Raphael and others 



Chapter 18 



Landscape-level Analysis of Habitat in Washington 



Table 12 Predicted and observed classification of detection-status of Marbled 

 Murrelet survey locations based on discriminant analysis using forest-cover 

 attributes within 203-ha acres surrounding each site, western Washington 



1 Predicted from discriminant function (see table 11). 



2 Includes status codes 1 , 2, and 3 from table 1. 



surveys are completed, it will be difficult to judge the reliability 

 of estimates of habitat selectivity. 



Until such surveys are completed, we offer the following 

 tentative guidelines. For purposes of identifying potential 

 habitat, areas composed of at least 35 percent large sawtimber 

 and old-growth forest (as classified by WDFW) are most 

 likely to be occupied. Landscapes on the order of 200-300 ha 

 should be examined to determine proportion of potential habitat. 



In evaluating areas of about 200 ha, we conclude that the 

 amount and configuration of old-growth or large sawtimber 

 forest (Eby and Snyder 1990) are important components of 

 murrelet nesting requirements, as has been previously 

 demonstrated in analyses at the stand (Hamer 1993) and the 

 nest level (Hamer and Cummins 1991) in Washington. 

 Quantifying the amount and pattern of late-serai forests in 



larger landscapes can help to determine areas that may be at 

 risk to loss of suitable nesting habitat for murrelets. Further 

 landscape analysis at a basin level between the small landscapes 

 and broad river basins we used here may help to determine 

 the appropriate configurations and amounts of nesting habitat 

 necessary to support murrelets, assuming adequate surveying 

 has been conducted. This information would be a useful 

 component of local or regional conservation planning for the 

 murrelet and other old-growth associated species. 



Acknowledgments 



This study would not have been possible without the 

 full cooperation of the Washington Department of Fish and 

 Wildlife and the Washington Department of Natural 

 Resources. These organizations (and their cooperators) 

 conducted the Marbled Murrelet surveys and developed the 

 rangewide habitat maps that were the basis of our analyses. 

 Tom Hamer, who collected much of this data, helped us 

 assemble the information. Additional help was provided by 

 Eric Cummins, William Ritchie, James Eby, Michelle Snyder, 

 Doretta Collins, Steve Bernath, Randy Kreuziger, and Tom 

 Owens. We thank Kurt Flather for assistance with DISPLAY 

 software. We appreciate the helpful comments from Tom 

 Hamer, Jeffrey Granier, David Hays, Kevin McKelvey, and 

 Gordon Orions. This study was funded in part by the 

 Ecosystem Processes Research Program and by the Ecological 

 Framework for Management Research, Development and 

 Application Program of the Pacific Northwest Research 

 Station. We thank Kevin Peeler for assistance with GIS 

 analysis and Janet Jones for help preparing the manuscript. 



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



189 



