Treesearch

Natural resource managers in the Inland Northwest need tools for assessing the success or failure of conservation policies and the impacts of management actions on fish and fish habitats. Effectiveness monitoring is one such potential tool, but there are currently no established monitoring protocols. Since 1991, U.S. Forest Service biologists have used the standardized R1/R4 inventory procedures to measure fish and fish habitats on agency lands throughout the Intermountain West. The widespread use and acceptance of these standardized procedures and the large amount of data collected...

Data collected from Douglas-fir stands infected by the Douglas-fir beetle in Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and Utah, were used to develop models to estimate amount of mortality in terms of basal area killed. Models were built using stepwise linear regression and regression tree approaches. Linear regression models using initial Douglas-fir basal area were built for all study sites but produce low precision estimates. Regression tree models using initial Douglas-fir basal area of stand density index or both were also build for all sites. Regression tree models provide a more realistic approach...

Parameters of fire regimes, including fire frequency, spatial extent of burned areas, fire severity, and season of fire occurrence, influence vegetation patterns over multiple scales. In this study, centuries-long patterns of fire events in a montane ponderosa pine - Douglas-fir forest landscape surrounding Cheesman Lake in central Colorado were reconstructed from fire-scarred trees and inferences from forest stand ages. We crossdated 153 fire-scarred trees from an approximately 4000 ha study area that recorded 77 total fire years from 1197 to the present. Spatial extent of burned areas...

Preliminary telemetry data suggest that lynx in Montana and Wyoming have large home ranges; this result supports the Koehler and Aubry (1994) contention that lynx from southern lynx populations have large spatial-use areas. Annual home ranges of males were larger than females. Straight-line, daily travel distance averaged 2 to 4 km, which is similar to northern populations. Four males in Montana, and the male and female in Wyoming, made exploratory movements of 20 to 30 km. The extent of these movements may be underestimated because we could not locate all lynx that traveled extensively....

Snowshoe hares are considered the primary prey of Canada lynx throughout their range. Relative to northern populations, hares occurring in mountainous regions at southern latitudes are thought to remain at low and stable densities through time. Hence, the ecology of associated southern lynx populations is expected to resemble that of northern populations during the low phase of the hare population cycle. The space use, diet, and demographics of lynx in the Rocky Mountains of southeastern British Columbia and southwestern Alberta are consistent with this hypothesis, based on data collected...

Canada lynx occur throughout boreal forests of North America, but ecological conditions in southern regions differ in many respects from those in Canada and Alaska. To evaluate the extent to which lynx ecology and population biology may differ between these regions, we review existing information from southern boreal forests and compare our findings to information presented in Chapter 9 on lynx in the taiga. Throughout North America, lynx diets in both winter and summer are dominated by snowshoe hares. In southern boreal forests, alternative prey, especially red squirrels, are important...

The information presented in this chapter is based on (1) extant knowledge of lynx ecology, (2) the pertinence of this knowledge to lynx conservation in the contiguous United States, (3) the ecological concepts discussed in the first section of this book, and (4) the collective interpretation and judgment of the authors. We have chosen the term "qualified insights" to indicate that we know very little about lynx ecology in the United States and that understandings based on this state of knowledge are necessarily incomplete. The application of science results in a gradual accretion of...

Large-scale ecological studies and assessments are often implemented only after the focus of study generates substantial social, political, or legal pressure to take action (e.g., Thomas et al. 1990; Ruggiero et al. 1991; FEMAT 1993). In such a funding environment, the coordinated planning of research may suffer as the pressure to produce results escalates. To avoid haphazard research and to maximize the benefits to lynx conservation with limited research funds, a carefully coordinated approach to lynx research is needed. The purpose of this chapter is to provide a systematic framework and...

As we emphasized in the Preface, this book was written under very unusual circumstances. We began the book shortly after the lynx was proposed for listing as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Our purpose was to elucidate the scientific basis for conserving lynx for use in listing deliberations and in establishing land management policy, including a strategy for lynx conservation. The listing decision was delayed by six months so that our findings could be considered. Authors, editors, and production staff worked overtime and weekends to produce camera-ready...

In an ecosystem management context, management for lynx must occur in the context of the needs of other species, watershed health, and a variety of products, outputs, and uses. This chapter presents a management model based on the restoration of historical patterns and processes. We argue that this model is sustainable in a formal sense, practical, and likely to provide for the needs of a variety of species, including lynx. Because our knowledge of lynx biology and disturbance ecology is limited, implementation of this model will be experimental and must be accompanied by a well-planned...