RECOMMENDATIONS FOR MONITORING 



RATIONALE 



The inventory reported in this document was designed to provide a description 

 of the wildlife resource of the project area as it exists before construction of 

 the proposed Kootenai Falls project. Another objective of this inventory was 

 to allow a priori predicition of potential impacts which may result from the 

 proposed facility. A long-term monitoring program of the project area is 

 necessary to document the nature and magnitude of actual impacts (including 

 unexpected impacts), as well as to determine the success of habitat restoration, 

 compensation programs, and mitigation in general. Also, long-term monitoring 

 provides an essential continuation and refinement of the original inventory in 

 light of year-to-year changes in wildlife communities and unforseen human develop- 

 ments of activities in the area. The long-term monitoring program presented 

 below was designed to meet these objectives (NOTE: This program will be expanded 

 to include off-site mitigation and compensation lands once they have been identi- 

 fied). 



PLAN OF STUDY 



General 



Each year, until the second year following project completion, field work 

 will take place for five consecutive days during each of five months. Specifically, 

 field work will take place within the following time period each year: January 1-15, 

 April 1-10, June 1-15, August 1-10, and October 1-15. 



Following the second year after construction, this schedule will be followed 

 every third year, while field work will take place June 1-15 only during other 

 years. All observations of mammals (exclusive of sciurid rodents), upland game 

 birds, waterfowl, and raptors made in the project area and elsewhere between 

 Libby and Troy will be recorded on 1:24,000 field maps and on standard data 

 sheets (see Appendir B and C). All bird nests located will be described on 

 standard nest record cards and locations plotted on a separate set of maps. A 

 journal shall be kept by all field investigators throughout the study, and will 

 include itinerary, species lists, detailed species accounts (including field 

 marks for rare or unusual species, habitat preferences, food habitats, etc.), 

 and other appropriate information. Figure 17 shows the schedule of field work 

 and the timing of special studies as described below. 



Riparian Wildlife Census 



This census is designed to produce data allowing comparisons of wildlife 

 use of the project area between months and between years. The general methodology 

 is patterned after standard winter bird study (Kolb 1965) and breeding bird census 

 (Hall 1964, Van Velzen 1972) techniques used ir the original inventory, but has 

 been extended to include all vertebrate species. The census area includes: the 

 entire Kootenai River and its shorelines from 50 m (164 ft) below the proposed 

 outlet to the upper end of the proposed pool; the land area which would be in- 

 undated at a forebay elevation of 610 (2,000 ft); the land area would be affected 

 by the railroad relocation; and a "control" area, including all remaining land 

 between Highway 2 and the Kootenai River. The entire area is to be censused on 

 three consecutive days during each month in the field following the instructions 



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