In this report, a response is given to the charge of this study. Volume I: Summary Report includes a synopsis of the technical considerations followed by the main findings and recommendations. The full technical background for these summary statements is given in detail in Volume II: Technical Background Report, and...
Large wood has been utilized in many restoration projects to improve in-stream habitat in the Pacific Northwest for salmon. However, the benefits of this practice remain the subject of ongoing debate and evaluation of these projects has scarcely been done for non-salmonid species such as lamprey. In this study we...
The Roosevelt elk (Cervus elephus roosevelti) is a
National Forest management indicator species on the westside
of the Cascade mountains, Western Oregon. A Habitat
Effectiveness model is used by State and Federal agencies to
evaluate elk habitat in the region. Concerns about the
model's lack of differentiation between winter and...
Debris flows, common disturbances in many mountainous areas, initially scour or bury stream habitats; however, debris flows deliver vast amounts of wood, boulders, and gravel that may ultimately form complex stream habitat to potentially support a diverse salmonid assemblage. The materials deposited by debris flows would otherwise be inaccessible to...
Riparian zones provide habitat for breeding birds in the semiarid western United States; however, there are few data available that address the effects of livestock grazing strategies on riparian habitats and avian communities. Documenting avian community composition in different riparian vegetation communities and relating vegetation communities to livestock grazing strategies...
No studies have evaluated the effects of limited vehicle access on movements, survival and habitat use of Roosevelt
elk (Cervus elaphus roosevelti) . We installed twenty gates, restricting motorized vehicle access by the public in
seven discrete Road Management Areas (RMAs), comprising 35% of the study area. We radio-tracked 31...
Responses of juvenile steelhead trout to changes in stream habitat resulting from an instream habitat rehabilitation project in Meadow Creek, Oregon were measured from 1991 through 1992 and compared to pre-treatment data from 1987 through 1990. Sixty nine pool-forming, and 59 channel-stabilizing log structures were constructed by the U.S. Forest...
Large scale disruption of natural habitats worldwide has led to concern over the
effects of habitat fragmentation on wildlife populations. Small scale experiments may be
a useful tool for discovering effects of fragmentation over larger landscape scales. I
sought to explore the potential for using voles as an experimental model...
Ten species of bats occur in the Oregon Coast Range and are hypothesized to be
associated with late-successional forests. The development of characteristics of late-successional
forests in young forest stands can be accelerated through silvicultural
practices such as thinning I examined the effects of thinning on the use of forests...
Monitoring wildlife habitats has become important to forest ecosystem management because it provides valuable information about the response of forests and their species to harvest practices, impacts from recreational use, conservation efforts, and natural and human-caused disturbances. Monitoring is a complex task that requires a variety of abiotic and biotic...
Effects of 4-inch (10.16 cm) suction dredge mining on benthic macroinvertebrates in 3rd to 4th order streams were investigated in 1996 by evaluating four mining claim operations in Althouse Creek, Sucker Creek, and Taylor Creek in southwestern Oregon's Rogue River basin. The effects were site-specific. The study showed no significant...
Spring chinook salmon spawning occurs in late summer when it is common for cattle to be present in pastures that have streams where fish spawning occurs. This two-year study addressed three main objectives relative to behavioral interactions between cattle and spring chinook salmon during the spawning life history stage. These...
This study was an investigation of lotic macroinvertebrate distribution in northeastern Oregon at two different spatial and biological scales. Examination of assemblages at a limited spatial scale revealed relationships with natural and disturbance gradients and led to questions about distribution of a population at broader spatial scales. In a 16...
A trait based approach was used to assess impacts of overstory density and thinning on understory vegetation components related to wildlife habitat. The relationship between overstory basal area and understory vegetation for species grouped by traits, such as production of flowers, fleshy-fruit and palatable leaves, was characterized in thinned and...
Bird-vegetation associations are a base for bird conservation and management, as well as for predictions of the effects of resource management and climate change on wildlife populations. A recent shift in forest management priorities from timber production to native species' habitat conservation on federal lands has emphasized the need to...
In the wetland prairie of William L. Finley National Wildlife Refuge (FNWR) in western Oregon, we investigated the response of Delphinium pavonaceum Ewan (peacock larkspur, Ranunculaceae), an endangered perennial forb, to four unreplicated dormant season fire regimes of 0, 2, 4, or 10 fires that were applied over a 12-year...
The Tillamook and Kilchis subbasins of the Tillamook Bay watershed (Oregon Coast Range) have differences in geology and land use history and, therefore, varied environmental conditions that could affect fish assemblages. Fifty-two randomly selected wadeable stream reaches in these two subbasins were surveyed for stream habitat and fish assemblage composition...