using birds to guide post-fire management in the plumas & lassen national forests ryan d....

Using Birds to Guide Post-fire Management in the Plumas & Lassen National Forests

Ryan D. Burnett, Nathaniel Seavy, and Diana Humple

4/21/2011

PRBO Conservation Science

Study Objectives

• Assess the influence of post-fire conditions on spatial and temporal variation in landbird populations

- diversity and abundance of a suite of landbird species

- woodpecker cavity use

- linking avian metrics with habitat conditions at multiple

spatial scales

• Inform forest management decisions to promote diverse and resilient forest ecosystems across multiple spatial scales

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Study Sites

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Fire Age, Size, Patch Size, and Severity Varies

Cub ~15,000 acres – Summer 2008

12% High Severity

Moonlight ~ 66,000 acres

Summer 2007

56.5% high severityStorrie ~”52,000” acres – Fall 2000

28% high severity

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Site Selection

• Random Stratified sample (public

land, slope<40 percent, 1km from road or trail,

1500m between starting points)

• Sample size per fire based on accessible area

• 17 Storrie Fire Transects (4 private)

• 32 Moonlight Fire Transects (6 private)

• 13 Cub Fire Transects (0 private)

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Sampling Transect

Five exact distance point count surveys per transect

2-4 hour cavity nest search of 20ha plot

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Habitat Surveys

• 50m radius vegetation surveys at each point count station

• 11.3m radius snag plot at each nest, point count station, and 5 random locations – DBH, decay class, tree

species, scorch height, etc.

• Classified Severity Using Composite Burn Index

Point Count Stations & Random Snag Plot - example

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Storrie Greatest Diversity and Abundance

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Riparian Areas Serve as Refugia on Private Land

Species Richness Total Bird Abundance0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Private Land Upland vs. Riparian Sites

Riparian

Upland

# p

er p

oin

t co

un

t st

atio

n

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Avian Abundance Varies by Severity & Fire

<0.1 0.1 - 0.5 0.5 - 1.0 1.0 - 1.5 1.5 - 2 2.0 - 2.5 2.5 - 30

1

2

3

4

5

6

Storrie Total Bird Abundance

Burn Severity (Composite Burn Index)

Det

ecti

on

s/P

oin

t C

ou

nt

Vis

it

<.1 .1 - 0.5 .51 - 1.0 1.01 - 1.5

1.51 - 2 2.01 - 2.5

2.5 - 30

1

2

3

4

5

6

Moonlight Total Bird Abundance

Burn Severity (Composite Burn Index)

Det

ecti

on

s/P

oin

t C

ou

nt

Vis

it

<.1 .1 - 0.5 .51 - 1.0 1.01 - 1.5

1.51 - 2 2.01 - 2.5

2.5 - 30

1

2

3

4

5

Cub Total Bird Abundance

Burn Severity (Composite Burn Index)

Det

ecti

on

s/P

oin

t C

ou

nt

Vis

it

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Nest Tree Size Varies by Woodpecker Species

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Most Species Select for Broken Tops

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All Species Selecting for Dead & Decaying Trees

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

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Black-backed Woodpecker Nest Sites = High Snag Densities ~277/ha (111/acre)

Po

rpo

rtio

n (

+/-

CI )

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

Black-backed Woodpecker

All nests (N = 19, p < 0.001)Cub nests (N = 10, p < 0.001)Moonlight nests (N = 9, p = 0.006)Available (N = 247,114,133)

Se

lect

ion

ra

tios

(+/-

CI )

0

1

2

3

4

5

< 4 snags per plot 4-8 snags per plot > 8 snags per plot

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Black-backed Woodpecker Use = Very High Snag Densities beyond the micro-nest site

Mean Snag Density across 20ha plots with BBWO Nests

Mean Snag Density within 11.3m of BBWO nests

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Post-fire habitat is Unique & Heterogeneous

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Early Successional - Disturbance Dependent Species left out in the rain

Regression Coefficient

← Decrease in Owl Habitat Increase in Owl Habitat →

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Early Seral & Habitat Mosaics

R2=0.21, p<0.0001

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

% Shrub/Brush within a 500m radius

Fo

x S

pa

rro

w A

bu

nd

an

ce

(p

red

icte

d)

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Edge Density within a 1000m radius (Contrast Weighted m/ha)

Oliv

e-s

ide

d F

lyc

atc

he

r A

bu

nd

an

ce

(p

red

icte

d)

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Conclusions

• Post-fire habitat – including areas that burned at high severity

– are an important component of the ecosystem necessary for

maintaining biological diversity in the Sierra Nevada

• Time since fire & fire severity both appear to influence avian

community

• Post-fire salvaged areas on private land support significantly

less diverse and abundant avian community

• Existing snags on the landscape (prior to fire) are important

resource for cavity nesting birds the first 3 to 5 years post-fire

• Black-backed Woodpecker are nesting in areas with very high

snag densities (100 – 300 per acre)

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Future Direction

• Temporal & spatial effects of fire severity on bird diversity, abundance, and cavity use

• Spatially explicit habitat suitability models to help guide future post-fire management

• Compare bird assemblages between green forest and post-fire habitat with and without treatments

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Bird Response to Commercial DFPZ Harvest

• 122 points treated with DFPZs (only) 2005 – 2009

• Lassen and Plumas National Forests

• 122 reference points selected using cladogram to determine most appropriate reference for each treated sites

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Cladogram to Select Reference Sites

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Analysis

• Dependent variables: abundance of 15 focal species, total bird abundance, & species richness

• Data from 2004-2010• Generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) with Poisson

distributions • Controlled for random effects (point, year, transect)

• Compared:-reference to pre-treatment-year-since-treatment to reference sites-year-since-treatment to pre-treatment sites

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Preliminary Results

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Four main uses of the website:

1) view project results through

‘packaged’ analyses

2) view study locations and

presence/absence on a map

3) download raw data (survey

results and locations)

4) Access reports, publications, and

other literature

Sierra Nevada Avian Monitoring Information Network

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Thank You!

Plumas & Lassen National Forests

H.F. Quincy Library Group Monitoring Program

PSW SNRC – Peter Stine

Resources Legacy Fund

Field Crew:

Paul Taillie, Mel Preston, Tiffany Russell, Brendan McGarry, Jason St. Pierre, Meghan Horne-Brine, Alicia Arcidiacono, Simone Cook, Joe Michael, Doug Zimmerman