The role of fire in sustaining northern goshawk habitat in Rocky Mountain forests

Abstract

The northern goshawk (Accipiter gentilis), is a northern latitude, forest dwelling raptor. In the Western United States, goshawks live in most forests, including those dominated by western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla (Raf.) Sarg.), lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta Dougl. ex. Loud.), ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Dougl. ex Laws.), and western larch (Larix occidentalis Nutt). It preys on a variety of small birds and mammals that require an array of forest conditions. Fire, being the primary disturbance mechanism throughout the Western United States, provided landscapes that contained and maintained goshawk populations. Goshawks and their prey adapted to forest conditions maintained by different fire regimes-nonlethal, mixed, variable, stand replacing, or rarely occurring. The goshawk recommendations by Reynolds and others (1992), coupled with knowledge of fire regimes, provide guidance for designing goshawk habitat throughout the Western United States.

Citation

Graham, Russell T.; Jain, Theresa B.; Reynolds, Richard T.; Boyce, Douglas, A. 1997. The role of fire in sustaining northern goshawk habitat in Rocky Mountain forests. In: Greenlee, Jason M., ed. Proceedings: First conference on fire effects on rare and endangered species and habitats; 1995 November 13-16; Coeur d'Alene, ID. Fairfield, WA: International Association of Wildland Fire. p. 69-76.