Habitat Objectives
Sites: Where ecologically appropriate (e.g., wetter sites), maintain or provide >40% understory shrub layer cover.
Habitat Conservation Strategies
– Promote understory growth through natural disturbance or management that breaks up the forest canopy yet still maintains the dominance of a mid- or late-successional forest.
– Discontinue use of herbicides for deciduous tree and shrub control.
Habitat Objectives
Landscapes: Within small landscapes (e.g., watersheds, townships, sections), provide >30% of the area as early successional forest with site-level habitat conditions as described below.
Sites: Where ecologically appropriate in early successional forests >20 ha (50 ac) provide
– >3 1-ha (2.5 ac) areas (aggregate clumps) with 10–30 trees/ha (4–12/ac) >12 m (40 ft) high, and within the early successional habitat, not adjacent to the forest edge
– remainder of the harvest unit should average 3–5 trees/ ha (1–2/ac) >12 m (40 ft) high, dispersed relatively equally throughout the harvest unit (dispersed trees)
– retained large trees should be >50% hemlocks or true firs to provide preferred nest trees, and have ≥25% foliage volume for nesting substrates.
– retain suppressed or understory plantation trees in the harvest unit (>13 ha [5/ac]) 3–12 m (10–40 ft) high
Sites: In thinned sites, maintain 10–50% canopy cover with some areas 10–20% canopy cover.
Sites: In post-fire habitat, maintain >40% as unsalvaged, and where salvage is occurring, retain all trees and snags >51 cm (21 in) dbh and >50% of those 27–50 cm (12–20 in) dbh.
Habitat Conservation Strategies
– In addition to green-tree retention, seed tree, shelterwood, or group selection cuts may be used to meet the biological objectives.
– In reforestation areas, include at least 10% hemlock or true fir seedlings, and retain these trees through thinnings and harvest.
– Retain residual clumps of older forest in association with retained green-trees to increase edge and reduce the likelihood that retained trees will be lost to windtrow.
– Retain large trees in association with retained large snags where snags can serve as guard and foraging perches.
– Maintain retained large canopy trees through forest development and recruit replacement green-trees at each harvest entry.
Habitat Objectives
Landscapes: Within small landscapes (e.g., watersheds, townships, sections), provide >30% of the area as early successional forest with site-level habitat conditions as described below.
Sites: Where ecologically appropriate in early successional forest provide
– >30% cover of the area in deciduous shrubs and small trees (<15 ft tall).
Habitat Conservation Strategies
– Allow early-successional habitat to regenerate naturally where there is the potential for a structurally complex and well-developed deciduous component of shrubs and trees.
– Maintain deciduous vegetation in areas where conifer seedlings are not planted or difficult to establish such as along logging roads and landings; on unstable, steep slopes; and in moist depressions, gullies, and stream courses.
– Where vegetation management is conducted, use selective control of deciduous vegetation (e.g., immediately adjacent to conifer seedlings) by manual thinning or limited herbicide application.
– Where vegetation management is conducted, retain small, untreated patchily distributed plots (e.g., 0.1 ha, [Marcot 1984]; 10 X 20 m, Morrison [1982]) of deciduous vegetation throughout the conifer plantation.
-Lengthen time in early-successional condition by planting a lower density of conifers in conjunction with limited or no competing vegetation management.
– Conduct non-uniform (i.e., patchily) thinning and pruning of conifers in later stages of early-successional and into the pole stage to maintain a deciduous shrub component, particularly on rich, moist sites, to enhance and prolong suitability of the habitat.
– Discontinue use of herbicides for deciduous tree and shrub control.
– Harvest entries should be carefully designed, and logging systems tailored to site-specific conditions to minimize ground disturbance and site productivity.
Pacific-slope Flycatcher
Forest condition: Old Growth/Mature Forest
Habitat Attribute: Deciduous Canopy/Subcanopy Trees
Habitat Objectives
Landscapes: Within landscapes >1,000 ha (2,500 ac), maintain
– approximately 90% as late-successional coniferous forest that includes a high percent of unfragmented core areas of densely canopied forest and patches of thinly canopied forest interspersed with patches of mixed coniferous-deciduous forest and deciduous forest (includes riparian habitat) (2-10%) with site-level habitat conditions as described below.
Sites: Where ecologically appropriate in forests >40 years old provide
– >20% deciduous canopy cover, particularly where associated with riparian zone or wet site deciduous trees especially red alder.
Sites: In harvest units with deciduous tree site potential, retain all deciduous canopy trees near the riparian zone (i.e., within one tree length of outer boundary of existing riparian buffer) to expand potential suitable nesting and foraging habitat.
Sites: Riparian buffer zones within harvest units should be >40 m (130 ft) wide to provide suitable habitat and should meet site-level habitat conditions described above.
Habitat Conservation Strategies
– In forests managed for wood products with an existing deciduous canopy component, extend rotation age to >80 years to allow for development of canopy and sub-canopy gaps for suitable foraging habitat.
– Conduct conifer tree thinning where there is potential for understory development of deciduous trees, particularly in wet sites. Conduct thinning early in forest development (<20 years-old) to enhance competitive opportunities for deciduous trees, and minimize short-term effect of reduced canopy closure and suitability of habitat.
– Where deciduous trees have been retained from earlier successional stages, ensure release of these trees by thinning of conifers shading them out.
– If deciduous trees have not been retained from earlier successional stages and the site is suitable, conduct thinning in scattered patches (variable-spaced) to open up the canopy and allow for understory development of deciduous trees adjacent to the closed-canopy conifer dominated forest.
– Conduct repeated thinning as necessary in conjunction with a longer rotation to maintain a deciduous canopy component for a longer period of time.
– When conducting thinning activities, minimize mechanical impact on shrub cover to maintain this desired feature.
Forest condition: Klamath Mountains Mixed Conifer and Mixed Hardwood-Conifer Forests
Habitat Attribute: Pine-Oak Canopy/Subcanopy Trees
Habitat Objectives
Sites: Maintain >60% canopy/subcanopy closure, especially where pine and oak are part of the canopy. Sites: Where ecologically appropriate (e.g., drier sites), maintain >25% canopy cover of pine and oak trees.
Habitat Conservation Strategies
– Retain all mature pine-oak canopy trees.
– Conduct thinning or other forest management to select for growth of mature pine and oak trees in ecologically appropriate sites.
– Where managed regeneration is occurring, plant pine and oak trees in ecologically appropriate sites (e.g., drier sites).
Western Tanager
Forest Type: Klamath Mountains Mixed Conifer and Mixed Hardwood-Conifer Forests
Habitat Attribute: Forest Canopy Edges
Habitat Objectives
Sites: Where ecologically appropriate, maintain a dispersed or patchy forest canopy with cover between 40–70%.
Habitat Conservation Strategies
– Promote forest edges through natural disturbance or management that breaks up the forest canopy yet still maintains the dominance of a mid- or late-successional forest.
– Conduct variable density thinning with some small openings to create more edge habitat.
Habitat: Oak Closed Woodland or Forest
Habitat Attribute: canopy edges and openings
Habitat Objectives (Sites)
Mature riparian open woodland in the following conditions:
canopy closure 35-85% of which >80% is oak cover and <10% conifer cover
native understory of shrubs such as snowberry and serviceberry interspersed with native herbaceous grasses and forbs where neither is >80% of understory
high edge to opening ratios
Population Objectives (Sites)
Target Densities in Suitable Habitat:
Oak Titmouse (Parus inornatus)
Forest condition: Klamath Mountains Mixed Conifer and Mixed Hardwood-Conifer Forests
Habitat: Riparian Closed Woodland or Forest
Habitat: Riparian Open Woodland
Habitat: Oak Closed Woodland or Forest