Coast Range Non‐Forest Habitats and their Pollinators

Doug Glavich Siuslaw National Forest/Northwest Oregon Ecology Group Presentation Topics

• Non‐forest habitat study –brief summary

• Non‐forest plant communities –Coast Range prairies to the Dunes with links to pollinators/rare wildlife use

• Select important pollinators and their habitats/needs

• Restoration approaches Joint USFS & BLM non‐forest habitat (prairies, rock gardens, wetlands, etc) project

Lidar‐based mapping

Study Coast Range prairie plant communities Plant Community

‐an assemblage of plant species occurring together in a ‘neighborhood’ shaped by climatic and environmental factors.

Eg. Temperature Precipitation

Geology Soils Hydrology Nutrients Aspect Slope Disturbance Regime Coast Range Meadow Plant Communities – Classification Analysis Oregon sunshine (Eriophyllum lanatum) type Common Plants Sulfur‐flowered buckwheat (Eriogonum umbellatum)

Oregon sunshine

Arrowleaf buckwheat (Eriogonum compositum)

Deltoid Balsamroot (Balsamrhiza deltoides)

Pollinator significance

Supports Pacific Dotted Blue butterflies

‐ Dry meadow ‐ adults and larvae feed almost exclusively ‐ Forb dominated on buckwheats ‐ Elevation 1500 to 2600 ft ‐ East flank of Coast Range: Rickreall Ridge and Mill Creek Ridge, BLM Roemer’s fescue (Festuca roemerii) type Common Plants

Wideleaf Lupine (Lupinus latifolius)

Early Blue Violet (Viola adunca)

Meadow Chickweed (Cerastium arvense)

Pollinator significance Supports several Blue Butterflies (Plebejus sp.) ‐ larvae feed on Lupines

‐ Mesic meadow Supports several Fritillary Butterflies (Speyeria sp.) ‐ larvae feed on Violets ‐ Elevation 2550 to 4000 ft ‐ Coast Range mountain top balds: Marys Peak, Grass Mountain, Little Grass Mountain, Bald Mountain (Monmouth Peak), Prairie Mountain Wild Strawberry – California Oatgrass (Fragaria virginiana – Danthonia californica) type Common Plants

Wideleaf Lupine (Lupinus latifolius)

Early Blue Violet (Viola adunca)

Toughleaf Iris Goldenrod (Iris tenax) (Solidago canadensis) Pollinator significance Support several Blue Butterflies (Plebejus sp.) ‐ larvae feed on Lupines

‐ Mesic meadow On Mt Hebo ‐ supports rare Oregon Silverspot Butterfly (Speyeria zerene hippolyta) ‐ Forb Dominated ‐ larvae feed exclusively on Violets ‐ Elevation 3000 to 3500 ft ‐ adults feed on Goldenrod and other Aster family ‐ Coast Range mountain top balds: Marys Peak, Mt Hebo forbs found in this type Coastal Roemer’s fescue (Festuca roemerii) type Common Plants

Riverbank Lupine California cudweed (Lupinus rivularis) American Carrot (Pseudognaphalium californicum) (Daucus pusillus)

Short Camas Crown Brodiaea (Camassia quamash) (Brodiaea coronaria)

Pollinator significance Support several Blue Butterflies (Plebejus sp.) ‐ larvae feed on Lupines

Support American Lady Butterflies (Vanessa virginiensis) ‐ Mesic meadow ‐ larvae feed on Cudweed ‐ Elevation 700 to 1300 ft ‐ Steep coastal mountain slopes: Cape Ridge, Cape Perpetua Support Anise Swallowtail Butterflies (Papilio zelicaon) ‐ larvae feed on American Carrot Dune Plant Communities

Stabilized Dunes Deflation Plains Open Dunes Dunes • Plant communities of stabilized dunes

Shorepine – Bearberry (Pinus contorta ssp contorta – Bearberry Common Plants Arctostaphylos uvi‐ursi) type (Arctostaphylos uvi‐ursi)

Seashore Lupine (Lupinus littoralis)

Hairy Manzanita (Arctostaphylos columbiana)

Pollinator significance

‐ Stabilized Dune: Open Woodland ‐ Globally Significant Community

Potential habitat for the Seaside Hoary Elfin (Callophrys polios maritima) ‐ adults and larvae feed exclusively on bearberry Dunes • Plant communities of stabilized dunes Common Plants Salal (Gaultheria shallon) Shorepine – Sitka spruce/Evergreen Huckleberry type (Pinus contorta ssp contorta – Picea sitchensis/Vaccinium ovatum)

Evergreen Huckleberry (Vaccinium ovatum)

Wax myrtle (Myrica californica)

Pollinator significance Support bumblebees ‐ Structure ranges from forest to open Woodland to near ‐ Salal and Hucklberry flowers shrubland ‐ Shrub layer dense : up to 95% cover and 12 ft tall Wildlife significance ‐ Coastal Dunes

Shrub berries feed birds and the Humboldt Marten Dunes • Plant communities of deflation plains Gumweed (Grindelia integrifolia) Coast Red Fescue –Salt Rush Common Plants (Festuca amoeba – Juncus lesueurii) type Springbank Clover (Trifolium wormskjoldii

Beach Silverweed (Potentilla anserina ssp pacifica)

Pollinator significance

Support critically imperiled Coastal Greenish Blue Butterfly (Plebejus saepiolus littoralis) ‐ larvae feed exclusively on clovers Dunes • Plant communities in deflation plains

Sickle leaved rush –Salt rush (Juncus falcatus– Juncus lesueurii) type

Siuslaw Hairy Necked Tiger Beetle (Cicindela hirticollis siuslawensis) Dunes • Plant communities on the open dunes

Coastal Red Fescue (Festuca ammobia) and Seashore Bluegrass (Poa macrantha) types

Yellow Sand Verbena (Abronia latifolia)

Pink Sand Verbena (Abronia umbellata)

Foredunes

Silver bur ragweed (Ambrosia chamissonis) Dunes • Plant communities on the open dunes

Coastal Red Fescue (Festuca ammobia) and Seashore Bluegrass (Poa macrantha) types

Yellow Sand Verbena (Abronia latifolia)

Pink Sand Verbena (Abronia umbellata)

Foredunes

Only two host plants

Oregon Plant Bug Silver bur ragweed (Lygus oregonae) • very rare (Ambrosia chamissonis) Oregon Silverspot Butterfly ESA status: threatened

Mt Hebo & Central Coast sites Oregon Silverspot Butterfly ‐ Mt Hebo Habitat is high bald prairie / Wild Strawberry – California Oatgrass plant community

Prairie extent created by 1845 & 1910 fires

Pre‐big fires –Tribal management?

Post fire grazing

Disturbance from military base in the 1957 ‐79

Largest Population of OSB –high numbers of Early Blue Violets (larval food source) ~11000 plants estimated in 2016 ‐‐abundant nectar plants for adults (eg goldenrod) Oregon Silverspot Butterfly

Mt Hebo 16000 Unusually cool, rainy 14000 Spring and cool Summer

12000

10000 Population

8000

Estimated 6000

4000

2000 Unusually hot, dry Spring 0 and Summer 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015

Hammond, P. C. 2015. The 2015 Report on the Response of the Oregon Silverspot Butterfly (Speyeria zerene Hippolyta) to Habitat Management on the Siuslaw National Forest. Unpublished report submitted to the Siuslaw National Forest, October 2015. Oregon Silverspot Butterfly Mt Hebo ‐ threats.

Invading species Climate Change

dense Bracken fern Oxeye daisy False Dandelion

succession

Salal, Huckleberry, other shrubs & Douglas fir regen Oregon Silverspot Butterfly –Central Coast Brays Point, Rock Creek‐Big Creek

Brays Point

Populations sites are on marine terrace and lower coastal slopes

Native plant community would be early seral Coastal Strawberry – Thrift Seapink/[Coastal Red Fescue] (Ripley 1983)

Rock Creek‐ Big Creek ‐now mostly altered with exotic grasses

~3600 violet plants were estimated across sites in 2016

The OSB population is small and mostly comprised of individuals released fromo zo captive rearing program

Ripley, J.D. 1983. Description of the Plant Communities and Succession of the Oregon Coastal Grasslands. PhD Dissertation, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR. Oregon Silverspot Butterfly

Central Coast Population Trend –it’s 800 complicated

700

600 Habitat is highly impacted –barely 500 functional Population

400 Zoo releases 300 Estimated

200 Weather/Climate?

100

0 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015

Hammond, P. C. 2015. The 2015 Report on the Response of the Oregon Silverspot Butterfly (Speyeria zerene Hippolyta) to Habitat Management on the Siuslaw National Forest. Unpublished report submitted to the Siuslaw National Forest, October 2015. Oregon Silverspot Butterfly Central Coast ‐ threats

Succession

Dense exotic grass thatch Sitka spruce – Salal forest Oregon Silverspot Butterfly Central Coast ‐ threats

Succession

Dense exotic grass thatch Sitka spruce – Salal forest

Exotic Shrubs

Himalyan blackberry Scotchbroom Cotoneaster Oregon Silverspot Butterfly –Habitat Management

Central Coast Mt Hebo

Currently Currently • mowing Salal and Invasive Grass • monitoring Oxeye daisy • Small experimental landscape fabric • Managing cover of Bracken Fern, plots Salal, Huckleberry, and other • Supplemental planting of violets and shrubs nectar plants

Future Management Considerations Future Management Consideration • Needs larger scale conversion – • Determine habitat structure that removal of exotic grasses would provide improved refugia • Return some level of disturbance (likely and support higher violet numbers used to be human burning) in warm, dry years • Nutrient reduction –exotic grass thatch build up increased nutrient load • Diversify habitat structure and species Seaside Hoary Elfin Butterfly (Incisalia polia maritima)

Heritage State Rank (OR): Critically Imperiled

Known from Lake Earl Dunes in northern California and Pistol River area In Southern Oregon

Known site in Waldport

Shorepine – bearberry is high potential habitat: 2015 surveys found none

Feeds exclusively on Bearberry (Arctostaphylos uvi‐ursi) Coastal Greenish Blue Butterfly (Plebejus saepiolus insulanus)

Heritage State Rank (OR): Imperiled

In Oregon, mostly known from Southern Oregon

Known from Rock Creek‐Big Creek area

2015 surveys found butterflies on the Oregon Dunes near Florence

Red fescue –Salt Rush habitat in deflation plains

Host plant Springbank Clover (Trifolium wormskijoldii) Hoary Elfin and Greenish Blue Butterfly threats

Scotchbroom, European Beachgrass, and other coastal exotics Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus)

Flies 3,900 miles from its winter home in Mexico to Alaska

Common but declining (62% from 1966 to 2010)

Habitat loss – needs meadows to nest in

Lack of nectar plants or flowering timing altered (climate change)

Illán, J. G., Thomas, C. D., Jones, J. A., Wong, W.‐K., Shirley, S. M. and Betts, M. G. (2014), Precipitation and winter temperature predict long‐term range‐scale abundance changes in Western North American birds. Global Change Biology 20: 3351–3364. Native Bumblebees (Bombus sp.)

IUCN reports some species are in decline

Habitat loss

Pesticides

Lack of nectar plants or flowering timing altered (climate change) Threats to our non‐forested habitats and those that use them

Prairies/Meadows

• Non‐native pasture grasses (eg. Velvet grass, Orchard grass, Sweet vernal grass, Bentgrass)

• Non‐native forbs (Oxeye daisy, Foxglove, Tansy Ragwort)

• Non‐native shrubs (Himalayan/Evergreen blackberry, Scotchbroom)

• Tree encroachment (possibly expedited by climate change)

• Woody vegetation encroachment through succession

Dunes

• European Beachgrass

• Scotchbroom In Restoration, remember factors that maintain natural prairies

Snow (higher elevation)

Thin soils

Disturbance regime –Fire

Low fertility

Moisture regime ‐ Saturated soils, Dry Soils General Restoration Needs Species Common Name Pollinators Start Bloom End Bloom bees, hummingbirds, Arctostaphylos uvi‐ursi Bearberry butterflies (Hoary Elfin) April June (July) Arctostaphylos columbiana Hair Manzanita bees,hummingbirds April June (July)

hummingbirds, bees, adult • Larger transformation in areas of dense Aquilegia formosa Red Columbine butterflies May August Mimulus sp. Monkey flower bumblebees, bees April October exotic grass infestations Lupinus littoralis Seashore Lupine bees, adult butterflies April August

Lupinus rivularis Riverbank Lupine bees, adult butterflies April August • Diversify vegetation structure Shrub, low and tall grass forb complexes Lupinus latifolius Broadleaf lupine bees, adult butterflies April (June) August Heracleum lanatum Cow Parsnip butterflies, bees March May Lonicera ciliosa Honeysuckle hummingbirds May July • May need to reduce nutrient load Ribes sanguineum Red flowering Currant hummingbirds March April from Scotchbroom and exotic grass thatch bees, butterflies (Oregon silverspot and woodland Symphyotrichum chilensis Douglas Aster skipper)

bees, butterflies (Oregon • Increase nectar availability season Solidago canadensis Canada Golden silverspot) July October Castilleja affinis ssp littoralis Coast Paintbrush hummingbirds March June plant early and late blooming nectar Castilleja hispida Harsh Paintbrush hummingbirds April August Lilium columbianum Columbia lily hummingbirds June September species in restoration sites Penstemon serrulatus Coast Penstemon hummingbirds June August Erigeron glaucus Seaside daisy bees, butterflies May October Grindelia integrifolia Gumweed bees, sweat bees August September

bees, butterflies (Coastal Trifolium wormskjoldii Springbank Clover Greenish Blue) May June

Green = Early Bloom Start Orange = Late Bloom End