stands to a western larch /Douglas-fir cover 

 type. 



Cabinsites would not alter the cover types. 



STAND-AGE 



CHARACTERISTICS: EFFECTS 

 ON WILDLIFE 



NO-ACTION ALTERNATIVE 



If there is no logging, the relatively healthy 

 overstory would continue to age and increase 

 in size, eventually showing signs of deca- 

 dence, which would benefit cavity nesters in 

 the distant future. 



ACTION ALTERNATIVES A AND B 



If the harvest is undertaken, there would be 

 fewer old trees. Remaining trees would be 

 healthy and vigorous, and, with slightly 

 reduced competition, would grow larger faster 

 and probably live longer. Decadence would be 

 delayed. There would be somewhat fewer old 

 trees to provide live cavity trees, new large 

 snags, and new coarse woody debris. 



Proposed cabinsite leases would have no 

 measurable effect on tree ages outside of the 

 small cabinsite acreage. 



PATCH CHARACTERISTICS: 

 EFFECTS ON WILDLIFE 



■ormi 

 NO-ACTION ALTERNATIVE ''^"-"^ 



If there is no action, the patches would con- 

 tinue melding as younger trees become larger 

 and older. Distinct edges would lose their 

 distinction and the area would tend to func- 

 tion more as one large patch. Gradually, edge 

 wildlife species would decline and forest 

 interior species would increase. Wildlife 

 species that depend on mixes of older forests 

 with openings or young forests would decline. 



ACTION ALTERNATIVES A AND B 



Logging effects on patch characteristics would 



vary by prescription. The seedtree cuts and 

 clearcuts would sharpen edges and reduce 

 old-growth attributes, benefiting edge species 

 and species requiring younger stands or a 

 mixture of stand ages. The selective cuts 

 would tend to homogenize the patches toward 

 similar ages, stocking, and species. The net 

 landscape effect on patch characteristics and 

 the response of wildlife to them would prob- 

 ably be close to neutral, except that some 

 sharp edges would be added and a mix of ' 

 habitat types would be provided in some 

 areas. Interior forest species may increase 

 through time if the stocking levels of the new 

 forest are attractive to them. /> A II 11 J 



Proposed cabinsite leases would have no ' ' 

 measurable effect on overall patch characteris- 

 tics. 



SPECIAL HABITATS ^ 



NO-ACTION ALTERNATIVE 



Special habitats would probably remain 

 unaffected except where roads are currently 

 located near lakes. Disturbance and siltation 

 would remain high in those areas. 



ACTION ALTERNATIVES A AND B 



Both Alternatives A and B would improve lake 

 and lakeshore conditions by moving roads 

 away from them and obliterating segments of 

 roads along the lakeshores. Other wetlands 

 would remain unaffected since they vy^ould not 

 be encroached upon. 



FINE-FILTER 

 ASSESSMENT 



While the coarse-filter assessment focused on 

 an examination of how project alternatives 

 may influence landscape patterns and pro- 

 cesses, this assessment is devoted to influences 

 on individual species of special interest. 



Some degree of cumulative impacts are sus- 

 pected on some of the species examined in this 

 fine-filter assessment because of the likelihood 

 of development on adjacent private lands and 



Chapter IV: Environmental Consequences 



iIV-9 



