WILDLIFE 



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This analysis accounts for cumulative impacts 

 from past management activities. DNRC 

 approaches its land management and the 

 analysis of its proposed actions with a 2-tiered 

 approach. 



For the first tier, or 'coarse- filter' approach, v^e 

 assume that if landscape patterns and pro- 

 cesses similar to those that species evolved 

 with are maintained, then habitats for a full 

 complement of species would be maintained 

 across the landscape. We manage State trust 

 lands to favor an appropriate mix of stand 

 structures and compositions based on ecologi- 

 cal conditions (DNRC 1996). Additionally, the 

 commitment from the SFLMP is to maintain or 

 restore old-growth forests in amounts of at 

 least half the average proportion that would 

 be expected to occur with natural processes on 

 similar sites. 



Recognizing that our fundamental approach 

 uses the coarse filter, we acknowledge that it is 

 often difficult to ensure that such a broad view 

 sufficiently considers all the important habitat 

 elements that may be affected by any given 

 project. Habitat connectivity, juxtaposition of 

 required habitats, and human disturbances are 

 examples of elements that may not be ad- 

 dressed adequately for particular species 

 through the coarse-filter approach. Thus, we 

 incorporate the second tier, or 'fine-filter' 

 analysis, in which we evaluate individual 

 species that are recognized to be of special 

 concern and /or species whose needs are so 

 specialized that a coarse-filter approach may 

 not guarantee their well being. These are the 

 species that are addressed in the fine-filter 

 analysis: 



wildlife species Federally listed as 'threat- 

 ened' or 'endangered', 

 species listed as 'sensitive' by DNRC, 

 species managed as 'big game' by Montana 

 Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, and 

 other wildlife species for which public 

 concern raised their well-being as an issue 

 (for this project, osprey). 



Both the coarse- and fine-filter analyses incor- 

 porate cumulative effects from past manage- 

 ment activities, because the existing landscape 

 has resulted from those effects. It should be 

 noted that quantitative analyses have been 

 confined to DNRC lands because data isn't 

 readily available for surrounding lands, i jrii 

 Surrounding lands are assumed to provide no 

 habitat for threatened, endangered, sensitive, 

 or big game species, or species identified as a 

 concern specifically for this sale due to gener- 

 ally high road density, habitat conversion, and 

 subdivision trends. 



COARSE-FILTER 

 ASSESSMENT ,,^,^i 



As in most western Montana forests, large, .' 

 stand-replacement fires have been uncharac- 

 teristically infrequent during much of this 

 century due to suppression activities. Fire- 

 dependent or fire-associated species, such as 

 the black-backed woodpecker {Picoides 

 arcticus), are probably less abundant in the 

 Beaver Lake Project area than would typically 

 have been the case under a more natural fire 

 regime. Browse for big game species may also 

 exist in a lower quantity and quality than 

 would have been the case were fire allowed its 

 natural role. 



Logging throughout most of the project area 

 has had a very strong influence on the forest 

 structure. The largest trees have been re- 

 moved from most stands, with the remaining 

 forest almost devoid of trees 20 inches dbh or 

 larger. The remaining overstory is fairly 

 scattered over much of the area. Snags have 

 been thinned out, and the potential for large 

 snags, coarse woody debris recruitment, and 

 cavities in live trees are much reduced because 

 remaining trees are healthier and fewer large 

 trees are there to serve as sources of large dead 

 material. ,^i-,.,. ,-,, ., ^j-,^, .vM'.j j -,\.; ; 



Besides direct habitat changes, other impacts 

 that can greatly impact some species are 

 displacement and stress from human activity 

 and direct mortality agents of hunting, trap- 

 ping, and unrestrained pets. 



Chapter III: Affected Environment 



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