Panther Ridge Wildlife Habitat Enhancement Project Environmental Assessment

United States Department of Agriculture Panther Ridge Wildlife Habitat Enhancement Project Environmental Assessment Forest Service Monongahela National Forest Marlinton-White Sulphur Ranger District April 2019 Panther Ridge Wildlife Habitat Enhancement Project Environmental Assessment For More Information Contact: Jim McCormick Project Lead, District Wildlife Biologist Marlinton-White Sulphur Ranger District Monongahela National Forest 1079 Main Street E. White Sulphur Springs, WV 24986 Phone: 304-799-4334 Email: [email protected] USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender. Panther Ridge Wildlife Habitat Enhancement Project Environmental Assessment Introduction The Marlinton-White Sulphur Ranger District of the Monongahela National Forest has developed a proposal to improve forest health and wildlife habitat for a 12,599-acre project area. Proposed activities include commercial and noncommercial vegetation management activities, prescribed fire, planting of native species, road maintenance and rerouting, watershed restoration activities, creation of water sources, and other wildlife habitat enhancements. (See the Vicinity Map on the cover page of this document.) Proposed Project Location The project area is located approximately 7 miles east of Falling Springs on County Route 11 with the following project boundaries: Greenbrier River to the west, Little Creek to the east, Hopkins Knob to the south, and Spice Run Wilderness to the north. Need for the Proposal There is a need to address the current lack of habitat diversity, dense and closed canopy forests, loss of American chestnut, spread of nonnative invasive species, and degraded watershed conditions on the Marlinton-White Sulphur Ranger District to meet Forest Plan desired conditions (Monongahela National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan, 2006, as amended). The project area falls in the center of cerulean warbler breeding range, but does not provide ideal habitat for this and many other species. The purpose of this project is to restore and enhance wildlife habitat in the project area. Lack of Habitat Diversity While mature forests are an important component of quality wildlife habitat, having an extensive amount of forest in this age class results in less food and cover for wildlife than that found in a young forest. Table 1 shows forest stand age class distribution in the project area, and the need for creating early successional habitat to meet Forest Plan desired conditions. Early successional habitat has declined substantially in the project area and throughout North America over the last century. This habitat is essential for a variety of animals from small reptiles to large mammals. Many birds rely on this habitat, including species that breed and nest in mature woods. Some of the animals that need early successional habitat include Eastern whip-poor-will, bobcat, box turtle, green snake, ruffed grouse, American woodcock, White-tailed deer, wild turkey, and a broad range of songbirds. Table 1. Current age class distribution in the project area compared to Forest Plan desired conditions Forest Plan Desired Current Condition in the Age Class Condition Project Area Late Successional (>120 years) 5 to 10 percent 16.6 percent Mid to Late-Successional Habitat (80 to 24 to 40 percent 64.2 percent 119 years) Mid-Successional (40 to 79 years) 24 to 40 percent 12.7 percent Early and Early-Mid-Successional Habitat 12 to 20 percent 4.8 percent Combined (0 to 39 years) Early-Successional Habitat (0 to 19 years) 12 to 20 percent 1.7 percent Following a disturbance, such as timber harvesting or non-commercial wildlife habitat projects, the forest resets back to early stages of development. Additional sunlight reaches the forest floor and provides a 1 Panther Ridge Wildlife Habitat Enhancement Project Environmental Assessment flush of herbaceous growth, which creates foraging habitat for wildlife. In addition, tree species begin to re-establish by either seed stored in the soil, or stump or root sprouting. Because of the available sunlight tree species, like oaks and hickory, which need open conditions can flourish. As the new forest continues to develop, high stem densities provide wildlife escape cover from predators, and additional food sources. Early successional habitat is maintained by regular disturbance such as wind, fire, clear-cutting, or beaver activity. As the forest ages, the canopy closes, reducing the amount of sunlight reaching the forest floor. As a result, natural thinning begins as young trees out-compete each other for space, sunlight, and nutrients. With fewer tree stems, there is less escape cover for wildlife and less herbaceous vegetation for foraging. Second growth forests like those found throughout the project area lack the complex forest structure favored by wildlife, including cerulean warblers, Kentucky warblers, and hooded warblers. While cerulean warblers need large blocks of mature forests, they prefer environments with more open canopies and gaps that allow sunlight to reach the forest floor. They are unlikely to use the densely packed trees and closed canopies that are common throughout much of the project area. Range-wide cerulean warbler populations have decreased by about 70 percent (Figure 1) leading to their designation as a species of national conservation concern by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. These losses are primarily related to the loss and reduced suitability of habitat on breeding, migration, and wintering grounds. Figure 1. Cerulean warbler population decline modeled using Breeding Bird Survey data from 1966-2006 (adapted from Cerulean Warbler Management Guidelines, 2013) Within the mature forests in the project area, a key tree species is missing. Before the early 1900s, American chestnuts were the predominant tree species in the eastern forest. They were extremely important for wildlife, providing food for bears and much of the fall mast for species such as white-tailed deer and wild turkey. One American chestnut tree could produce as many as 6,000 chestnuts each year, and its profusion of blooms supported bees and other pollinators. Because chestnuts bloom relatively late in the spring, their chestnut crop was not hit by late frosts that often diminish the mast of oaks and hickories. Chestnuts were high in fiber, vitamin C, protein, and carbohydrates, yet low in fat, making them important for wildlife. Today, more than 100 years after a blight reduced this tree from its 2 Panther Ridge Wildlife Habitat Enhancement Project Environmental Assessment dominance on the landscape to an occasional understory shrub, scientists have developed a more blight- resistant tree that would be planted in the project area to help restore this important tree species in its original range. Habitat within the project area has been further degraded by the presence of several unwanted nonnative invasive plants1. Invasive plants reduce the number and variety of forest wildlife, primarily by reducing the availability of food and cover. Some plants, such as tree of heaven and garlic mustard, release chemicals through their roots that keep native plants (including tree seedlings) from growing. A diversity of native vegetation supports a much greater variety of wildlife species than nonnative invasive plants. Stream and riparian conditions within the project area are, in places, inconsistent with a healthy functioning ecosystem. Unstable banks, low levels of large woody material, and high sediment loads contribute to a general lack of habitat complexity in streams. In many places, streams within the project area have eroded over time and cut down into the channel. Deep, vertical stream banks and increased erosion greatly reduce fish habitat. Aquatic habitat in the project area is being impacted by undersized culverts at road-stream intersections that block the passage of fish and other species. Many undersized culverts create unnaturally powerful outflow and extreme erosion on the downstream side (fire hose effect). Over time, this can have a major impact on fish populations and overall stream health. Forest Plan Direction The Panther Ridge project area falls within Forest Plan management prescription 6.1, which emphasizes: • Use of vegetation management to enhance the variety of wildlife habitat on the forest; • Favoring tree species and forest communities that are beneficial to wildlife; • Increasing stand age class distribution over current conditions; and • Active restoration of pine-oak and oak-hickory communities. The desired future condition and goals for this project under management prescription 6.1 are to: • Enhance diversity of wildlife habitat by managing for a variety of vegetation species, types, and age classes; • Maintain, restore, or enhance the oak component within oak-pine, oak-hickory communities to provide long term mast supplies, sustainable timber, and habitat diversity; and • Create artificial water sources as needed in conjunction with other resource activities 1 Throughout this report the terms “nonnative invasive plants” and “invasive plants” are used as synonyms for nonnative invasive plants. 3 Panther Ridge Wildlife Habitat Enhancement Project Environmental Assessment Proposed Action and Alternatives The following alternatives were considered: Proposed Action To achieve the purpose and need, in accordance with Forest Plan direction and desired conditions, the proposed action would provide a diversity of wildlife habitat in the project area, including enhancing habitat for migratory songbirds,

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