Wildlife Habitat Management

Wildlife Habitat Management

EC 1470 • Reprinted August 2006$2.50

Managing Wildlife Habitats in Forested Ecosystems

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❝Strategies for conserv-ing biodiversity need the participation of private land managers.❞

Ecosystems—why do they matter?

M any plants and animals have become rare, and some face possible

extinction. These species often are listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The purpose is to prevent them from becoming ex-tinct and to allow them to recover so that special protection no longer is needed.

An average of 34 species per year were listed as threatened or endangered in the United States between 1976 and 1986, and list-ings have increased to more than 50 per year since then. By 1990, more than 3,500 species were listed as candidates for protection (i.e., they have been proposed as threatened or endangered, but there are insufficient data to list them).

The ESA has been criticized for its species-by-species approach because the magnitude of the extinction threat was unanticipated when the act was developed. The feasibility of continuing a species-by-species protection strategy is questionable given the sheer num-ber of threatened, endangered, and candidate species.

W. Daniel Edge, Extension wildlife specialist, Oregon State University.

Managing Wildlife Habitatsin Forested EcosystemsW.D. Edge

H ave you ever thought about how your property fits into a larger ecosys- tem? Regardless of

the size or nature of your property, it is connected to the landscape beyond. How you manage your property can affect the health of the larger ecosystem of which it is a part.

To understand these connec-tions, scientists and federal land managers talk about ecosystem management, biodiversity, and landscape ecology. These terms are applicable not just to public lands, but to private ownerships as well. But what do they really mean and what do they have to do with you?

To help you understand and use the concepts of ecosystem manage-ment, this publication will:• Explain the ideas and vocabulary

commonly used when talking about ecosystem management

• Describe why private forest lands play an important part in stewardship of forest ecosystems

• Discuss issues concerning wild-life

• Offer suggestions for managing your property for wildlife

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Also, many species are listed not because of any direct attack on their population, but because loss of habitat makes it difficult for them to survive. Therefore, for financial, logistical, and ecologi-cal reasons, it makes sense to base conservation strategies not on protecting individual species but on managing the habitats, com-munities, and ecosystems they call home.

This realization has led to the emergence of ecosystem manage-ment as a conservation strategy. The Society of American Foresters defines ecosystem management as “an ecological approach to resource management at the landscape level that blends social, physical, economic, and biological

Biodiversity—what does it mean?

One of the key concepts of ecosystem management is the importance of main-

taining biodiversity.*Biodiversity describes the

variety of living organisms. We can look at biodiversity at several levels. For example, we can study genetic differences among individ-uals; count the number of species, genera, or families in an area; or compare the amount of diversity in different habitats.

Biologists are concerned with three levels of diversity (Figure 1). Within-stand diversity (alpha di-versity) is the variety of organisms in a particular place or habitat. This also is known as local diversity.

Between-stand diversity (beta diversity) is the difference in vari-ety of organisms among habitats in a particular region. This depends on the number of different habitats and the contrast of adjacent habitats. For example, a clear-cut adjacent to an old-growth stand may have higher between-stand diversity than an old-growth stand adjacent to a sawtimber stand.

Regional diversity (gamma di-versity) is the variety of organisms in all habitats within a region.

One way to measure biodiversity

considerations to ensure the sus-tainability of healthy ecosystems while providing desired values, goods, and services.”

In order to understand the ideas behind ecosystem management, you need to be familiar with some of the terms scientists use. Habitats are vegetation communi-

ties that plants and wildlife use to meet their daily and year-round needs.

Ecosystems are biological com-munities interacting with their physical environment.

Landscape is a large regional unit of land consisting of many forest stands or patches, irrespective of political or other artificial boundaries.

*Key terms are highlighted in bold type and are defined in the glossary on page 11.

Ecological Level of diversity relationship Geographic scale

Regional (gamma) Ecosystems Watershed or landscapes

▼ ▼ ▼ Between-stand (beta) Communities One to many stands

Within-stand (alpha) Habitats Stands ▼ ▼ ▼ Microhabitats Within stands

▼ ▼ ▼

Figure 1.—Ecosystem management considers ecological processes at several scales—ranging from entire watersheds down to small, specialized microhabitats.

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of species increases with plant diversity

The term plant structural diversity describes the number and complexity of vegetation layers. For example, shrub habitats are more complex than grassland habi-tats. Old-growth stands or uneven-aged stands are more complex than even-aged saw-timber stands.

As vegetation complexity in-creases, more organisms can find the food and shelter they need. As a result, the number of species gener-ally increases.

Thus, clear-cuts with remnant logs, snags, or green trees retained have more species than clear-cuts without these components. Uneven-aged forest stands typically have more species than even-aged stands within the same forest type (Figure 2).

Pattern #2: The number of species declines as elevation increases

The more productive forest lands, which have more species, generally are at lower eleva-tions. Thus, the number of species declines as you go up in elevation (Figure 3). As you move from low elevation forests to subalpine for-ests and alpine areas, habitats be-come less structurally complex and the environment becomes harsher, reducing species richness. How-ever, these harsh, isolated habitats often are important because they have species that are found nowhere else.

Because most lower elevation areas in the Pacific Northwest are privately owned, the bulk of species richness occurs on private lands in this region. Conversely, most national parks, wilderness areas, research natural areas, and federal forest lands occur at mid-elevations and above. Thus, strate-gies for conserving bio-diversity need the participation of private land managers.

Pattern #3: Different types of ecosystems have different levels of endangerment

Within the United States, species listed for protection under the ESA are concentrated in certain areas and ecosystems. Forest ecosystems contain the most threatened and en-dangered species, probably because these habitats have greater diversity and because they are intensively managed.

The majority of endangered forest species are animals. Listed invertebrates primarily are as-sociated with aquatic ecosystems, particularly those found in forested landscapes.

Conifer forests have more threatened and endangered spe-cies than do mixed or deciduous forests. Slightly more listed spe-cies are associated with mature and old-growth forests than with earlier successional stages.

Wetland ecosystems cover only 5 percent of the land base in the 48 contiguous states, but they contain nearly 30 percent of listed animal species and 15 percent of

listed plant species.

Landscape ecology—look-ing at the big picture

Landscape ecology is the study of ecological pro- cesses at large scales (wa-

tershed or larger). This is one of the most important ideas of ecosystem management.

Ecosystem management may require coordinating local-scale management activities in order to have a desired effect at landscape scales. Management practices that make sense at local scales may cause undesirable effects at land-scape scales if they are overused or uncoordinated. The following sec-tion details landscape-scale issues of concern to wildlife ecologists.

Habitat fragmentationHabitat fragmentation means

that the total amount of a habitat within a landscape is reduced, and the remaining habitat is divided into smaller, more isolated patches (Figure 4). Fragmentation usually results from human land use prac-tices such as agriculture, silvicul-ture, and urban development.

Fragmentation occurs in all veg-etation types in the Pacific North-west, but especially in old-growth forest, westside white oak-savannah and ponderosa pine communities, and sagebrush habi-tats.

Habitat fragmentation is thought to be one of the most serious causes of the decline in native plant and

❝Management practices that make sense at local scales may cause undesirable effects at landscape scales if they are overused or uncoordinated.❞

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edge habitats, brood-parasitism is a major reason for the decline of forest birds in heavily fragmented landscapes of the eastern United States. Similar studies have not been conducted in the western United States, but cowbirds do abound here, and population trends for many western songbirds show declines similar to those in the east.

Edge effects also can influence what plants grow in an area. Edge zones usually are drier and less shady than forest interiors. Thus, plants that tolerate shade and lim-ited water have an advantage over typical forest plants, which require more water.

In Douglas-fir forests of the Pacific Northwest, effects such as reduced humidity and increased rates of blowdown may extend two to three tree-heights into a forest. These effects increase growth and mortality rates, reduce stocking density, and affect regeneration of conifer species in old-growth forests up to 137 meters from clear-cuts.

Interior speciesJust as some species prefer edge

habitats, others use only interior habitats. These species require core habitats, habitat patches with large interior areas.

For reasons not entirely under-stood, some species avoid small tracts of seemingly suitable habi-tat. Many songbirds usually breed only in tracts of forest many times larger than the size of their terri-tories. Studies in grassland prairie fragments in Missouri showed that several species failed to breed in patches smaller than 25 acres, even though this is several times larger than the average territory size.

In highly fragmented landscapes, the average patch size may be too small to contain such core habitats. Their loss results in a decline in species that need them for repro-duction.

Most data come from the eastern

United States, where woodlots are isolated among agricultural or urban habitats. One study in the Oregon Coast Range found that winter wrens also are associated with less fragmented landscapes. However, study limitations and the relatively recent nature of land-scape fragmentation in the Coast Range limit the conclusions that can be reached for this region.

Metapopulation dynamicsAs landscapes become more and

more fragmented, plant and animal populations become isolated on “islands” of suitable habitat (Figure 6). Some islands are too small to contain more than a few

Figure 5.—Edges occur at the borders of two or more habitat types. Ecological processes such as predation or nest parasitism may accelerate along habitat edges.

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individuals. These small groups are known as subpopulations.

Subpopulations are vulnerable to environmental change, catastrophes, genetic problems, and random population declines, and some will go extinct. In fact, many population ecologists believe all subpopulations go extinct over a period of hundreds to thousands of generations.

There is a bigger picture, how-

ever. The many subpopulations of a species make up its metapop-ula-tion, its entire population within the landscape.

Although individual subpopula-tions go extinct, the metapopulation may survive because individuals move among habitat islands and repopulate habitat islands where subpopulations have gone extinct.

As habitat fragmentation increases, however, it becomes more difficult for the metapopu-lation to survive. The overall loss of habitats and habitat isolation reduce the metapopulation, while subpopulations go extinct more rapidly and are less likely to be recolonized.

CorridorsCorridors connect two or more

patches of habitat and allow the movement of organisms among patches. Corridors have two main functions: (1) periodic migration of animals among different habitats (for example, seasonal movements to find food), and (2) permanent immigration among habitat patches to replace subpopulations that have gone extinct.

Three types of corridors are needed:

Fencerow scale corridors con-tain narrow rows of appropriate habitat and connect close habitat patches such as stands. This scale

lets small vertebrates move among patches. But because they are nar-row, these corridors are composed entirely of edge habitat and do not provide habitat for interior species.

Landscape mosaic scale cor-ridors are broader and longer. They connect major landscape features, such as forests. These corridors allow daily, seasonal, or more per-manent movement of both interior and edge species. Examples include large strips of forest connecting forest habitats that are separated by agricultural lands, riparian habitats along rivers, and mountain ridges.

Regional scale corridors con-nect nature reserves in regional networks. For example, corridors have been designed to connect Gla-cier National Park in Montana to regional wilderness areas in Idaho, Montana, and Canada.

Most conservation plans recog-nize the importance of corridors and include maintenance of cor-ridors as part of their management plan.

What can you do?On your own property

Y our property probably supports or could support many plant and animal

species. Thus, it may be important for conserving biodiversity on a landscape or regional scale.

You can directly influence diver-

❝Looking at your property as it relates to other ownerships within your drainage or subbasin is the crux of ecosystem management.❞

Figure 6.—In a metapopulation, source habitats (shaded) provide excess individuals, which emigrate to sink habitats (nonshaded). The sink habitats might be larger than the source habitats, and may even have more animals, but because of lower habitat quality, subpopulations in sink habitats would go extinct without an influx of animals from the source habitats. Arrows indicate the direction of animal movements among patches (Source: Meffe and Carroll, 1994).

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seeps, springs, ponds, and other wetland communities greatly increase the diversity of your property. Protect them with ample buffer strips.

Increase plant community diversity

Different plant species provide food and shelter to different animal species. Thus, the greater the plant diversity in an area, the greater the overall biodiversity.

The typical clear-cut silvicultural system with only Douglas-fir has lower biodiversity potential than a stand where several species are planted. Thus, consider planting more than one species when you regenerate your stand.

You also can increase plant diversity by controlling competing vegetation less aggressively and al-lowing some less-desirable species (from a timber-production perspec-tive) to develop.

Riparian zones typically have more plant diversity than the surrounding upland vegetation. Consider widening riparian buffer zones and extending protection to even the smallest streams and those that have water only part of the year.

Rare or uncommon plant com-munities contribute more than their share to local and regional diversi-ty. Examples include Oregon white oak forests, the Willamette Valley race of ponderosa pine, and peat bogs. Consider protecting or even promoting these plant communities

on your property.

Looking beyond your property

Don’t stop at your property line though. Consider your property in a landscape context.

Applying concepts of landscape ecology to your property may re-quire more than managing habitats on your own property. You may need to coordinate efforts with your neighbors.

A good place to start is by ob-taining vegetation maps or aerial photographs of the drainage or subbasin where your property is located. Use them to evaluate your efforts as they relate to the entire landscape.

Riparian zone managementRiparian zones are important

habitats for local and landscape diversity, and may be corridors for species requiring moist habitats. These areas help protect aquatic habitats and your water quality, and are the most obvious connections between your property and your neighbors’.

Again, remember that at least 70 percent of private woodlands in Oregon and Washington were harvested before riparian protection rules or guidelines existed. These habitats need additional protection and attention. Depending on your other objectives, consider widen-ing riparian zones and extending protection to additional sites such

as small or seasonal streams.

You, your neighbors, and beyondLooking at your property as it

relates to other ownerships within your drainage or subbasin is the crux of ecosystem management. Depending on your objectives and those of your neighbors, you have a number of alternatives.

You may choose to manage your property independently of your neighbors simply by looking at aerial photographs or vegetation maps of your drainage. Or, in order to be more effective, you may wish to discuss your neighbors’ objec-tives and future plans with them.

You also might consult state fish and wildlife biologists to determine the value of your property in main-taining biodiversity; some areas are more important for biodiversity conservation than others.

Each property differs in respect to its contribution to the ecosystem, so hard and fast rules or guide-lines are not possible. Some of the following questions may help you

think about your property with a landscape perspective. • Do you have habitats that are

uncommon in your watershed or region? Rare plant communi-ties such as Oregon white oak, Willamette Valley ponderosa pine, peat bogs, or old-growth contribute disproportionately to local and regional diversity.

• Can you manage these habitats to maintain or increase their occurrence? In some cases, protection suffices; in others, creative use of silvicultural prac-tices can accelerate occurrence of these habitats.

For example, thinning practices or uneven-aged silviculture may allow you to enhance diversity and mimic old-growth condi-tions in younger, second-growth stands.

• Can you reduce habitat fragmen-tation? For example, if a stand is located in a watershed that is largely in a late successional stage condition, can you defer harvest?

Or perhaps you have a small stand of late successional stage forest in a watershed that has been largely converted to young plantations. If so, harvesting your stand so that most of the watershed is in early succes-sional stage conditions would reduce habitat fragmentation.

• Does your property contain logical corridors, in addition to riparian management zones, that connect one uncommon habitat to another? Maintaining or planning for the widest strip possible within your objectives may allow movement of ani-mals among patches as well as provide habitat itself.

For further readingOSU Extension publicationsBennett, M. Ecosystem Manage-

ment: Opportunities and Impli-cations for Woodland Owners, EC 1469 (1996).

Many OSU Extension Service publications may be viewed or downloaded from the Web. Visit the online Publications and Videos cata-log at http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/

Copies of our publications and videos also are available from OSU Extension and Experiment Sta-tion Communications. For prices and ordering information, visit our online catalog or contact us by fax (541-737-0817), e-mail ( [email protected]), or phone (541-737-2513). Other publicationsHarris, L.D. 1984. The Fragmented

Forest: Island Biogeography Theory and the Preservation of Biotic Diversity (The University of Chicago Press, Chicago), 211 pages.

Meffe, G.K., and C.R. Carroll. 1994. Principles of Conservation Biol-ogy (Sinauer Associates, Inc., Sunderland, MA). 600 pages.

USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Region. 1994. A Draft Glossary for Ecosystem Management.

This publication was produced and distributed in furtherance of the Acts of Congress of May 8 and June 30, 1914. Extension work is a cooperative program of Oregon State University, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Oregon counties. Oregon State University Extension Service offers educational programs, activities, and materials—without discrimination based on age, color, disability, gender identity or expression, marital status, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or veteran’s status. Oregon State University Extension Service is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Published March 1996. Reprinted August 2006.

© 2006 Oregon State University.

2 THE WOODLAND WORKBOOK

What is enhancement?Enhancing wildlife populations means

causing an increase in number and/orquality of animals within those populations.The objective might be, for example, toproduce more deer or quail, to have moretrophy-class animals, or to increase diver-sity (the number of species).

How do we get enhancement?All wildlife species are products of their

environment or habitat. Each species hasspecific habitat requirements that aredifferent from those of other species. Thehabitat provides basic life requirementsincluding food, protection from enemiesand weather, and a place to rear young.

As the amount of specific habitats andthe diversity of habitats increases, diversityand numbers of wildlife species on a givenpiece of land also increase. So, the question“How do you enhance wildlife species?”can be rephrased as “How do you enhancehabitat?”

Enhancement must provide foryear-round wildlife needs. For some spe-cies, such as deer and elk in eastern Oregon,quality and quantity of some habitat ele-ments vary seasonally. The quality andquantity of forage in summer and falldetermine the amount of fat animals store inpreparation for the tough winter.

If forage is not plentiful and of highquality on summer ranges, the animalsmight starve on winter ranges where foodtypically is of low quality and quantity.Also, if deer and elk are not in primecondition in fall, they might not breed, andfawn and calf crops could fail in the spring.

Enhancing habitat

Habitat diversityVegetation (trees, shrubs, grasses)

provides wildlife habitat. Different specieslive in different places within this structure.Various birds, such as some warblers, liveonly in the tops of conifer trees. Here they

find food (insects), build nests, and takeshelter from weather and predators. Otherspecies, such as pocket gophers, live under-ground in grassy meadows.

Some species, such as certain frogs andsalamanders, have a special requirement forthe riparian zone—the moist, often forestedarea alongside streams. Most species, how-ever, including deer, quail, and chippingsparrows, require combinations of habitat—meadows and other forest openings to feedin and timber for breeding sites and forprotection from weather and predators.

Habitat variety is natural when naturalevents such as fire, windthrow, and insectand disease attacks open portions of for-ested areas. These areas usually are reveg-etated in stages, beginning with grasses,progressing to shrubs, then seedling trees,saplings, mature trees, and finallyold-growth trees.

With each successive stage, differentcombinations of wildlife species likewiseappear, persist awhile, and then decline(Figure 1a). The diversity of wildlifespecies depends on habitat diversity associ-ated with these stages. Providing a diversityof habitats (and thus a diversity of wildlifespecies) requires a diversity of areas indifferent stages of vegetative development.

Clearcut logging works like nature inopening forest lands and beginning theprogression of vegetative stages, startingwith grassy meadows. Reforestation (plant-ing conifer seedlings) and brush controlprovide other vegetative stages, but the timesequence is shortened (Figure 1b). The laststage, old growth, usually is not attained.

Habitat quantityCan I grow deer on a 10-acre plot? How

many acres does a covey of quail require?What quantities of habitat support viable,reproducing populations of wildlife species?The diversity and abundance of wildlifepopulations that a given parcel of landsupports are directly related to the amountand kinds of land available.

Table 1 (page 5) gives minimum spacerequirements of representative species. Deerrequire a minimum of 30 acres per animalof combined forest lands and openings.

Quail require a minimum of 5 to 10 acresper bird of open meadows, with brushy

MULTIPLE USE 3

areas interspersed within the meadows andadjacent forest lands. Songbirds, such aschipping sparrows, require about 5 acresper bird, again of open areas adjacent toforested acreage.

The size and timing of timber harvest canbe a major tool in simultaneous manage-ment of timber and wildlife. Instead ofcreating large (more than 100 acres)clearcuts in single cuttings, many smallercuts can be spread over a number of years(40 to 60 acres could be cut every 5 to7 years). This would even out the flow ofdollar returns from timber and the supply offorage and habitat diversity for wildlife.Thinning timber also provides forage andhabitat diversity.

Habitat placementWildlife species use different habitats to

meet different needs (openings for food,forested areas for cover). These differenthabitats must be close enough to each otherthat wildlife can move readily from one tothe other with minimal exposure to preda-tion and weather. Wildlife species withsmall home ranges (songbirds, quail,grouse, rabbits, and deer and elk in westernOregon) must have these different habitatsclose together (mere hundreds of feet forquail and rabbits and usually less than0.25 mile for deer and elk).

Problems may arise in eastern Oregonwith animals such as deer and elk. They

Figure 1a.—Wildlife species that live in a natural, unmanaged forest.350 years

HERB &SHRUB

YOUNG

MATURE & OLD GROWTH

rabbit

quail

deer

songbirds

songbirds

grouse

squirrel

woodpecker

flying squirrelsongbirds

songbirds

red tree mouse

spotted owl

30 years 70 years 100 years 150 years

HERB &SHRUB

YOUNG

rabbit

quaildeer

grouse

squirrel

350 years

songbirds

60 years10yrs

60 years60 years60 years60 years 10yrs

10yrs

10yrs

10yrs

Figure 1b.—Wildlife species that live in a managed forest.

4 THE WOODLAND WORKBOOK

have seasonal habitats that are milesapart—summer range at higher elevationsin mountain meadows, winter range downon sagebrush flats. Preserving migrationcorridors used for traveling to and fromsuch seasonal ranges is another habitatrequirement. If these migrating animalshave to cross many logging roads, they areexposed to hunters and vehicles.

Deer and elk might be hunted when theyare on summer range, on winter range, ortraveling on migration corridors. If yourproperty includes only one of these season-ally used habitats, your management ofthese animals could be influenced bymanagement on land over which you haveno control.

Enhancement doesn’t stop at merelyproviding amounts, diversity, and habitatplacement. Wildlife have additional habitatneeds, primarily food and breeding places,that you can manage and thus indirectlyinfluence wildlife numbers and well-being.

Special requirementsManaging forest lands for timber produc-

tion generally provides a variety of habitats.However, practices such as brush controland snag removal alter or remove specialhabitats of some wildlife species. In somecases, one management practice can pro-vide multiple habitat requirements, such asfood and cover, for several species.

Leaving a few standing snags and allow-ing logs to remain on the ground providenesting sites (cavities in snags) and a foodsource (insects that burrow into decayingwood) for birds. Slash often is removedfrom clearcut sites, usually by burning.Small amounts of this slash instead couldbe piled for quail and rabbits to use asprotective cover, breeding sites, and foodsources (berries and leaves).

Other management practices mightprovide for only a single need of wildlife.The rapid establishment of conifer seed-lings on forested openings (clearcuts, smallmeadows, etc.) within 3 to 10 years greatlyshortens the time that these areas wouldotherwise provide forage for deer (7 to25 years). One way to provide additionalforage for deer in the shortened time span isto plant forage on parts of clearcuts. Deer

especially like grass and legume seedings.Quail, grouse, and rabbits also will takeadvantage of this additional food source.

You can’t always maintain snags andother dead standing trees as nesting sites forcavity-nesting birds and mammals such asflying squirrels. However, you can buildnest boxes for bluebirds, other songbirds,squirrels, and wood ducks and place theboxes in appropriate locations as an alterna-tive to natural nest sites.

The key to providing special require-ments is to identify those animals you wishto enhance, determine whether they havespecial requirements that current manage-ment does not provide and, if so, implementthose activities that will benefit the desiredpopulations.

Constraintson enhancement

One manages forest lands for a variety ofreasons—for timber production and recre-ation as well as for wildlife. The manner ofmanagement on neighboring private orpublic lands can influence wildlife on yourland. You must account for these factors inyour management plan to avoid conflictsand to increase wildlife abundance.

Conifer damageGame such as deer and elk can damage

conifer seedlings. Managing habitat toenhance populations of these animalsshould not increase amounts of damage.However, habitat enhancement couldincrease populations of some animals to alevel where they deplete normal foodsources and begin to damage conifers.

Planting forage crops for deer mightincrease populations of pest species such asmice; they girdle conifer seedlings and cancause significant economic loss. Buildingbrush piles provides food and cover forquail and rabbits; however, if you have toomany brush piles close to conifer seedlingsand not much forage available in winter,you could find the rabbits cause significantdamage to the seedlings.

MULTIPLE USE 5

Conflicts with timber productionOften the primary product on forest lands

is timber. In some cases, increasing habitatfor wildlife will reduce the yield of timberproducts. Keeping meadows open toproduce deer forage precludes producingtimber for market. Maintaining stands ofold-growth forest for species such asspotted owls and pileated woodpeckers

prevents the short-term rotation (50 to80 years) required to maximize timberproduction on forest lands.

Maximizing diversity of wildlife speciesrequires maximizing diversity and locationof habitat sites. Altering vegetation tomaximize diversity will lower production oftimber on forest lands.

Table 1.—Habitat requirements of representative wildlife species.

Wildlife Representative Required habitats Special habitatgroup species and acreages requirements

Meadow wildlife California quail, Open areas with grasses Brush piles essentialbrush rabbit, and forbs; some shrubs (one per 2 acres)meadowlark (15 acres)

Meadow/forest Deer, elk Openings (50 acres); Migration corridorsclosed canopy (15+ years old); between seasonal rangesconifers (150 acres)

Chipmunk Opening (15 acres); second-growth timber (15 acres)

Junco, bluebird Opening (5 acres); second- Snags with nest cavitiesgrowth timber (5 acres)

Young forest Red squirrel Mixture of 15- to 75-year-old Cone-bearing treesconifer trees; understory of for foodgrasses, forbs (100 acres)

Ruffled grouse 50-50 mixture of conifers Moist streamsideand alder (15 acres)

MacGillivray’s Mixture of 15- to 75-year-oldwarbler conifers (15 acres)

Mature forest Flying squirrel Conifers 75+ years old Nest cavities in olderwildlife (100 acres); understory trees (100+ years old)

with forbs, small shrubs

Spotted owl Conifers 100+ years old(400 acres)

Pileated Conifers 100+ years old Conifer snags; minimumwoodpecker (100 acres) 20 inches diameter at

breast height (dbh) fornest trees

Riparian wildlife Salamanders, Moist, streamside vegetationfrogs, snakes with closed canopy (0.25 to

2 acres); flowing streams

Large predators Bobcat, bear, Mixtures of closed canopy Large (more thancoyote, goshawk with openings (300 to 15 inches dbh) trees

1,500 acres) for nesting or denning

MULTIPLE USE 7

progressing through regeneration, andending with mature forests.

As for a private game reserve, selling theprivilege to observe wildlife on your landwill not bring in much money—publiclands are available for this.

The best approach is to design habitatimprovements around silvicultural prac-tices. The variety of species and numbers ofindividual species may be less than ideal,but small unused areas, riparian zones,steep slopes, and other areas where timberproduction cannot be maximized willprovide many of the requirements you needfor a diversified habitat.

What habitat(s) do you have?When you decide what kinds of wildlife

you want, identify the habitats required andcheck them against what is available.Assess the diversity of habitats and acreageof each as well as the habitats of neighbor-ing parcels of land. If the species you wantmatch the type and amount of habitat avail-able, the situation is ideal. If the matchup isnot good, you must decide whether tomanipulate the habitat to increase speciesdiversity or to increase the number ofanimals—or perhaps both.

To do this properly, an inventory of yourproperty is essential. Make a sketch of yourland with the various habitats roughed out,including acreages. Then list the wildlifespecies that each type of habitat favors.

Draw habitats that would result fromvegetation enhancement and list the wildlifethat these modified habitats would favor(Figure 2).

Make a planIf you intend to enhance vegetation to

provide a greater variety of habitats forwildlife, you must make a plan for thedesired changes. The plan should includethe location and acreage of habitat youdesire to manipulate, the expected cost ofthe enhancement, and provisions for specialhabitat requirements not provided bytypical vegetation manipulation. Table 2gives an example of such a plan.

Where to go for helpA number of public agencies and private

groups in Oregon can provide assistance.The Oregon State University ExtensionService has publications that describe howto provide special habitat needs such as nestboxes. The Oregon Department of Fish andWildlife has information on preferredhabitats of wildlife, and the USDA NaturalResources Conservation Service provideshelp with habitat manipulation. TheAudubon Society is an excellent source ofinformation on providing for special needsof songbirds; most large towns have anAudubon Society chapter.

Table 2.—Sample habitat enhancement plan.

Wildlife species Habitat enhancement and acreages Provision for special requirements

Deer, elk Provide openings in forest (20 to Seed 5- to 10-acre patches in meadows50 acres each); harvest standing with grass–legume mix.timber; suppress tree and shrubregeneration.

Rabbits, quail Provide permanent openings (15 acres)and one to two brush piles per acre.

Songbirds Maintain a good mixture of meadows, Establish nest boxes; establish a systemsecond growth, and old growth (5 to of trails through all habitats for bird10 acres for each habitat). watching.

8 THE WOODLAND WORKBOOK

For more informationOSU Extension publications are avail-

able from:Publication OrdersExtension & Station CommunicationsOregon State University422 Kerr AdministrationCorvallis, OR 97331-2119Fax: 541-737-0817

We offer discounts on orders of 100 ormore copies of a single title. Please call541-737-2513 for price quotes.

You can view our Publications & Videoscatalog and many of our publications on theWeb at http://eesc.oregonstate.edu

Bennett, M. Ecosystem Management:Opportunities and Implications forWoodland Owners, EC 1469 (Corvallis:Oregon State University, 1996). $1.25

DeYoe, D., D. deCalesta, and W. Schaap.Understanding and Controlling DeerDamage in Young Plantations, EC 1201(Corvallis: Oregon State University,reprinted 1999). $2.00

deCalesta, D. and K. Asman. ControllingPocket Gopher Damage to ConiferSeedlings, EC 1255 (Corvallis: OregonState University, revised 2002). $2.00

Edge, W.D. Managing Wildlife Habitats inForested Ecosystems, EC 1470(Corvallis: Oregon State University,reprinted 1998). $2.00

Other publicationsThe “Peterson Field Guide” series for birds,

mammals, animal tracks, trees andshrubs, reptiles and amphibians, insects,and bird nests (Boston: HoughtonMifflin).

deCalesta, D. and M.S. Deusen. WoodlandFish and Wildlife. 1988. This seriesincludes a number of separate publica-tions. Order from Washington StateUniversity, 1-800-723-1763 or via theWeb at http://pubs.wsu.edu, then“forestry,” then “wildlife and fish.”

© 1997 Oregon State University.

The Woodland Workbook is a collection of publications prepared by the Oregon State University Extension Service for owners andmanagers of private, nonindustrial woodlands. Information has long-range and day-to-day value for anyone interested in wisemanagement, conservation, and use of woodland properties. The Workbook is organized in sections in a 3-ring binder with tabbeddividers for each section. To order, and to get a current list of titles and prices, inquire at the OSU Extension Service office thatserves your county.

This publication was produced and distributed in furtherance of the Acts of Congress of May 8 and June 30, 1914. Extension work isa cooperative program of Oregon State University, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Oregon counties.

Oregon State University Extension Service offers educational programs, activities, and materials—without regard to race, color,religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, marital status, disability, and disabled veteran or Vietnam-era veteran status—as required by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, and Section 504 of theRehabilitation Act of 1973. Oregon State University Extension Service is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Published 1983. Reprinted June 2002.

Wildlife Habitat Management

For more publications concerning wildlife habitat management in the Pacific Northwest, see on-line resources listed below. 1. Wildlife in Broadleaf Woodlands of Oregon and Washington 2004 MISC0534 2. Managing Western Juniper for Wildlife 2001 MISC0286 3. Wildlife on White Oaks Woodlands 1997 RHH 6/97 4. Coastal Douglas-Fir Forests and Fish and Wildlife 2008 MISC0168 5. Thinning Young Douglas-fir west of the Cascades for Timber and Wildlife 2003 EB 1927 6. Riparian Areas: Fish and Wildlife Havens 2007 MISC0133 7. Cavity Nesting Ducks 2007 MISC0142 8. Managing Pacific Northwest Forests for Band-tailed Pigeons 2007 MISC0564 9. Managing Forest Habitats for Neotropical Migrant Songbirds 2003 MISC0198