstrated that the herbicide will not be harmful to the species or habitat being
managed.
|
Management
considerations (not mandatory)
In order to ensure the integrity of
the WHA is maintained, note location of possible road locations prior to establishing WHA
boundaries.
Landscape unit
planning considerations (not mandatory)
It is important to maintain an
adequate prey base adjacent to WHAs. Consider managing nest areas and primary foraging
areas to a late seral condition.
Cross
references
Ponderosa pine-black
cottonwood-Nootka rose-poison-ivy, Ponderosa pine-black cottonwood-snowberry
Northern goshawk (Accipiter gentilis atricapillus)
WHA planning
objectives
Maintain nesting and foraging
habitat for known nest sites.
Wildlife
habitat area
Establish a "two-tiered"
WHA at breeding sites. The entire WHA should be approximately 240 ha and include nest
areas and post-fledging area (PFA). The PFA (240 ha) should include three 12 ha nest
areas. One of the nest areas should include the active nest; the other two nest areas will
provide alternate nesting sites. If alternate nest areas cannot be identified based on the
presence of inactive nests, appropriate 12 ha areas should be selected. Include as much
suitable habitat (i.e., large trees with an open understorey, a closed canopy (60% or
greater), and low ground vegetation) as possible within the WHA.
Known breeding sites may be defined
as any nest site that is active, or has been active within the past five years; repeated
observations of territorial behaviour from March 15 through September 1 within 500 m of
each other may be interpreted as evidence of breeding.
When drafting boundaries, every
effort should be made to incorporate areas that are suitable for goshawks but that will
also minimize reductions in timber supply and impacts on other industrial activities.
Consider opportunities to incorporate protected areas, ecological reserves, riparian
reserves, parks, ungulate winter range, economically inaccessible areas, other WHAs, and
environmentally sensitive areas that may have been netted out of the productive forest
landbase. It is also important to consider potential disturbance due to road construction
and logging activities and design boundaries to minimize the effects of disturbance or
select WHAs that, to the extent possible, avoid essential access routes.
GWM management
objectives
Maintain blocks of mature and old
forest (see Biodiversity Guidebook for definition of mature and old forest) to
provide nesting and foraging opportunities.
General
wildlife measures
These measures must be
applied within a WHA approved for the species.
The breeding season is generally
from March 15 through September 1. However, breeding times may vary yearly and by site.
MELP should be consulted for site-specific breeding times. Activity restrictions may be
removed after June 30 for inactive or unsuccessful nests.
Nest Areas
Access
- Do not construct roads within nest areas (12 ha) unless the district
manager and regional fish and wildlife manager are satisfied there is no other practicable
option and the variance is approved by the district manager and regional fish and wildlife
manager.
Silviculture
- Do not harvest or salvage within nest areas, except for treatments
aimed at maintaining or improving stand structure for nesting (i.e., understorey thinning
to maintain or promote desired stand structure: single storied, crown closure >60%,
and uniform trees >60 cm dbh). If these practices are planned, avoid breeding
period (March 15-September 1).
Post-fledging Area
(PFA)
Access
- No blasting should occur within the post-fledging area during
courtship and nest establishment (i.e., March 15-June 30). Actual times may vary by site
and year. Consult MELP for site-specific times or variances.
- No road construction or modification should occur within 200 m of an
active nest from March 15 to September 1.
Silviculture
- Plan the harvest sequence to create a mosaic of successional stages
interspersed in patches, with at least 20% in closed-canopy old growth and 40% in mature
forest (or old if mature is unavailable). The remaining 40% should be managed with no more
than 20% in young forest.
- Restrict harvest to less important goshawk habitat (i.e., stands with
an open canopy and multiple-storied stands). Moderately important stands are those with a
closed canopy, but moderate amounts of intermediate canopy. The most important stands are
those with dense canopy cover and an open understorey.
- No prolonged (i.e., >3 days) hauling on existing roads should
occur within 200 m of an active nest between March 15 and September 1 unless variance is
approved by the district manager and regional fish and wildlife manager.
- No logging or salvage should occur within a WHA with an active nest
from March 15 to September 1 unless variance is approved by the district manager and
regional fish and wildlife manager.
- No silviculture treatments should be conducted between March 15 and
June 30 within 500 m unless variance is approved by the district manager and regional fish
and wildlife manager.
- Activity restrictions are removed after June 30 for inactive or
unsuccessful nests.
|
Landscape
unit planning considerations (not mandatory
Conservation measures are centred
on known nest sites because of this species' tendency to re-occupy active and alternate
nests for many years. In the absence of detailed information on the number and location of
breeding pairs, however, identification and conservation of habitat at the landscape level
is critical to preventing the decline of populations or the isolation of individuals. When
determining the 10% of each sub-regional planning area that will be assigned a higher
biodiversity emphasis, consideration should be given to assigning some or all of this 10%
to watersheds where goshawk management is a high priority. This consideration has been
provided for planning purposes but is not mandatory and should not be interpreted as chief
forester direction. Furthermore, it must be considered within the context of chief
forester policy for establishing landscape unit biodiversity objectives.
Cross
references
Marbled murrelet, grizzly bear
