U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge Nulhegan Basin Division Habitat Management Plan Table of Contents Executive Summary ...................................................................................................................................... 5 Finding of No Significant Impact ................................................................................................................. 6 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 10 1.1. Scope and Rationale .................................................................................................................... 10 1.2. Legal Mandates ........................................................................................................................... 10 1.3. Links to Other Plans .................................................................................................................... 11 Refuge Plans ..................................................................................................................... 11 Service’s Regional Plans and State Plans ......................................................................... 11 2. Background ......................................................................................................................................... 13 2.1. Refuge Location and General Description .................................................................................. 13 2.2. Geographical Setting ................................................................................................................... 16 2.3. Historical Perspective ................................................................................................................. 17 2.4. Natural and Anthropogenic Disturbances ................................................................................... 18 2.5. Refuge Resources: Current Condition ........................................................................................ 20 2.6. Climate Change ........................................................................................................................... 29 3. Priority Refuge Resources of Concern ................................................................................................ 33 3.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 33 3.2. Resources of Concern ................................................................................................................. 33 3.3. Biological Integrity, Diversity and Environmental Health ......................................................... 36 3.4. Process for Prioritizing Resources of Concern ........................................................................... 41 3.5. Priority Habitat Types and Associated Species .......................................................................... 46 Habitat Suitability Modeling............................................................................................. 47 3.6. Conflicting Habitat Needs ........................................................................................................... 56 3.7. Adaptive Management ................................................................................................................ 56 4. Habitat Goals, Objectives, and Strategies ........................................................................................... 57 4.1. Introduction and Definitions ....................................................................................................... 57 4.2. Goal 1 Forested Uplands and Wetlands ...................................................................................... 57 Objective 1.1. Conifer Swamps/Spruce-fir forests ........................................................... 57 Objective 2.1. Hardwood forests ...................................................................................... 66 Objective 3.1 Shrub Swamps and Floodplain Forest ........................................................ 72 4.3. Goal 2 Non-Forested Uplands and Wetlands .............................................................................. 74 Objective 2.1 Peatlands ..................................................................................................... 74 Objective 2.2 Biological Integrity, Biological Diversity, and Environmental Health ...... 75 4.4. Goal 3 Inland Aquatic Habitats ................................................................................................... 77 1 Objective 3.1 Open Water Habitat .................................................................................... 77 5. Management Strategies ....................................................................................................................... 80 5.1. Development of management strategies ..................................................................................... 80 Management zones ........................................................................................................... 80 Commercial vs. Non-commercial ..................................................................................... 84 Resources of concern ........................................................................................................ 85 Guiding documents ........................................................................................................... 85 5.2. Management Units ...................................................................................................................... 86 5.3. Management Strategies and Prescriptions by Habitat Objective ................................................ 88 Objective 1.1. Conifer Swamp/Spruce-fir forests ............................................................. 88 Objective 2.1. Hardwood forests ...................................................................................... 93 Objective 3.1 (Shrub Swamps and Floodplain Forest) ................................................... 100 Objective 2.1 (Peatlands) ................................................................................................ 102 Objective 2.2 (Biological Integrity, Biological Diversity, and Environmental Health) . 103 Objective 3.1 (Open Water Habitat) ............................................................................... 104 6. Implementation ................................................................................................................................. 106 6.1. Peanut Dam Unit ....................................................................................................................... 108 6.2. Yellow Branch Unit .................................................................................................................. 115 6.3. Mollie Beattie Unit ................................................................................................................... 121 6.4. North Branch Unit ..................................................................................................................... 126 6.5. Logger Branch Unit .................................................................................................................. 133 6.6. Black Branch Unit ..................................................................................................................... 139 6.7. Potash Range Unit ..................................................................................................................... 145 6.8. Lewis Pond Unit ....................................................................................................................... 150 6.9. Nulhegan River Unit ................................................................................................................. 158 6.10. Lewis Mountain Unit ............................................................................................................ 164 7. Prescription Guidelines ..................................................................................................................... 169 7.1. Forest Management ................................................................................................................... 169 Uneven-aged Management (Softwood Forest Types) .................................................... 169 Uneven-aged Management (Hardwood and Mixedwood Forest Types) ........................ 169 Even-aged Management (Woodcock Focus Area) ......................................................... 170 Within Stand Features (All forest Types) ....................................................................... 170 Roads and Landings (All forest types) ............................................................................ 171 7.2. Stream Restoration .................................................................................................................... 171 7.3. Management of Roosting Areas within Woodcock Management Units ................................... 171 7.4. Invasive Species Management .................................................................................................. 172 2 Prevention and Education and Awareness ...................................................................... 172 Early Detection/Rapid Response ...................................................................................