1. Fisher 



Fishers are listed by DNRC as a sensitive species due to their use of mature forested 

 habitats. Fishers are generahst predators and use a variety of habitat types, but are 

 disproportionately found in stands with dense canopy. Fishers appear to be highly 

 selective of resting and denning sites. In the Rocky Mountains, fishers appear to prefer 

 late-successional coniferous forests for resting sites and tend to use areas within 150' of 

 water. Such areas typically contain large live trees, snags, and logs, which are used for 

 resting and denning sites and dense canopy cover, which is important for snow intercept. 

 Resting and denning habitats were modeled using preferred cover types (Heinemeyer and 

 Jones 1994), age class, and canopy closure. 



Strategies that promote or maintain habitat elements important for fishers typically 

 involve protection of valuable resting habitat near riparian areas and maintaining travel 

 corridors with dense overhead canopy. The project area ranges fi-om 3,600' to 5,600' in 

 elevation with a perennial stream and tributaries running fi-om the north to the south of 

 Section 16 and a small part of Meadow Creek abuts the northern portion of the Section 4 

 parcel. These riparian bottoms and some uplands Hkely provide forage and travel corridors 

 for fishers. However, these habitats are isolated fi-om other potential habitats by fragmented 

 forested habitats due to past and present timber harvests. Therefore, it is unlikely that fishers 

 would use either parcel in the project area. Since fisher habitat is unhkely to be used or to 

 add to fisher conservation, this species was dropped from further consideration and analysis 

 in this document. 



2. Pileated Woodpecker 



The pileated woodpecker plays an important ecological role by excavating cavities that 

 are used in subsequent years by m.any other species of birds and mamjnals. Due to their 

 important role as a keystone species and their preference for forested habitats in latter 

 stages of successional development, DNRC considers the pileated woodpecker as a 

 sensitive species. 



Pileated woodpeckers excavate the largest cavities of any woodpecker. Preferred nest 

 trees are western larch, ponderosa pine, cottonwood, and aspen, usually 20 inches dbh 

 and larger. Pileated woodpeckers primarily eat carpenter ants, which inhabit large 

 downed logs, stiimps and snags. Aney and McClelland (1985) described nesting habitat 

 for pileated woodpeckers as "stands of 50-100 contiguous acres, generally below 5,000' 

 in elevation with basal areas of 100-125 ft2/ac and a relatively closed canopy." The 

 feeding and nesting habitat requirements, including large snags or decayed trees for 

 nesting and large downed wood for feeding, closely tie these woodpeckers to matxire 

 forests with old growth characteristics. The density of pileated woodpeckers is positively 

 correlated with the amount of dead and/or dying wood in a stand (McClelland 1979). 

 Using SLI data, the above information was modeled to estimate pileated woodpecker 

 habitat. The project area contains 203 acres of scattered patches of potential nesting 

 habitat. Snags occur sporadically throughout the area, but are in lower densities near the 

 open roads. 



23 



