Burger 



Chapter 16 



Inland Habitat Associations in British Columbia 







Phantom Creek 

 Lagins Creek 



BRITISH COLUMBIA 



Kitlope Valley 

 Mussel Inlet 



scale 



50 

 km 



100 



Megin Valley 



Carmanah Valley 

 Walbran Valley 



Caren Range 



^P 



Sechelt Peninsula 



Vancouver 



Gulf Islands 



Victoria 



Figure 1 Coastal British Columbia showing the location of inland studies of Marbled Murrelets (open stars). 



Biogeoclimatic Zones 



Marbled Murrelets have access to four biogeoclimatic 

 zones (Meidinger and Pojar 1991). The Coastal Western 

 Hemlock Zone covers most of coastal British Columbia at low 

 to mid elevations (0-900 m on windward and 0-1050 m on 

 leeward slopes on the south and mid-coast; and 0-300 m on 

 the north coast). Dominant trees are western hemlock (Tsuga 

 heterophylla), western red cedar (Thuja plicata), and Amabilis 

 fir (Abies amabilis), with yellow cedar (Chaemaecyparis 

 nootkatensis) in higher elevations and Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga 

 menziesii) in drier habitats. Lodgepole pine (Pinus contortd) 



occurs in dry shoreline areas and bogs. Sitka spruce (Picea 

 sitchensis) is an important component on floodplains in the 

 southern forests, and in many older forests in the Queen 

 Charlotte Islands and the northern mainland, and is an 

 important nest site for Marbled Murrelets. Most Marbled 

 Murrelets in British Columbia appear to nest in this zone 

 (see below). 



The Coastal Douglas-fir Zone covers a small area on 

 southeastern Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands, and a narrow 

 strip of the adjacent southern mainland at elevations below 



152 



USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-152. 1995. 



