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Boomer Or Bust: Managing a Pacific Northwest Pest Species

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Boomer Or Bust: Managing a Pacific Northwest Pest Species Boomer or Bust: Managing a Pacific Northwest Pest Species WendyM.Arjo USDAAPHISWildlifeServices,NationalWildlifeResearchCenter,Olympia,Washington DaleL.Nolte USDAAPHISWildlifeServices,NationalWildlifeResearchCenter,FortCollins,Colorado ABSTRACT : MountainbeaverareaprimitiverodentspeciesendemictothePacificNorthwestandCalifornia.InOregonand Washington,mountainbeaveraremanagedasapestspeciesduetothedamagetheyinflicttoDouglas-firseedlingsaswellas10-to 15-year-oldtrees.Availablebiologicalinformationonthemountainbeaverislimited,thushamperingtheabilityofmanagersto developnewtoolsandtechniquestoreducedamage.Weconductedaseriesofstudiestoincreaseourknowledgeofmountain beaver biology and the influence of environmental attributes and stand management practices on demographics. Although mountainbeaverdamageDouglas-firandwesternredcedarseedlings,observationssuggestthatthesetreespeciesarenotpreferred forage.Inonepenstudy,pensvoidofpreferredvegetation(i.e.,salalandswordfern)hadsignificantlymoredamagethanpens withadditionalforage.Damagedidnotoccurwhenanimalswereallowedaccesstopenswithpreferredforage,evenwithincreased populationpressure.Inadditiontopentrials,weradio-collared62mountainbeaverin3differentharvestunits,whichvariedin vegetationmanagementandstandage,toassessmovementsandseedlingdamage.Homerangeswerelargeronthechemically preparedsitewithreducedforagethanonthenon-treatedsite.Althoughmountainbeavercaninhabitoldertimberstands,home rangeswererelativelylargeinsuchstandsbecauseofthereducedpreferredforageinclosed-canopyhabitats(3.66±1.49ha).Once unitswereharvested,populationsizeincreasedandhomerangesizedecreased(0.88±0.27ha).Seedlingdamageandreproductive successwereonlyslightlyrelatedtoavailableforage,whichwasinturnaffectedbysitepreparation.Informationonhomerange use,habitatrequirements,andthedifferenceincarryingcapacityformountainbeaverundervaryingsitepreparations,canassist managersinmanipulatinghabitatsinordertominimizecolonizationandreduceseedlingdamage.Wesuggestseveralintegrated pestmanagementstrategiestominimizeseedlingdamagebymountainbeaver. KEY WORDS : Aplodontiarufa ,damage,forestmanagement,homerange,mountainbeaver,PacificNorthwest,seedlings Proc.22 nd Vertebr.PestConf. (R.M.TimmandJ.M.O’Brien,Eds.) PublishedatUniv.ofCalif.,Davis. 2006. Pp.181-186. INTRODUCTION available for mountain beaver damage in the Pacific The mountain beaver ( Aplodontia rufa ), endemic to Northwestreports121,500haofDouglas-firplantations westernNorthAmerica,istheonlyextantmemberofthe are affected (Evans 1987, Campbell and Evans 1988). family Aplodontidae. Although the common name Although there is available information on mountain suggests relationship to true beaver (Castoridae), this beaver biology and management tools for minimizing semi-fossorial rodent shares only the behavior of tree damage by mountain beaver, the majority of this clipping with the stream beaver. Extending from information is antiquated, and several areas are southernBritishColumbiasouthtocentralCaliforniaand unaddressed.Feldhamer etal .(2003)notedthatinforma- east to the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountains tion on the response of mountain beaver populations to (Feldhamer et al . 2003), mountain beaver are typically silviculturalactivities,aswellasabetterunderstandingof found at lower elevations with succulent forage. In populationsinassociationwithotherhabitatcharacteris- WashingtonandOregon, mountainbeaverare managed tics, can provide additional direction to management asapestspeciesduetotheextensivedamageinflictedon strategiestominimizedamage.Thispapersynthesizesa conifer seedlings and saplings. Mountain beaver are series of studies conducted to assess mountain beaver considered the single greatest cause of Douglas-fir populations and movements under current forest (Pseudotsuga menziesii ) seedling damage in western management practices, and suggests integrated pest Washington (King 1958, Hooven 1977, Borrecco et al . management strategies to minimize mountain beaver 1979,BlackandLawrence1992,Cafferata1992). damage. Dependingontreesize,damagebymountainbeaver can cause suppression of height growth, understocked IMPACTOFFORESTMANAGEMENT plantations, or forest regeneration delays or failures PRACTICES (Borrecco and Anderson 1980). The most prevalent PopulationChanges problem is clipping of seedlings after planting (Hooven Like most species, mountain beaver populations are 1977,Borrecco etal .1979).Stemsupto19mmcanbe notonlyinfluencedbyavailablevegetationinrecoloniz- clipped,resultinginacontinuallossoftreesaslongas4 ing areas, but also by surrounding habitat for a source yearsafterplanting(Lawrence etal .1961).Inaddition, population, reproductive potential, and survivorship. basalgirdlingof10-to25-year-oldtreesandundermining Most of the available data on mountain beaver popula- ofrootsinsaplingstandscanalsooccurinhigh-density tionsarelimitedtoacoupleofstudiesconductedon8-to mountain beaver areas. The only current estimate 20-year-oldunits.Populationsintheseregenerationsites 181 averaged3.4to4.6mountainbeaverperhectare(Lovejoy femaleoccurredonthenon-treatedside.Thisestimateis andBlack1979 b,NealandBorrecco1981).Information potentially low, because traps were removed from 2 onchangesinmountainbeaverpopulationswithinnewly lactatingfemales’coreareastopreventcapturemyopathy harvestedunitspriortoplanting,andtheimpactsofsite before juveniles were documented. The non-treated preparation on these populations, is lacking. We con- portion of the unit contained 0.5 juveniles per female. ductedaseriesoftelemetrystudiestoaddressmountain One of these females moved into the riparian manage- beaverpopulationsinrecentclear-cutunitswithdifferent mentzone(RMZ)area(nottechnicallyinthetreatedunit) chemical site preparedness. Initial trapping was con- and biased the results slightly higher. Two years after ducted to radio-collar individuals on the units to obtain harvest,11adultswerecapturedonthenon-treatedside home range information and population estimates. and reproduction was 1.1 juveniles per female. On the Estimates based on live trapping are biased (potentially treatedside,only4adultswerecaptured,andreproduc- lower), because resident animals were usually the only tionaveraged0.6juvenilesperfemale.Sitepreparation animalscapturedwithintheirterritories.Whenremoval removed the majority of vegetation, allowing for better trappingoccurs,differentindividualsareoftencapturedin visual observation by predators. The remaining adults the same trap on subsequent days after removal of the werelocatedinvinemaplepatchesorslashpiles,which resident.Populationswereconsistentlylowerbothyears offered good protection from predators. Populations on ontheDonovanunit(0.99and0.49mountainbeaver/ha), theVestasiteincreasedtheyearfollowingharvestfrom whichwassiteprepared,andnojuvenileswereobserved 0.64 beaver/ha to 0.99 beaver/ha, but declined the (Table 1). On the Sylvia unit, which was not site following year to 0.74 beaver/ha (Arjo, unpubl. data). prepared, populations were larger at 2.35 and 4.81 Although densities increased immediately following animals/ha, and juveniles were observed in both years. harvest,populationsreturnedtopre-harvestlevels2years Vegetation was monitored around 9 mountain beaver afterharvest. nestsinbothunits,andsignificantvariationintheamount Hacker(1992)documentedmountainbeaverpopula- of forbs, but not in the presence of sword fern, was tions in various aged stands, and she found that 1 year observed(Arjo,Huenefeld,andNolte,unpubl.data). after trapping there was no statistical difference in densitiesbetweentheseunitsandunitsnevertrapped.In Table1.Changesinmountainbeaverpopulationsonthree addition, she documented sex ratios skewed towards harvestunitsinwesternWashingtonundervariousforest juvenile females (79%) in recently harvested units, as managementpractices. comparedtoforestedunits(30%).Moreimportantly,she Gender Unit Juvenile TrapType documented that a larger proportion (50%) of those Male Female juvenilefemalesbredbeforetheirfirstyearintherecently Donovan(siteprepared/);41acres harvested unit, and no juvenile females bred in the Spring2002 8 8 0 Live forestedunits.Mostliteraturestatesthatmountainbeaver Spring2003 6 2 0 Removal do not reproduce until their second year (Pfeiffer 1958, Fall2003 3 4 - Removal Feldhamer etal .2003).Wehavedocumentedthatinpen Sylvia(notsiteprepared);~20acres settings with adequate and quality forage, females are Spring2002 8 11 3 Live reproductively capable after 9 months of age (Arjo and Spring2003 18 21 16 Removal Nolte,unpubl.data).Dispersingjuvenilefemalesobtain Fall2003 17 8 - Removal a reproductive advantage by recolonizing newly Vesta;50acres harvestedunits,andpopulationscangrowexponentially Priortoharvest 7 6 - Live whenfemalescanreproducebeforeage1,comparedto Non-sprayed delayingreproductionuntilage2.Largerlitterswerealso Spring2004 4 8 8 Live Spring2005 8 3 9 Removal observed in newly harvested units compared to older Sprayed units,whichagainaffecteddensities(Hacker1992). Spring2004 3 5 6 Live Data suggest that geographic proximity is not as Spring2005 2 2 2 Removal importantafactorasarehabitatfeaturesindetermining wheremountainbeaverrecolonize(HackerandCoblentz Theauthorscontinuedtheinvestigationoftheimpact 1993), and availability of woody cover seems to be an ofvegetationonmountainbeaverpopulationsbyfollow- important contributing factor for recolonization (Martin ingaharvestunitfrommaturetreesthroughharvestand 1971, Neal and Borrecco 1981, Hacker and Coblentz planting.Wedocumented13mountainbeaverinthe40- 1993). Although mountain
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