recently killed trees would continue to provide 

 wildlife forage and a source of Douglas-fir 

 bark beetles, which would infect other trees. 

 This project falls within the Three Creeks 

 analysis area and is under concurrent 

 consideration. 



• Cumulative FJffecbs of the »1ction Mtematiee 

 • Coarse Miter 



The loss of deadwood resources would be 

 additive to past reductions, primarily salvage 

 harvests, on Swan River State Forest. The 

 Goat Squeezer Timber Sale Project is 

 currently active. All these actions 

 incorporated standards for snag and log 

 retention. These standards were designed to 

 retain deadwood for wildlife and ecological 

 resources. This alternative would continue to 

 remove deadwood from Swan River State 

 Forest; however, as discussed earlier, 

 mitigations to retain deadwood and structure 

 are expected to conserve adequate amounts 

 of deadwood habitats. This project falls 

 within the Three Creeks analysis area and is 

 under concurrent consideration. If this 

 alternative is selected, consideration of a 

 reprpduction harvest under Three Creeks 

 could establish shade-intolerant species to 

 provide snags in the distant future. 



FINE-FILTER ANALYSIS 



In the fine-filter analysis, individual species of 

 concern are evaluated. These species include 

 wildlife species federally listed as threatened or 

 endangered, species listed as sensitive by 

 DNRC, and species managed as big game by 

 DFWP. These species are addressed below. 



THREATENED AND ENDANGERED 

 SPECIES 



> BALD EAGLE 



The bald eagle is classified as "threatened" 

 and is protected under the Endangered 

 Species Act. Strategies to protect the bald 

 eagle are outlined in the Pacific States Bald 

 Eagle Recovery Plan {USFWS 1986) and 

 Montana Bald Eagle Management Plan 

 (Montana Bald Eagle Working Group, 1994). 

 Management direction involves identifying 

 and protecting nesting, feeding, perching, 

 roosting, and wintering/migration areas 

 (USFWS 1986, Montana Bald Eagle Working 

 Group, 1994). 



No nesting activity in or near the project area 

 is documented. The nearest documented 

 nest sites are located on Flathead Lake, 18 

 miles west and over the Swan Divide, and on 

 Swan River, approximately 20 miles north of 

 the project area. Potential nesting habitat 

 exists along the portion of Swan River that 

 runs through Swan River State Forest. The 

 project area lies nearly 3 miles from Swan 

 River. Since no breeding activities occur in 

 the area and the project lies far from likely 

 breeding habitat, and important nesting and 

 perching structure provided by the existing 

 large trees and snags would be left, no 

 effects to bald eagles are expected. 

 Therefore, bald eagles were not considered 

 ) further in this analysis. If a bald eagle nest 

 were discovered within 1 mile of the project 

 area before or during operations, DNRC 

 would apply stipulations outlined in ARM 

 36.11.429. 



> CANADA LYNX 



Canada lynx are listed as "threatened" under 

 the Endangered Species Act. Currently, no 

 recovery plan for Canada lynx exists. 

 . Several reports have been written to 



summarize the research on Canada lynx and 

 develop a conservation strategy {Ruediger et 

 al 2000). 



Canada lynx are associated with forests of 

 subalpine fir, generally between 4,000 to 

 7,000 feet in elevation, in western Montana 

 {Ruediger et al 2000). Lynx habitat in 

 western Montana consists primarily of young 

 coniferous forests with plentiful snowshoe 

 hares, stands with abundant coarse woody 

 debris for denning and cover for kittens, and 

 densely forested cover for travel and security. 

 Additionally, the mature forests provide 

 habitat for red squirrels, an alternative prey 

 source. These conditions are found in a 

 variety of habitat types, particularly within the 

 subalpine fir series (Pfister et al 1977). 

 However, lynx are poor competitors with 

 other predators and are rarely found on 

 ungulate winter ranges, presumably because 

 low snow loads allow use of the area by 

 many other predators, such as bobcats, 

 *j coyotes, and mountain lions. These 



predators are able to outcompete and prey 

 upon lynx (Buskirk et al 2000). Since this 

 project occurs on elk winter range, lynx are 

 not expected to use the area, nor are they 



Cilly Bug Salvage Timber Sale Project 



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