Pawnee Montane Skipper Post-Fire Habitat Assessment Survey – August/September 2009 Pawnee Montane Skipper Post-Fire Habitat Assessment Survey – August/September 2009
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Pawnee Montane Skipper Post-fire Habitat Assessment Survey – August/September 2009 Pawnee Montane Skipper Post-fire Habitat Assessment Survey – August/September 2009 Prepared For U.S. Forest Service Pike and San Isabel National Forest South Platte Ranger District Morrison, Colorado U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Lakewood, Colorado And Denver Water Denver, Colorado Prepared by: John Sovell Colorado Natural Heritage Program Warner College of Natural Resources Colorado State University 1474 Campus Delivery Fort Collins, CO 80523-8002 http://www.cnhp.colostate.edu March 2010 Copyright © 2010 Colorado State University Colorado Natural Heritage Program All Rights Reserved Cover photograph: View of the forest in 2002 after the fire with beetle shaving at the base of a burned tree, by John Sovell ii TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................ 1 1.0 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................... 3 1.1 Background and Purpose .................................................................................................... 3 1.2 Study area Conditions in 2009 ............................................................................................ 4 2.0 PROJECT OBJECTIVES ......................................................................................................... 5 3.0 PROJECT AREA ...................................................................................................................... 6 4.0 FIELD DATA COLLECTED AND PROJECT OUTPUTS .................................................... 9 5.0 PROJECT DESIGN AND SAMPLING METHODS............................................................. 10 5.1 Sampling Area Dimensions and Selection ........................................................................ 10 5.2 Field Sampling Methods ................................................................................................... 12 5.2.1 Sampling Site locations .............................................................................................. 12 5.2.2 Data Collection ........................................................................................................... 12 5.3 Data Management ............................................................................................................. 15 5.3.1 Transect Grouping for Analysis .................................................................................. 15 5.3.2 Statistical Analysis ...................................................................................................... 15 6.0 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ............................................................................................. 17 6.1 Post-fire Habitat Conditions and Skipper Abundance on the Hayman Transect .............. 17 6.1.1 Current versus Historic Habitat Use ........................................................................... 17 6.1.2 Pawnee Montane Skipper (Hesperia leonardus montana) Occurrence...................... 17 6.1.3 Skipper (Hesperia) Occurrence .................................................................................. 26 6.1.4 Post-fire Changes in Forest Structure ......................................................................... 28 6.1.5 Blue Grama (Bouteloua gracilis) Occurrence ............................................................. 32 6.1.6 Prairie Gayfeather (Liatris punctata) Occurrence ....................................................... 34 7.0 CONCLUSIONS..................................................................................................................... 38 8.0 FUTURE RESEARCH ........................................................................................................... 40 9.0 LITERATURE CITED ........................................................................................................... 41 APPENDIX A PAWNEE MONTANE SKIPPER (Hesperia leonardus montana) POST- FIRE HABITAT MONITORING PROTOCOL: YEAR 8 SEPTEMBER 2009 ................... 42 APPENDIX B HAYMAN PLOT DATA FROM 2002 THROUGH 2009. ................................. 49 APPENDIX C PAWNEE MONTANE SKIPPER COUNTS FROM 2002 THROUGH 2009 FOR BURNED TRANSECTS WITH THE DISTANCE THAT EACH IS TO UNBURNED SUITABLE SKIPPER HABITAT. ................................................................. 56 APPENDIX D HABITAT CONDITION AT MODERATE-TO-HIGH SEVERITY BURN TRANSECTS BOTH OCCUPIED AND UNOCCUPIED BY PAWNEE MONTANE SKIPPERS AND THEIR DISTANCE TO UNBURNED SUITABLE SKIPPER HABITAT FOR THE PERIOD 2002 TO 2009. ..................................................................... 58 iii LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1. Parameters measured during the post-fire monitoring project (2002 to 2009). ............. 9 Table 6-1. The number of Pawnee montane skippers (Hesperus leonardus montana) counted per acre from 2002 through 2009 within the burn classes (unburned, low, and moderate- to-high severity burns) of the Hayman Fire and the total number of Pawnee montane skippers counted per acre on all transects in each year. ......................................................... 18 Table 6.2. Pawnee montane skipper (Hesperia leonardus montana) abundance on Hayman Fire transects. Pawnee montane skippers per acre among habitat burn classes (unburned, low, and moderate-to-high severity burns) from 2002 through 2009 for all Hayman transects................................................................................................................................... 18 Table 6-3. Pawnee montane skipper (Hesperia leonardus montana) abundance on Hayman Fire transects. Pawnee montane skippers per acre among habitat burn classes (unburned, low, and moderate-to-high severity burns) and within sample years (2002 through 2009) for all Hayman transects. ........................................................................................................ 19 Table 6-4. Pawnee montane skipper (Hesperia leonardus montana) abundance on Hayman Fire transects. Pawnee montane skippers per acre among sample years (2002 through 2009) and within burn classes (unburned, low, and moderate-to-high severity burns) for all Hayman transects. .............................................................................................................. 20 Table 6-5. Habitat condition at moderate-to-high severity burn transects both occupied and unoccupied by Pawnee montane skippers (Hesperia leonardus montana) from 2002 to 2009, their distances to unburned and low severity burn transects, and the number of skippers recorded at each transect (no skippers were recorded from moderate-to-high severity burn transects in 2002). ............................................................................................. 23 Table 6-6. Hesperia skippers (Hesperia comma and Hesperia leonardus montana) per acre among sample years (2002 through 2009) for all Hayman transects. ..................................... 27 Table 6-7. Hesperia skippers (Hesperia comma and Hesperia leonardus montana) per acre compared among burn classes (unburned, low, and moderate-to-high) and within sample years (2002 through 2009) for all Hayman transects. ............................................................. 27 Table 6-8. Standing live trees on Hayman Fire transects. Live tree stems (>6 inches DBH) per acre compared among burn classes (unburned, low, and moderate-to-high severity burns) and within sample years (2002 through 2009) for all Hayman transects. ................... 29 Table 6-9. Standing live trees on Hayman Fire transects. Live tree stems (>6 inches DBH) per acre compared among sample years (2002 through 2009) and within burn classes (unburned, low, and moderate-to-high severity burns) for all Hayman transects. ................. 30 Table 6-10. Standing dead trees on Hayman Fire transects. Standing dead tree stems (>6 inches DBH) per acre compared among burn classes (unburned, low, and moderate-to- high severity burns) and within sample years (2003 through 2009) for all Hayman transects................................................................................................................................... 31 Table 6-11. Standing dead trees on Hayman Fire transects. Standing dead tree stems (>6 inches DBH) per acre compared among sample years (2003 through 2009) and within burn classes (unburned, low, and moderate-to-high severity burns) for all Hayman transects................................................................................................................................... 32 iv Table 6-12. Blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis) frequency on Hayman Fire transects. Blue grama frequency compared among burn classes (unburned, low, and moderate-to-high severity burns) and within sample years (2002 through 2009) for all Hayman transects. ...... 33 Table 6-13. Blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis) frequency on Hayman Fire transects. Blue grama frequency compared among sample years (2002 through 2009) and within burn classes (unburned, low, and moderate-to-high severity burns) for all Hayman transects. ..... 34 Table 6-14. Prairie gayfeather (Liatris punctata) flowering stems on Hayman Fire transects. Gayfeather flowering stems compared among burn classes (unburned, low, and moderate- to-high severity burns) and within sample years (2002 to 2009) and for all Hayman transects..................................................................................................................................