Author(s): Lauren Waters, RPF, Rhonda Delong, MSc
Date: 04-Jun-01
Source:
Number on Library Shelf: 13

http://srmwww.gov.bc.ca/frco/programs/efp/chreport.doc

Integrating mountain caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) management and timber management is important in the Revelstoke area because a significant proportion of the allowable annual cut is harvested from old-growth forests, which are critical for caribou habitat. This has heightened the interest in applying forest management strategies that can maintain or simulate old-growth attributes on which the caribou rely. Silviculture treatments applied to managed stands have the potential to accelerate the development of habitat attributes preferred by mountain caribou, including abundance of arboreal lichen and understory falsebox, and open stand structure with some large trees providing good sight lines and snow interception.

The Minister of Forests Advisory Committee (MAC) land use plan for the Revelstoke TSA requires 40% retention in mature and old-growth forests within areas with high value caribou habitat. In response to this requirement, the following goals and management objectives for caribou habitat recruitment using silviculture treatments are proposed:

Overall goals:

1. Maintain and supplement the 40% retention target for mature and old forests in caribou management areas (as laid out in the MAC plan) over time to ensure a sustainable supply of suitable habitat for the future.
2. Increase use of later seral stage (i.e. younger than mature) forests by mountain caribou for forage and cover in the Revelstoke TSA.

Management objectives:

1. Mimic attributes of mature and old-growth forests in later seral stage forests favorable to caribou using silviculture techniques (i.e., create open forests with large trees and complex structure).
2. Accelerate the development of suitable connective habitat for caribou in managed forests to facilitate movement between foraging habitats and predator avoidance.
3. Increase the amount of available lichen for caribou in later seral stage forests.

The purpose of this report is to provide guidance and ecological justification for managers and silviculture foresters to plan, prescribe, implement and monitor silviculture treatments, to meet caribou habitat requirements and timber harvesting objectives. The report specifically:

a) identifies desired attributes of caribou habitat;
b) proposes guidelines for ranking and priorizing stands for caribou habitat recruitment
c) suggests specific silviculture treatments to recruit caribou habitat in young forests and maintain caribou habitat in old-growth forests; and
d) proposes using an adaptive management framework for monitoring, refining guidelines and improving prescriptions for recruiting caribou habitat.
 

Author(s): Susan Stevenson, Harold Armleder, Michael Jull, David King, Bruce McLellan, Darwyn Coxson
Date: March 2003
Source: Wildlife Report R-26
Number on Library Shelf: 16

http://wlapwww.gov.bc.ca/wld/documents/techpub/r26_mtcaribou.pdf

Mountain Caribou, an ecotype of woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou), inhabit mature forests and alpine areas in southeastern and east-central British Columbia. During winter, the caribou feed mainly on the arboreal lichens Bryoria spp. and Alectoria sarmentosa, which are most abundant on old trees. For more than 25 years, forest harvesting has been a management concern in Mountain Caribou ranges in the Engelmann Spruce-Subalpine Fir (ESSF) and Interior Cedar—Hemlock (ICH) biogeoclimatic zones. As the pressure on the
timber supply increases, the demand for information on forest harvesting in caribou habitat also increases. This report focuses on winter ranges because it is there that direct conflicts with forestry activities are most severe.
 

Managing second-growth forests as caribou habitat
Author: Susan K. Stevenson

Reference number on library shelves: 105

Habitat management for woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) in southeastern British Columbia has generally focussed on protecting old-growth forests from logging. As that strategy becomes more difficult to maintain, biologists are beginning to explore opportunities to manage second-growth stands to provide arboreal lichens and other habitat resources important to caribou. Special harvesting and stand management practices are being developed and formulated into strategies for maintaining caribou populations in managed forests.
 

Author(s): Wayne Wakkinen
Date: 24-Mar-03
Source:
Number on Library Shelf: 39

This document looks at post-release movements of woodland caribou to aid in the evaluation of transplant sites in the Washington portion of the Selkirk Mountains.
 

Author(s): B. McLellan, E Terry
Date: 23-Nov-98
Source:
Number on Library Shelf: 47

http://www.cmiae.org/compendium/reference47.pdf
1.9 MB (scanned)

This report compares winter habitat characteristics of mountain caribou foraging areas to characteristics of selectively logged cut-blocks (i.e. partial-cuts) located in the southern Selkirk Mountains. Habitat characteristics of caribou foraging areas are described using data from two caribou herds including the Revelstoke Herd in the north Columbia Mountains, and The Yellowhead Herd east of Prince George situated in the north Cariboo Mountains. Experimental partial-cut blocks near Salmo, B.C. were used to determine haw well habitat attributes in selectively logged stands (managed stands) maintain winter habitat characteristics in these two study areas.
 

Author(s): Susan K. Stevenson, Mike Jull, Darwyn S. Coxson
Date: 01-May-99
Source: UNBC Forest Research Note PG #19
Number on Library Shelf: 52

http://wetbelt.unbc.ca/docs/Pinkerton research note pg-19.pdf

To make informed decisions about what silvicultural systems to use to meet resource objectives, managers need to know the implications of their decisions for a variety of resource values. In the long term, the stand structural information we have collected at Pinkerton Mountain before and after harvesting will become the baseline for continued monitoring of a variety of stand dynamics processes, and continued reporting of our results to managers.
 

Author(s): Harold J. Quesnel, Lauren Waters
Date: 01-Mar-00
Source: BC Ministry of Forests Extension Note 054
Number on Library Shelf: 53

http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/rsi/research/nextnotes/En054.htm

Alternative harvesting systems in old growth are being evaluated in the Revelstoke area. Integrating mountain caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) and timber management is important because a significant proportion of the annual allowable cut will be harvested from old-growth habitat critical for caribou in the Revelstoke area. Alternative silviculture systems that maintain caribou habitat while allowing access to merchantable timber are preferred in caribou management areas.
 

Author(s): Karen Price, Jim Pojar, Audrey Roburn, Lori Brewer, Nola Poirier
Date: 01-Jan-98
Source: Northwest Science 72(Special Issue No.2): 30-32
Number on Library Shelf: 55

This paper focuses on two questions: (1) Do mature stands initiated by blowdown contain more structure than mature stands initiated by clearcutting? (2) Do blowdown-initiated stands support different species than logged stands? More specifically, we asked whether stands initiated by blowdown were more similar to old growth, and predicted that blowdown sites would contain greater structural legacy (more large trees and snags, abundant coarse woody debris) and would have greater heterogeneity (in canopy gaps, microtopography, tree spacing and size).
 

Author(s): Harold J. Quesnel, Lauren Waters
Date: 01-Mar-00
Source: BC Ministry of Forests Extension Note 054
Number on Library Shelf: 56

http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/rsi/research/nextnotes/En054.htm

Alternative harvesting systems in old growth are being evaluated in the Revelstoke area. Integrating mountain caribou (Rangifer tarandus caibou) and timber management is important because a significant proportion of the annual allowable cut will be harvested from old-growth habitat critical for caribou in the Revelstoke area. Alternative silviculture systems that maintain caribou habitat while allowing access to merchantable timber are preferred in caribou management areas.
 

Author(s): Harold J. Quesnel, Lauren Waters
Date: 01-Mar-99
Source:
Number on Library Shelf: 57

Alternative harvesting systems in old growth are being evaluated in the Revelstoke area. Integrating mountain caribou (Rangifer tarandus caibou) and timber management is important because a significant proportion of the annual allowable cut will be harvested from old-growth habitat critical for caribou in the Revelstoke area. Alternative silviculture systems that maintain caribou habitat while allowing access to merchantable timber are preferred in caribou management areas.
 

Author(s): Bruce McLellan
Date: 31-Mar-2000
Source: Forest Renewal BC Report
#MR 39
Number on Library Shelf: 65

http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/HFD/library/FRBC2000/FRBC2000MR39.pdf

Mountain Caribou, a red listed or endangered ecotype of woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou), are associated with late-successional forests, and managing for mountain caribou habitat requires explicit consideration over regional, to landscape, stand, and single tree spatial scales. During this FRBC funded study, 48 caribou were radiolocated 4186 times in the north Columbia Mountains of British Columbia. We analyzed caribou selection for multiple forest overstory and terrain attributes across 4 nested spatial scales, comparing successively smaller and closer paired used and random landscapes. To complete our multi-scale approach to understanding habitat selection, we also investigate selection at the stand, path chosen by caribou, and foraging site scale. Our population analysis included three detailed censuses and re-analyses of all previous censuses. We investigated the sites of 37 caribou that died. To further understand the relationship among wolves and caribou, 2 wolf packs were also radiocollared. We also investigated the feasibility of 1-2 ha patch cuts in old ICH forests. In these cuts we monitored lichen dispersal and blowdown. Our research was directly incorporated into the Columbia District's land use plan by participating in the Minister's Advisory Committee and Kootenay Boundary Land Use Planning Processes. Our results and methodology has also been used throughout the Nelson Forest Region and parts of the Kamloops Forest Region and contributed to the report "Mountain Caribou in Managed Forests: Recommendations for Managers- Second Edition". We hosted a 2 day workshop on partial cutting in caribou habitat and participated in many field trips with MOELP, MOF, and licensees. Two scientific papers are in press, another has been submitted, and drafts of several are being prepared. This report is only a summary of several more complete papers. The reader is asked to read the complete reports, and not to rely on this summary.
 

Author(s): Harold J. Quesnel, Lauren Waters
Date: 01-Mar-02
Source: BC Ministry of Forests Extension Note 54
Number on Library Shelf: 83

http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/rsi/research/nextnotes/En054.htm

Alternative harvesting systems in old growth are being evaluated in the Revelstoke area. Integrating mountain caribou (Rangifer tarandus caibou) and timber management is important because a significant proportion of the annual allowable cut will be harvested from old-growth habitat critical for caribou in the Revelstoke area. Alternative silviculture systems that maintain caribou habitat while allowing access to merchantable timber are preferred in caribou management areas.
 

Managing second-growth forests as caribou habitat

Author(s): Susan K. Stevenson
Date: 31-Jan-90
Source: Rangifer Special Issue (3): 139
Number on Library Shelf: 105

Habitat management for woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) in southeastern British Columbia has generally focussed on protecting old-growth forests from logging. As that strategy becomes more difficult to maintain, biologists are beginning to explore opportunities to manage second-growth stands to provide arboreal lichens and other habitat resources important to caribou. Special harvesting and stand management practices are being developed and formulated into strategies for maintaining caribou populations in managed forests.
 

Author(s): Susan K. Stevenson
Date: 01-Jan-86
Source: Rangifer. Special Issue #1: 289.
Number on Library Shelf: 108

Woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) in southeastern British Columbia feed mainly on arboreal lichens in the winter. Some modified forestry practices that have been used or proposed for caribou ranges are reviewed. Partial cutting results in the retention of some forage lichens. Partial cutting and small patch harvesting may improve lichen growth on the remaining trees. Retention of advanced regeneration and some residual trees may improve lichen growth in the remaining stand. Extension of the rotation age increases the amount of harvestable forest useful to caribou at any one time. Progressive cutting minimizes road access to caribou ranges, and may be combined with partial cutting. Most forestry practices intended to maintain lichen production will result in increased human activity in caribou ranges, unless road access is controlled. The management strategy selected depends on site conditions and on the relative importance assigned to the impact of habitat alteration and human activity on caribou.
 

Author(s): Lauren Waters, RPF, Harry Quesnel
Date: 01-Jan-99
Source: BC Ministry of Forests Extension Note 029
Number on Library Shelf: 116

http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/rsi/research/nextnotes/rs029.htm

This Extension Note reports on the results of post-harvest monitoring of regeneration, coarse woody debris, windthrow, and lichen.
 

Author(s): Lauren Waters
Date: 01-Nov-96
Source: BC Ministry of Forests Extension Note 029
Number on Library Shelf: 117

http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/rsi/research/nextnotes/rs029.htm

This Extension Note reports on the results of post-harvest monitoring of regeneration, coarse woody debris, windthrow, and lichen.
 

Author(s): Bruce McLellan, John Flaa
Date: 01-Jan-93
Source: E.P. 1161. Annual Report Year One. Ministry of Forests, Revelstoke, BC
Number on Library Shelf: 120

Annual report on the Revelstoke Caribou Project, for 1992-1993 (Year One).
 

Author(s): Susan K. Stevenson
Date: 01-Mar-93
Source:
Number on Library Shelf: 121

This document reports on the Lucille Mountain project that was initiated in 1989 with the following objectives:

1. To ensure that caribou habitat values are accommodated in all aspects of the Lucille Mountain project: planning, implementation, monitoring, education, and demonstration.
2. To monitor the response of the following caribou habitat values to the management activities: abundance of available forage lichens, lichen growth rates, and microclimate of the lower canopy where forage lichens grow.
3. To ensure that project results are considered in subsequent development of management strategies.