Happy Valley Timber Sale 

 Appendix D: Vegetative Analysis 



APPENDIX D: VEGETATIVE ANALYSIS for Happy Valley Timber Sale 

 Proposal 



A. Existing Forest Conditions 



The State Forest Land Management Rule 36.1 1.404 directs DNRC to promote biodiversity by 

 taking a coarse filter approach thereby favoring an appropriate mix of stand structures and 

 compositions on State land. Components used to determine an appropriate mix of stand 

 conditions at the landscape level are based on ecological characteristics. Forests in the project 

 area are described using the following characteristics: cover type proportions, age class 

 distributions, stand structural characteristics, species composition, and the spatial relationships of 

 stands - i.e. size and location on the landscape. 



1 . Kalispell Unit (landscape level) Cover Types 



Estimates of current and appropriate cover types were determined at the Landscape Level for 

 the entire Kalispell Unit in 1999. The Kalispell Unit's Stand Level Inventory (SLI) was used in 

 conjunction with John Losensky's 1997 report Historical Vegetation of Montana to compare 

 present (current) conditions with historical (appropriate) conditions for this landscape in 

 regards to amount and distribution of cover types. Table 1 displays this information. 



The DF, WL/DF, and WWP cover types are not as well represented within the Kalispell 

 Landscape as estimated for the early 1900's. Most notable, is the conversion of almost 

 1 1,000 acres in the WL/DF cover type, over the last 100 years, to the present over 

 abundance of the MC and ALP cover types by approximately 1 2,000 acres. 



This cover type shift is not atypical for Northwest Montana, but it does represent a change in 

 stand conditions. Active fire suppression initiated in the early 1900's has interrupted wildfire • 

 frequencies and intensities in conjunction with 50 years or more of logging practices that 

 favored the removal of commercially valuable western larch (Larix occidentalis), ponderosa 

 pine (Pinus ponderosa), western white pine (Pinus monticola) and Douglas-fir {Pseudotsuga 

 menziesii) for railroad ties, mining timbers, and construction lumber. Many open, mature 

 stands dominated by western larch and other serai species with even-aged patches of 

 immature serai trees in the understory have been replaced with more densely stocked stands 

 in both the overslory and understory that includes a higher percentage of more shade tolerant 

 trees such as, grand fir {Abies grandis), spruce (Picea spp.) and Douglas-fir. 



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