or decayed trees for nesting and 

 downed wood for feeding, which 

 closely tie these woodpeckers to 

 mature forests with late- 

 successional characteristics. 

 The density of pileated 

 woodpeckers is positively 

 correlated with the amount of 

 dead and/or dying wood in a stand 

 {McClelland 1979) . 



Potential pileated woodpecker 

 nesting habitat was identified by 

 searching the SLI database for 

 old stands with basal areas of 

 more than 100 square feet per 

 acre, more than 40 percent canopy 

 cover, and below 5,000 feet in 

 elevation. Based on these 

 parameters, approximately 895 

 acres of potential nesting 

 habitat for pileated woodpeckers 

 exist on State trust lands. 

 These acres are relatively 

 connected. Younger-aged stands 

 could provide feeding or nesting 

 habitat of lower quality. Since 

 the project area is large, the 

 analysis conducted for the 

 project area encompassed enough 

 area to support a pair of 

 pileated woodpeckers; therefore, 

 the cumulative effects analysis 

 area is the project area and 

 adjacent parcels. 



Direct Effects to Pileated 

 Woodpeckers 



• Direct E^ffecls qfthe JWo-JIction 

 Mtemalive to Pileated Woodpeckers 



No disturbance of pileated 

 woodpeckers would occur. 



• Direct Effects oftlie miction JlltemaHve to 

 Pileated Woodpeckers 



Timber harvesting would occur 

 outside of the pileated 

 woodpecker nesting season; 

 therefore, no direct effects to 

 reproducing pairs or their 

 nestlings are expected. 

 Harvesting during the summer 

 and fall could displace feeding 

 ■-- woodpeckers. The effects of 

 harvesting disturbances are 



unknown; however. Bull et al. 

 (1995) observed a discernible 

 woodpecker roosting near a 

 harvest unit consistently 

 throughout harvesting. If 

 displacement of woodpeckers 

 occurred, there appears to be 

 abundant habitat in and 

 adjacent to the project area; 

 therefore, negligible negative 

 direct effects would occur. 



Indirect Effects to Pileated 

 Woodpeckers 



• Indirect E^ffects oftlie JVo-Jlction 

 Mtemative to Pileated Woodpeckers 



No changes in nesting or 

 feeding substrate would occur. 



• Indirect Ejects of the ,/lction ,/iltemative 

 to Pileated Woodpeckers 



Salvage harvesting would remove 

 7 to 8 downed trees per acre 

 and . 5 snags per acre from the 

 proposed units. This material 

 likely provides foraging, but 

 not nesting, habitat. The 

 harvest proposes to remove 

 dying trees and recently dead, 

 sound snags ; all western larch 

 snags, a preferred tree species 

 used for nesting and foraging, 

 would be retained to provide 

 short-term forage and future 

 nest sites. Retention of cull 

 material, preexisting woody 

 debris, nonmerchantable snags, 

 western larch snags, and living 

 trees would continue to provide 

 foraging sites. Additionally, 

 other stands in the project and 

 adjacent areas could provide 

 additional foraging habitat. 

 In the short term, nesting 

 substrate would be unaffected, 

 but, potentially, reduced 

 slightly in the future. The 

 snag retention under this 

 project (approximately 2.4 

 snags per acre over 21 inches 

 dbh) exceeds the mean amount of 

 large snags (greater than 21 

 inches dbh) in unharvested 

 stands reported by Harris 

 (1999) and more than double the 



Big Slowdown Salvage 



Page E-15 



