large emergent trees that are 

 within site distances of lakes and 

 rivers and screened from 

 disturbance by vegetation. 



Upper Stillwater Lake Bald Eagle 

 Terri tory 



The Upper Stillwater Lake bald 

 eagle territory (007-020) is 

 located on the north end of Upper 

 Stillwater Lake in northwest 

 Montana (T31N and T32N, R22W) . 



The aquatic habitat associated 

 with the Upper Stillwater Lake 

 Bald Eagle Territory contains 

 several waterbodies. The 

 principal waterbody is Upper 

 Stillwater Lake (approximately 3 

 miles long and 0.5 miles wide; 528 

 acres) . Many tributaries, small 

 wetlands, and beaver ponds are 

 within the Upper Stillwater Lake 

 Bald Eagle Territory home range. 

 Also, several bodies of water are 

 located within or near the Upper 

 Stillwater Lake Bald Eagle 

 Territory home range, including 

 Dog, Lower Stillwater, and Duck 

 lakes. These waterbodies may be 

 important components of the Upper 

 Stillwater Lake Bald Eagle 

 Territory. 



Aquatic prey for bald eagles are 

 primarily composed of fish and 

 waterfowl species, but also 

 mammals, such as beaver and 

 muskrat. Waterfowl tend to 

 congregate at the inlet and outlet 

 of Stillwater River, which 

 typically remain ice-free when 

 Upper Stillwater Lake is frozen. 

 Fish species that grow large 

 enough for use by bald eagles and 

 occur in the more accessible 

 shallow areas of Upper Stillwater 

 Lake include yellow perch, 

 northern pike, cutthroat trout, 

 rainbow trout, brook trout, bull 

 trout, mountain whitefish, and 

 lake trout. 



The terrestrial habitat 

 incorporated by the Upper 

 Stillwater Lake Bald Eagle 

 Territory is a coniferous/ 



deciduous mixture along the 

 lakeshores and riparian areas, 

 with coniferous forests in the 

 upland areas. Within the present 

 home range, black cottonwood is 

 the deciduous tree of primary 

 importance to bald eagles. 

 Coniferous tree species within the 

 Upper Stillwater Lake Bald Eagle 

 Territory include western larch, 

 western hemlock (Tsuga 

 heterophylla) , western red cedar 

 (Thuja plicata) , grand fir, 

 subalpine fir, Douglas-fir, and 

 ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) . 

 Large ponderosa pine and western 

 larch trees occur in the Douglas - 

 fir or Douglas -fir/western larch 

 covertypes . 



Foraging opportunities within the 

 terrestrial habitats include 

 carrion, ground squirrels, and 

 robbing other raptors' nests. 

 Carrion primarily would be white- 

 tailed deer, mule deer, elk, or 

 moose remains from winterkill, 

 human-caused mortality, or 

 predation activities by wolves, 

 bears, and mountain lions. 



Five nests have been associated 

 with this territory since 

 observations were first recorded 

 in 1972. The most recently used 

 nest has an associated nest-site 

 area almost entirely within 

 Stillwater State Forest {Jacobs 

 and Kuennen 1998) . This nest-site 

 area produced and fledged 27 

 fledglings from 1980 to 1998. One 

 additional fledgling was produced 

 since 1998 (A. Jacobs, USFS-FNF, 

 personal communication, October 

 2002) . 



The primary-use area is an area 

 where it is assumed 75 percent of 

 the foraging, resting, and 

 associated behaviors occur 

 {Montana Bald Eagle Working Group, 

 1994) . Approximately 60 percent 

 of the delineated primary-use area 

 is within Stillwater State Forest. 

 The delineated home-range area is 

 located on Stillwater State 

 Forest, FNF, and private lands. 



Appendix E-Wildlife Analysis 



Page E-7 



