Figure 6. Riparian habitat above Kootenai Falls. 



Habitat Description 



A map (scale -- 1:24,000) of forest habitat types (Pfister et al . 1977) for 

 the area was provided by the Kootenai National Forest (Olson-Elliott & Associates 

 1976), and served as the basis for more detailed field mapping of cover and 

 terrain types within the study area (Figure 7). Four natural cover types were 

 recognized: timber, shrub, grass and rock (or bare). Eight terrain types were 

 mapped on 7.5 minute topographic maps using ocular estimates and infra-red color 

 photographs. The following four terms describe rocky terrain types: bluffs , 

 benches with rocky drop-offs, often in step-like series; cl iffs , rock faces 

 several feet in height; talus , masses of shale or boulders, generally not capable 

 of supporting vegetation to climax stage due to instability or poor edaphic 

 features; broken , those areas which are not bluffs, cliffs or talus but which 

 were obviously difficult to traverse because of rocky substrate. If an area 

 could not be defined by one of the rocky terrains, then it was classified as 

 one of the four remaining terrain types including: ridge , the line of land 

 separating two drainages; floodplain , the low-lying, flat or gently sloping land 

 adjacent to a water course; park , a nontimbered flat or sloping area; sidehill , 

 a catchall term used to categorize any nonrocky area which would not fit any of 

 the other terrain types. The cliff, talus and park types by definition are not 

 timbered but the five remaining terrain types could support any cover type. 

 Cutting unit information is incomplete. Forest vegetation*wi thin the primary 

 study area was quantitatively described in five randomly located 0.04 ha. (0.1 acre) 

 circular plots, using the methods of James and Shugart (1970). Voucher specimens 

 of most major trees, shrubs, and forbs were collected and stored. 



Forest vegetation information collected by DNRC biologist, Larry Thompson. 



