Huckleberries and Climate change in Montana

Joel Smith

January 06, 2015Principal Investigator: Tabitha Graves

Understanding Climate Change Impacts on Huckleberries (Vaccinium

spp.)

My name is Joel Smith, and I ❏ Am from Bonney Lake, WA❏ Electrician from 1998-2011 (Commercial Journeyman in WA)❏ Moved to Montana in 2011 from Seattle❏ Live in Ronan, MT with wife and daughter❏ Wife/daughter enrolled Salish...I’m Blackfeet❏ Am a Junior in Wildlife Management at Salish Kootenai College

❏ Salish Kootenai College❏ Background on

❏ Huckleberries❏ Grizzly Bears❏ Climate Change

❏ Glacier Pilot Huckleberry Project (Tabitha Graves)❏ Background on fire and:

❏ The Salish People❏ Huckleberries❏ Climate Change

❏ Potential senior thesis work

Outline

❏ Tribal College on the Flathead Indian Reservation (CSKT)❏ 2014-2015, first year of the Wildlife and Fisheries Degree

Plan❏ I switched over from Environmental Science❏ Currently a Junior on track to get my Bachelor Degree in

June 2016

Working Partnerships

❏ SISNAR (Student Interns in Support of Native American Relations)❏ SKC, CSKT, and USGS working together ❏ Expanding research to Reservation expands spatial data❏ Tribal Members monitoring huckleberries❏ The more people working together toward a common goal the better

Huckleberries, Climate Change, and Bears

❏ Why should we care?❏ How are bears and huckleberries related?❏ How can we best learn more about these relationships?

Common Huckleberry (Vaccinium membranaceum)

❏ Occurs from Alaska and B.C. South to California and extending East to Ontario, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Minnesota

❏ Huckleberries make up to 15% of black and grizzly bear diet in Glacier National Park (Kendall 1986)

❏ Very important plant for Indigenous People of Montana for several reasons Natural Resources Conservation Service

website

Grizzly Bear (Ursus arctos) ❏ Listed as threatened in 5 populations in

contiguous US

❏ Species of concern in Montana

❏ Opportunistic and adaptable omnivores❏ Large vegetative component to their diet

(more than half)

❏ Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem population is doing well ~ 1000 bears and continues into Canada, but climate change effects not fully understood

Climate Change in northwestern Montana:❏ Increasing temperatures:

❏ +.99° increase in annual mean temp. between 1961-2006 in MT, WY, ID

❏ Annual mean temp likely to warm at a rate higher than the global avg. estimated +1.5-3.5° increase by 2050

❏ Warming greatest in winter, spring, and summer

❏ Increasing maximum temperatures in winter are likely to result in more rain versus snow, declines in snowpack, earlier onset of spring, and delayed onset of winter

❏ Overall precipitation increasing, but warm season precipitation decreasing

❏ Increases in variability of weather and extreme weather events (e.g., droughts, rain on snow events that contribute to avalanches, and floods)

❏ No doubt that climate change is here. Imperative to research now to determine mgmt actions as soon as possible

Climate Change and Grizzlies❏ Workshop about potential climate change impacts to bears

(Servheen and Cross 2010) identified several potential issues, including:❏ Warmer autumn temp, delayed snowfall, earlier arrival of

spring could result in later den entry and earlier den exit

❏ Existing threats such as: fragmentation, habitat loss (partly through human land use changes), & human-bear conflicts may interact with climate change effects

❏ Complex changes to avalanche chutes, which have many bear foods

❏ Although bears are adaptable omnivores, climate change impacts on bear foods not fully understood

❏ And research needs: ❏ Effects of increasing wildfire on grizzly bear habitat❏ Predictive models of abundance and distribution of key

foods, especially berries❏ Plus others...

Climate Change and Bear Foods❏ Climate change impacts on bear foods

research need

❏ Participants were particularly concerned with potential for increased human-bear conflict at times when/ if important bear foods such as huckleberries fail

❏ If bears move more in search for food and encounter attractants that lead to associations with humans and food, bears may need to be removed or may be killed in conflict situations

❏ Grizzly bears rely heavily on fruit from Ericaceous shrubs, including huckleberries, from mid-July and into the hyperphagic period in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem.

❏ High food intake necessary to gain fat to survive hibernation and also for reproduction

❏ How will climate change impact bear foods, particularly berries?

❏ 2 very relevant studies have been published that shed light on this question:

Roberts et al. 2013- Southern Canadian Rockies

Holden et al. 2012- Cabinet- Yaak Ecosystem - Huckleberries and serviceberries

Climate Change and Bear Foods

Climate change and Bear Foods (Roberts et al)

❏ Southern Canadian Rockies

❏ Interested in this question there because: ❏ Isotopic diet assessments demonstrate that grizzly bears in

the Southern Canadian Rockies are among the most vegetarian of North American populations

❏ Climate change vulnerability assessments for bears may therefore need to include assessments of plant communities and food web interactions

❏ During hyperphagic periods, bears in Southern Canadian Rockies (as in NCDE) rely predominantly on fruit from perennial shrubs for energy

❏ Used a niche envelope approach to evaluate how climate change would impact bear foods (so comparing only current and predicted conditions)❏ presence-absence of food items in plots❏ 9 climatic variables, 3 topographic variables, plus forest

canopy (projected also)❏ does not account for interactions or explicit processes like

dispersal

Results (Roberts et al)

❏ Variable predicted response for habitat of bear foods❏ Increasing area:

❏ Amelanchier alnifolium (serviceberry)❏ Vaccinium membranaceum (huckleberry)

❏ Decreasing area:❏ Vaccinium scoparium (grouse whortleberry)❏ Empetrum nigrum (crowberry)❏ Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (kinnickinick)

❏ Uncertain (differs under scenarios)❏ Hedysarum alpinum (critical spring and autumn root-digging

resource)❏ Some loss of stable habitat (i.e., require new plant

establishment) and some spatial redistribution (loss from eastern areas)❏ e.g., Hedysarum alpinum- between ½ and ⅔ loss

❏ General trend of uphill migration of species may lead to higher vulnerability at low elevations

Discussion (Roberts et al)However, this study does not consider: ❏ Productivity (particularly important for berries) or food quality

(i.e., energetics)

❏ Low dispersal-establishment capacity of some bear foods (e.g., huckleberries)Huckleberries establishment anecdotally low- generally unable to grow domestically- Yang et al. (2008) found only 64 new huckleberry shrubs 24

years after Mount St. Helens eruption in areas that became bare soil

❏ Introduction of new invasive food resources or competitors with food resources

❏ Elevation/distributional changes in food resources that would require bears to find those food sources

❏ Complex interactions such as fire, conifer encroachment

Climate change and Bear Foods (Holden et al)

(Cabinet Yaak)❏ Evaluated the influence of climatic variation on berry

productivity using productivity plot information (1989-2010) and climate data from SNOTEL sites

❏ Huckleberry yearly productivity❏ Highest production during cool springs with high July diurnal

temperature ranges❏ April-June growing-degree days and July temperature range

explain 70% of inter-annual variation in productivity

❏ Serviceberry productivity❏ Highest production during cool springs, later snow-free date,

more snow, and more precipitation Nov-April❏ April-June growing-degree days and maximum snow-water

equivalent explain 86% of the inter-annual variation in productivity

Did not look at a lot of other site-specific weather or vegetation factors, so this study evaluates temporal effects, but not spatial variation.

Grizzly Bears, Food, and Climate Change

ALSO:❏ With huckleberries making up to 15% of diet (Kendall 1986) will

alternate sources be there at the levels needed to completely compensate for any losses?

❏ Other effects. For example: Increasing variability may lead to interactions of conditions that could impact berries. If it gets really cold before protective layer of snow can cover shrubs (delayed snow cover/winter) , shrubs may get damaged or destroyed. This occurred at one site in Glacier monitored by Kate Kendall.

Pilot Project (My Summer of 2014, SISNAR)

❏ Huckleberry/bear food research/monitoring to broadly ask about potential climate change impacts

❏ Components❏ Productivity❏ Phenology❏ Pollinators❏ Invasive Pests❏ Fire Severity

Kate Kendall’s Huckleberry Monitoring Sites

Productivity❏ What environmental factors determine high vs low productivity and

can this be predicted?

❏ How much bear (or people) food is there under a particular climate scenario/ weather conditions in a year/ other site-specific environmental variables?

❏ Work on this question started by Kate Kendall in 1982. Report in 1986, but continued to collect data at some sites through 2011.

Productivity Sites❏ Dating back to 1983

❏ 54 sites monitored 4-8 years

❏ 4 sites monitored 14-27 years

❏ Monitored 16 sites this (2014) year ❏ This year was a very productive year (late spring, quite wet,

very warm) - good benchmark (consistent with Holden study findings)

Recording Productivity Metrics

❏ Productivity metrics recorded at peak of berry season

❏ Transects at each productivity site with 50 10 x 10 dm plots

❏ Counted berries (by phenological stage) at each of the 50 plots

❏ Square frame used to count within

❏ Record every third frame along the transect

Productivity Data

❏ Record berry size and and amount of sugar present (Kendall 1986).

Same today

❏ 100 berries randomly selected for analysis near each productivity

transect

❏ Volume of 100 berries recorded using water displacement method

Phenological Phases of Huckleberries

❏ What environmental characteristics determine berry development rates and can they be predicted? Important to understand how weather impacts productivity.

❏ Phenology: Timing of growth of berries throughout growing season

Bud Flower Saucer Tulip Bulb Green Berry

Ripe Berry

❏ How does temperature influence the phenology of individual huckleberry shrubs throughout the growing season?

❏ Is the phenology of individual shrubs representative of all the huckleberry shrubs in the immediate area? How much does phenology vary within and between plots?

❏ How long do individual flowers bloom?

❏ What is the best way to use multiple potential techniques to understand weather impacts on huckleberry phenology?

Phenology

Phenology❏ To answer these questions, this summer in Glacier National Park,

we used these methods:

❏ 147 visits to 12 sites❏ Record phenophase❏ 10 shrubs per site❏ Take pictures❏ 1 shrub has remote camera❏ Data loggers at each site

147 Visits to 12 Sites❏ Tried to visit each study site once a week❏ Each day’s work ends up being between 8 and 12 mile hike❏ Sites stratified based on precipitation and solar radiation❏ Near productivity transects, but separate so that researcher

impact is minimized❏ GP1 - Upper Granite GP2-Lower Granite SN1-Lower Snyder

SN2-Upper Snyder❏ BA-2-Upper Baring BA1-Lower Baring HM3, HM4, HM5,

HM6-Huck. Mountain❏ SP1-Sperry Ryan Road

Hike to 3 of our Plots

❏ SN1 and SN2, Upper and Lower Snyder

❏ SP1-Sperry❏ Close to 17

miles if all done in one day

Record Phenophase: Compare site visits with remote camera and begin to evaluate options for citizen science

❏ Weekly site visits to visually count and record onto data sheets, but is a more invasive (and more costly) method than using one remote camera per site

❏ Remote cameras installed to record one shrub’s development. ❏ Which method will prove to be most effective?❏ Compare data with seasonal climate data

Data Sheet Example

Remote Camera vs Site visits❏ Remote Cameras are a non invasive way to get daily record of

shrubs❏ Limited to one view of shrub❏ Great tool for capturing exact length of time individual flowers

bloom (not in published literature)❏ May fail if camera’s view has been obstructed or if camera has

been bumped

Using a remote camera to identify phenology

❏ Wingscape birdcam pro., and Reconyx cameras with Motion and timelapse

❏ Takes several pictures every 24 hours at programmed times❏ Helps visually record phenology throughout the season❏ Motion option set also (never know who may visit sites)

Remote Camera From GP2

Remote Camera From GP2 (7 hrs later)

Is one camera at a site enough?❏ How much variation in phenology within

versus between sites?

❏ 10 shrubs per site ❏ Each shrub has I.D. tag❏ Will use phenology recorded at site

visits toquantify variation within versus across

plots

Could citizen science work to document phenology?

❏ How similar are counts from pictures and physical counts? Can peak timing of flowering and ripeness be detected just as well?

❏ Records phenology throughout the season❏ Took a few pictures of each tagged plant- simulate citizen

science types of pictures❏ Site pictures for extreme weather events

Simulated citizen science photos

❏ Handheld camera quickly captures multiple shots and views of

single shrub quickly

❏ Does take time to count the berries in the pictures

❏ Would quality of photos be sufficient for some questions (date

berries first ripe)?❏ Handheld camera in macro mode great way to record individual

berries

All 4 pictures of same shrub from same visit to HM3

Handheld and remote cameras

❏ How does recording phenology with remote cameras versus simulated citizen science cameras compare?

Temperature data loggers ❏ 2 per site

❏ 1 tree logger (6’ high in shade)❏ 1 ground logger (~ at height of huckleberry plants)

❏ Records temperature every 90 minutes 24/7❏ Explanatory variable for phenology ❏ Can be used to identify extreme temperature events that

influence productivity and ask what temperature kills berries?

Pollinators❏ How complex is the pollinator community for huckleberries?❏ Are any of the declining bee species huckleberry pollinators?❏ When and how long do berries flower and how does this relate to

environmental characteristics?

❏ Hand nets used to sample pollinator community (was all done before I got hired)

Invasive Pests❏ Spotted wing drosophila❏ Are they present in huckleberry patches at all?❏ If so, is it when the berries are ripe?❏ Cold springs are bad for spotted wing drosophila❏ Models only suggest warming temperatures❏ One fly trap per site with attractant fluid for monitoring❏ Early detection❏ Sorting

Spotted Wing Drosophila❏ Recorded presence in Mission Valley and Flathead Valley Cherry

Orchards❏ Attracted to fresh berries, burrow inside berries causing to drop

early❏ Huckleberries identified as major source of bear diet during

autumn❏ Even small percentage loss of berries each year could be critical

to bears foraging before denning

❏ Negative impact on food availability to bears?❏ Favorable conditions for berries have been bad for flies, could

change with warming

Fire, Huckleberries, and Salish People

❏ Fire and Climate Change❏ Huckleberries and fire ecology❏ Fire Suppression and Severity❏ Bear Food Production, and Fire❏ Salish People used fire as a tool❏ Before and after pictures of fire suppression on Flathead

Reservation(Pictures from CSKT.org)

Fire and Climate Change❏ U.S. Forest service scientists estimate annual acreage burned by

wildfire in Montana will increase fivefold by end of century (CSKT.org)

❏ More high severity wildfires will put more carbon dioxide into atmosphere leading to warmer temperatures

❏ Doing research now important for future generations to enjoy bears and huckleberries

Huckleberries and Fire Ecology❏ Huckleberry foliage is of low flammability ❏ Allowing high survival rate of Huckleberry shrubs after low

severity fires ❏ Shrubs exposed to regular fire intervals may be better suited to

surviving fire than shrubs grown in fire suppressed areas. Top killed plants resprout from rhizomes

❏ Shrubs only consumed by fire when other fuels present due to suppression (CSKT.org)

❏ Fires reduce invasion of other shrubs and trees (Zager 1983)❏ Large huckleberry patches in Pacific Northwest considered product

of pre-suppression wildfires (CSKT.org)

Trapper Creek Fire July 23, 2003Pictures from Daily Interlake

Fire Suppression and Severity

❏ Suppression was the model since 1920s - 1980s (Zager 1983)❏ Fire suppression has led to encroachment of conifer trees where

berry patches were

❏ After several years of suppression, high intensity fires could have really negative impacts on huckleberry regrowth (Zager 1983)

❏ Thought that damage to rhizomes is key to determining impact

❏ Low severity fires more often promote huckleberry regrowth (cskt.org)

❏ How does fire severity influence length of time until berries are present?

Robert Fire❏ High Severity Fire❏ September 2003 ❏ At least one case where shrubs present before Robert fire

(Glacier Park) still not producing berries. (Graves pers comm)

❏ Plots compared pre and post fire ❏ Insufficient resources to visit more plots in 2014

Bear Food Production and Fire❏ Extensive wildfires in Northern Rocky Mts from 1899-1920 created

vast areas of seral communities dominated by shrubs (Zager 1983)

❏ Seral forest communities maintained by fire are important for preferred berry producers i.e. huckleberries. (CSKT.org)

❏ Many shrub communities, especially those at middle elevations, were identified as important producers of grizzly food in N.W. MT

❏ Fire exclusion changes middle elevation shrub patches allowing other plants to colonize (CSKT.org)

❏ Most grizzly bear weight gain occurs during summer/fall when they feed almost exclusively on berries

❏ Effective fire suppression has negative impact on bear habitat and food (Zager 1983)

Salish People, Huckleberries, and Fire

❏ Huckleberry very important culturally, huckleberry moon❏ Would set fires for various reasons at various times of the year.❏ Salish used fire to keep forests clean (prevented high severity

fires too)❏ Salish people would burn the huckleberry patches in Autumn after

berry picking was done ❏ When shrubs got tall two people would set fire under the

huckleberry shrubs, and leave alone for 2 years

❏ After burned patch recovered it was very productive (CSKT.org)

❏ Great land managers with proven successful model

Salish People, Huckleberries, and Fire

❏ Stopped using prescribed burns when U.S. Govt. sent agents to break the Salish People of their old ways

❏ Using prescribed burning again with approved prescribed burn plan (CSKT.org)

❏ How will controlled burns fit into a world trying to reduce carbon dioxide emissions?

❏ Huge honor to be the one to set the fires today, and back then because it helps whole tribe

Salish People, Huckleberries, and Fire

❏ Elders today remember much bigger huckleberry patches from their childhood

❏ Consistent with results of (Zager 1983) where huckleberry rhizome regrowth stronger 35-70 years after burn disturbance compared to undisturbed areas with similar terrain and climate

❏ Traditional ecological knowledge was just successful scientific methods to the Salish

Before and After Fire Suppression on Flathead Indian Reservation

1920

1995

1920-more patches due to wildfires1995-The conifers have completely taken over from suppression

Before and After Fire Suppression on Flathead Indian Reservation

❏ Picture on left was how the forests on the reservation typically looked like before suppression was standard practice. Result of low severity and frequent fires

❏ Picture on right is what is typically seen today. Small young trees crowd out huckleberry shrubs that bears and people depend on. Can lead to insect and disease breakout. (CSKT.org)

Salish People and Bears

❏ Considered Equals❏ Thats why there is no management plan or hunting bears on

reservation❏ Salish People do not traditionally eat bears or hunt for them

unless for medicine items❏ Shut down parts of the reservation every year for bears to feed

undisturbed before den❏ Doing same research on Flathead Indian Reservation that Dr.

Tabitha Graves started in Glacier could help tribe better understand impacts on huckleberries and bear habitat due to climate change

Expanding Spatial Data❏ The need to better understand how climate change is impacting

huckleberries and bear habitat mentioned by multiple peer reviewed articles

❏ Existing studies are a step in the right direction, but more needs to be done

❏ Flathead Reservation is 1.317 million acres (CSKT.org)

❏ Expanding Dr. Tabitha Graves pilot study to Flathead Reservation

❏ Could potentially help to better understand by doing research on such a large piece of land known to have grizzly bears and huckleberries

Working With the Tribe❏ Meet with Salish Culture committee and tribal wildlife to

identify best way to provide useful data on Huckleberries

❏ Develop a research and monitoring protocol that helps the tribe better understand potential changes in huckleberry phenology and abundance with climate change

❏ Make it simple enough so any tribal member can monitor with minimal training

❏ I want to gain trust of the tribe. My overall goal is to give something useful to tribe

❏ Tribe has strong connection to bears and huckleberries, Very important to preserve both for tribal generations to come

Working on Reservation (Goals)(senior thesis work)

❏ Conduct same protocol for collecting data as in Glacier

Study Plots on The Reservation

❏ 10 plots from the points on map

❏ Goal is to visit sites once a week (depends on funding)

❏ Work with tribal members / tribal members monitoring plots❏ Design an instructional course on reservation?

❏ Goals: teach tribal members about project, how to install and monitor cameras, and study plots of their own

Working on Reservation (Goals)

❏ Senior Thesis

❏ Interviewing Elders

❏ Baseline Data on Reservation

❏ Temporal questions (flowering)

Reservation Study Plots

❏ Suggested by Janene Lichtenberg❏ CSKT Biologist for several years/Currently SKC

instructor/advisor❏ Has seen huckleberry shrubs at every spot she suggested❏ 9 in Mission Mountains❏ 1 near Southern Boundary of Reservation

Partners for larger project

SISNAR:Dale Becker (CSKT)Janene Lichtenberg (SKC)

Huckleberry Productivity & Phenology:Zack Holden (USFS)Kate Kendall (USGS)Dawn LaFleur (GNP)Leslie Jones (USGS)

Citizen Science (in development):Jami Belt, Melissa Sladek, Laura Law, Tara Carolin, Bill Hayden (GNP)Kris Boyd (Yaak Valley Forest Council)Tim Kern, John Long, Jake Weltzin (USGS)

Pollination: Mike Ivie, Amy Dolan, Casey Delphia (MSU)

Huckleberry Fire: Dennis Divoky (GNP)

Technicians: Warren Hansen, Ken Honeycutt, Loga Fixico

With additional thanks to: John Waller, Lisa Bate, Geneva Chong, Scott Nielsen, David Laskin, Becca Lawrence, Lisa McKeon, Dan Fagre, Amy MacLeod, George Scherman, and Chris Sobin, Greg Pederson, Pat Hurley, and Warren’s dad (and many more)

Thank You For Your Time