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Aplodontia Rufa) in the Merritt Forest District: Progress Report 2001

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Aplodontia Rufa) in the Merritt Forest District: Progress Report 2001 Assessment of Alternative Timber Harvesting Methods on Mountain Beaver (Aplodontia rufa) in the Merritt Forest District: Progress Report 2001. by Les W. Gyug, R.P.Bio. Okanagan Wildlife Consulting 3130 Ensign Way Westbank, B.C. V4T 1T9 Prepared for B.C. Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection, Southern Interior Region Kamloops, B.C. November 27, 2001 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The objective of this project is to assess the effect of alternative timber harvesting methods on Mountain Beavers in the Merritt Forest District, and to develop mitigation measures to prevent impacts. This report summarizes information on Mountain Beaver occurrence in 17 cutblocks for eventual assessment of impacts after logging. Seven of these 17 cutblocks have been clearcut, and initial assessments made of short-term Mountain Beaver persistence after clearcutting in areas that were set as special Mountain Beaver management zones before logging began. Post-harvest evaluations on three cutblocks (A42313, A50518-1 and -2) in Railroad Creek, indicated that Mountain Beaver are indeed susceptible to crushing of their nest sites and tunnel systems by heavy machinery even protected by a 1-m deep snowpack. Impacts were greatest in areas used as skid trails, and these trails need to be carefully designated to minimize impacts. Post-harvest persistence appeared to be highest in riparian no-machine buffer zones where there was no machinery impact. Impacts on soil structure appeared to be fairly low in most areas logged on top of a snowpack in the Mountain Beaver management zones, but some sites appeared to be abandoned because runways under logs had been crushed. Four blocks that were summer logged (Tolko 118-1, 118-3, 98-1, and Weyco 597-5) generally showed very poor short-term Mountain Beaver persistence in sites previously occupied before logging, even though soil disturbance was minimal. Long-term results are needed to properly evaluate the effects in these blocks. These initial results indicated that the recommendations to mitigate timber harvesting and silvicultural effects on Mountain Beavers made in 1997 could be relatively effective, pending evaluation of further results. Briefly stated these were: Within proposed timber harvesting areas that contain Mountain Beavers: · Mountain Beaver tunnel/runway system perimeters are to be delineated, · No machine use within these perimeters except on top of a deep snowpack, · Without a deep snowpack, trees will be felled by hand, and trees top-skidded out, with treatment similar to that in a riparian "no-machine" area. · No mechanical site preparation within these perimeters, since any machine use will collapse nests and tunnels. Additional recommendations are made here regarding stocking standards in Mountain Beaver areas that will have to be evaluated in the long-term as well. Assessments need to be made on the long-term (e.g. 5 years or more post harvest) since Mountain Beaver populations are susceptible to local fluctuations, and it usually takes several years before shrub and/or tall herbaceous vegetation re-establishes after clearcutting. Blocks still to be harvested and assessed are: SBFEP A55987; Tolko 132-6, 133-1, 133-2, 133-3, 161-2; Weyco 597-3, 597-4, 693-8 and 647-3. As these sites are logged, licensees should collect record the dates of logging and the snow depths and conditions at time of logging to facilitate impact assessment. MERRITT MOUNTAIN BEAVER 2001 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................4 Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................4 METHODS .....................................................................................................................................4 RESULTS and EVALUATIONS....................................................................................................7 Post-harvest evaluation for A50518-1 and -2, Railroad Creek........................................8 Post-harvest evaluation for A42313, Railroad Creek.....................................................10 Post-harvest evaluation of Tolko CP98-1, Newton Creek..............................................12 Post-harvest evaluation of Tolko CP118-1, Upper Tulameen River..............................12 Post-harvest evaluation of Tolko CP118-3, Upper Tulameen River..............................13 Post-harvest evaluation of Tolko CP597-5, Arrastra Creek..........................................13 Searches for Mountain Beavers in other areas ..............................................................14 DISCUSSION ...............................................................................................................................16 RECOMMENDATIONS.............................................................................................................17 LITERATURE CITED.................................................................................................................20 PHOTOS (3 sites)...........................................................................................................................21 Appendix 1. Portions of Silvicultural Prescriptions dealing with Mountain Beaver in Blocks for which SP's have been prepared and approved. ....................................................22 Appendix 2. GPS UTM (NAD83) locations of Mountain Beaver sites. ............................................28 Appendix 3. Maps showing locations of Mountain Beavers in and near cutblocks to be used for pre- and post-timber harvest assessments.............................................................................29 List of Figures Figure 1. Streams searched for Mountain Beaver in the Guichon Creek drainage northwest of Merritt....................................................................................................................................14 Figure 2. Revised distribution of Mountain Beaver in Canada based on Gyug (2000b) and new information collected in this project...................................................................................15 List of Tables Table 1. Numbers of Mountain Beaver occupied nests in cutblocks and control areas in the Merritt Forest District Mountain Beaver Study as of fall 2001. ................................................... 6 Table 2. Status of individual Mountain Beaver nest sites in Timber Sales A50518-1 and A50518-2, Railroad Creek, Merritt Forest District.................................................................... 9 Table 3. Pre- and post-timber harvest numbers of occupied Mountain Beaver nests in Timber Sale A42313, Railroad Creek, Merritt Forest District.............................................................. 11 MERRITT MOUNTAIN BEAVER 2001 3 INTRODUCTION This project was a continuation of the Mountain Beaver (Aplodontia rufa rainieri) inventories conducted from 1996-2000 in the Merritt Forest District (Gyug 1996, Gyug 1997, Gyug 1998, Gyug 2000a). The rainieri subspecies of Mountain Beaver has been designated as Sensitive or Vulnerable and placed on the Blue List by the B.C. Conservation Data Centre. Mountain Beaver has been designated as Vulnerable by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (Gyug 1999). It has also been designated as Identified Wildlife for special management consideration under the Forest Practices Code of B.C. (B.C. Ministry of Forests and B.C. Environment 1999). Basic range and habitat information has already been detailed so that the intent of the Year 2001 work was primarily to determine the effects of timber harvesting on Mountain Beaver by comparing pre-harvest censuses to the same populations after harvesting. To accomplish this, the specific objectives of this project for 2001 were to: 1. Assess the current state of each of the 17 cutblocks and do post-harvest assessments where possible, 2. Assess new areas that are scheduled to be logged for possible inclusion in this study, 3. Obtain the portions of the Silvicultural Prescription for each cutblock that deals with Mountain Beaver, 4. Document any range extensions for Mountain Beaver particularly in the Pike Mt area, and attempt to determine if Mountain Beaver populations still exist in the Guichon drainage. Acknowledgements This project and report was completed under contract to the British Columbia Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection through the Wildlife Section, of the Southern Interior Region, Kamloops, B.C. Funding was supplied through Forest Renewal B.C. through Weyerhaeuser Company Ltd. John Surgenor, Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection, Kamloops, served as contract monitor. J. Ross Munro (1997 and 1998), Bruce Ryder (2000 and 2001), and Laurie Rockwell (2001) assisted in the collection of field data. METHODS All cutblocks chosen for these surveys were south and west of Princeton and Tulameen within the Merritt Forest District. Complete Mountain Beaver censuses were done in 1998 only within cutblocks where layout was complete. Within these cutblocks we attempted to cover 100% of the potential Mountain Beaver habitat within the block boundaries. Sketch maps of the nest site locations and tunnel/runway system perimeters were prepared. After consulting with the forest licensees, we returned to each site to flag the tunnel/runway system perimeters. Flagging was usually on bushes or small trees that would not be likely to be harvested. Flag colours used to mark perimeters were different
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