MIGRATORY LANDBIRD CONSERVATION REPORT MOSQUITO GRAZING ALLOTMENT MANAGEMENT PROJECT AMERICAN RIVER RANGER DISTRICT TAHOE NATIONAL FOREST

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Gladys Edwards
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1 MIGRATORY LANDBIRD CONSERVATION REPORT MOSQUITO GRAZING ALLOTMENT MANAGEMENT PROJECT AMERICAN RIVER RANGER DISTRICT TAHOE NATIONAL FOREST Prepared By: Roy Bridgman Wildlife Biologist American River Ranger District 21 December Regulatory Guidance Under the National Forest Management Act (NFMA), the Forest Service is directed to provide for diversity of plant and animal communities based on the suitability and capability of the specific land area in order to meet overall multiple-use objectives (P.L , Sec. 6 (g) (3) (B)). The January 2000 USDA Forest Service (FS) Landbird Conservation Strategic Plan, as well as Executive Order in 2001, and habitat-specific Partners in Flight (PIF) Conservation Plans for birds and the January 2004 PIF North American Landbird Conservation Plan provide goals and objectives for integrating bird conservation into forest management and planning. In late 2008, a Memorandum of Understanding between the USDA Forest Service and the USDI Fish and Wildlife Service to Promote the Conservation of Migratory Birds was signed. The intent of the MOU is to strengthen migratory bird conservation through enhanced collaboration and cooperation between the Forest Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) as well as other federal, state, tribal and local governments. Within the National Forests, conservation of migratory birds focuses on providing a diversity of habitat conditions at multiple spatial scales and ensuring that bird conservation is addressed when planning for land management activities. In early 2016, both USDA Forest Service and US Fish and Wildlife Service have agreed to extend the MOU as currently written. To facilitate a regional approach to bird conservation, regional geographic units called Bird Conservation Regions (BCRs) were developed under the North America Bird Conservation Initiative ( BCRs encompass landscapes with similar bird communities, habitats, and resource issues. In Birds of Conservation Concern 2008, BCR-specific Birds of Conservation Concern (BCC) were identified by the USFWS (2008) that are in greatest need of conservation action and proactive management to prevent the need to list them as endangered or threatened. A BCC may be present in a BCR but not included in that BCR s list because its population numbers are not a concern in that region. The ARRD is located within the Sierra Nevada BCR. In addition, Audubon California (2009) has designated 145 important bird areas (IBA) in the state. The IBA nearest to the project area (described in section 3.0 below) is the Sierra Meadows (Northern) IBA, a

2 collection of meadows in the greater Truckee, California area. Loney Meadow in the IBA is approximately 29 miles northwest of the Mosquito Allotment Project area. The Tahoe National Forest is proposing to manage approximately 27,000 acres on the American River Ranger District following management direction contained within the Tahoe National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan (Forest Plan, USFS 1990, as amended). Opportunities to promote conservation of migratory birds and their habitats in the project area were considered during development and design of the Mosquito Grazing Allotment Management Project. 2.0 Proposed Action The Proposed and No Action alternatives are described in detail in the Mosquito Grazing Allotment Management Project Environmental Assessment (2016). The project would continue grazing in the Mosquito Allotment with some additional measures to protect vegetation, cultural, and riparian resources. Fences would be installed, levels of forage would be monitored and managed, and problem areas would be protected. A revised on and off date for cattle is also included. Key resources that would be monitored include streambanks and browse levels of oaks, shrubs, herbaceous plants, and riparian plants. Salt sites would be limited and kept away from watercourses, and new watering sites (troughs) would be installed to reduce streambank trampling lardass 3.0 Project Objectives and Design Features for Migratory Landbirds As described above, the general design of the grazing allotment project included periodic monitoring of browse levels to prevent over-utilization of stream and plant resources. These measures would prevent grazing from over-utilizing habitat and forage resources, although there is typically some lag time between over-use and monitoring/ management adaptation to prevent further damage. In addition, there is a measure to include escape ramps on any new water troughs to prevent drowning of native wildlife. Supplemental feed/ straw must be certified weed-free to prevent weed spread on the Forest. 4.0 Forest-wide Protections Management direction from the Tahoe Forest Plan contributes to migratory bird conservation. Key forestwide protections applicable to migratory birds and their habitats include the following: To protect hardwood regeneration in grazing allotments, allow livestock browse on no more than 20 percent of annual growth of hardwood seedlings and advanced regeneration. Modify grazing plans if hardwood regeneration and recruitment needs are not being met. Locate new facilities for gathering livestock and pack stock outside of meadows and riparian conservation areas. During project-level planning, evaluate and consider relocating existing livestock facilities outside of meadows and riparian areas. Prior to re-issuing grazing permits, assess the compatibility of livestock management facilities located in riparian conservation areas with riparian conservation objectives. Limit browsing to no more than 20 percent of the annual leader growth of mature riparian shrubs and no more than 20 percent of individual seedlings. Remove livestock from any area of an allotment when browsing indicates a change in livestock preference from grazing herbaceous vegetation to browsing woody riparian vegetation. 5.0 Project Impacts to Migratory Landbirds Likely impacts to habitats and select migratory bird populations resulting from the Proposed and No Action alternatives of the Mosquito Range Allotment Project have been assessed in the project Management Indicator Species (MIS) Report and impacts to select TES bird species and their habitats Page 2 of 5

3 have been analyzed in the project Biological Evaluation and Biological Assessment; these impacts are summarized below. Action Alternative Impacts to migratory landbirds are expected to vary across the analysis area because the effects of past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future actions vary spatially; some areas contain dense Sierra mixed conifer forest, in part due to fire suppression and in part due to ongoing management for occupied spotted owl and goshawk territories. Other areas are brushy or open, either because they occur on south-facing, thin-soiled canyon slopes or were subjected to recent wildfire, or both. The effects of past, present, and future of one part of the analysis area may be quite different from those for another. Due to the complexity of these spatial variations and because different species have different life histories and habitat needs, the direction, magnitude, and duration of impacts to migratory landbirds is also expected to vary. Despite this inherent variability, project management requirements, forest-wide protections, and project design are expected to moderate these impacts to the benefit of most migratory landbirds. Cattle have very little measurable effect to large conifer trees or conifer recruitment, although some studies have found their impacts to meadows and streams can allow for increased conifer encroachment or where concentrated, can result in trampling of seedlings. As described in the project Management Indicator Species (MIS) Report, grazing on the Mosquito Allotment would affect the following habitat types: riverine/lacustrine, riparian, shrubland (west-slope chaparral types), oak-associated hardwood & hardwood/conifer, early and mid seral coniferous forest, late seral open canopy coniferous forest and late seral closed canopy coniferous forest, although the effects to conifer forest habitat are limited to understory shrubs and oaks. The biggest direct effects of cattle are to palatable herbaceous and shrub species within browse height. For most of these habitat types, there would be some form of disturbance and reduction in these primary forage species, but there would be very little net loss or gain of habitat type because acceptable browse is limited to that which maintains sufficient residual vegetation. When the project areas are considered in the context of the surrounding projects and habitat types, the proposed action alternative is not expected to alter the existing trend in these habitats or lead to a change in the distribution of identified MIS (i.e. aquatic macroinvertebrates, yellow warbler, fox sparrow, mule deer, mountain quail, sooty grouse) across the Sierra Nevada bioregion. The proposed action would result in somewhat more open stands as a result of grazing, particularly in the understory, but would remain where they currently occur in sufficient densities to support native bird populations. Overall, the Proposed Action alternative is expected to have a generally slight negative effect on migratory birds, although, as described above, some species are more impacted than others. As proposed, the grazing on the allotment would be managed to prevent substantial adverse effects to the area and as such would protect populations of migratory birds. Adverse effects are expected to be minimized from project implementation because slower-growing forested stands would continue to develop, sensitive, uncommon habitats such as riparian would receive special protection, and common, rapid-growing habitats such as herbaceous and shrub habitats quickly recover and would remain common in the surrounding landscape, which includes large areas recently affected by stand-replacing wildfire. Vegetation management projects, climate change, and wildfire will likely have far greater effects to vegetation and associated migratory birds than the proposed grazing plan. Two large vegetation plans are within the Mosquito Allotment, known as Biggie and Cuckoo, and are intended to largely retain canopy cover, but thin conifer and reduce ladder fuels to increase the forest resiliency to wildfire and drought. These projects would reduce the potential recruitment of snags, but the area already contains relatively high snag density, which increased in 2015 due to drought and associated bug kill of many trees. These thinning projects would increase light, air, and space in the understory, increasing herbaceous and shrub availability to both migratory birds and cattle, while increasing the likelihood of survival and continued Page 3 of 5

4 development of overstory trees. Wildfire also opens up forested stands to brush and herbaceous vegetation. No Action Alternative Under the No Action alternative grazing on the 27,000 acre allotment would not occur. The impacts associated with grazing would be eliminated, with an expected benefit of more herbaceous and shrub habitat available for forage, cover, and nesting for migratory birds. Because the proposed action includes monitoring and management to limit or prevent adverse effects to habitat and stream resources, the effects of the No Action alternative, while beneficial, are not expected to be substantial. 6.0 References Audubon California Important bird areas of California. Geographic information system data layers, site summaries, ornithological significance, and conservation issues. Morro Bay, CA. Available online at California Department of Fish and Game. California Interagency Wildlife Task Group CWHR version 8.0 personal computer program, Sacramento, CA. CalPIF (California Partners in Flight). 2002a. Version 1.0. The Draft Coniferous Forest Bird Conservation Plan: A Strategy For Protecting And Managing Coniferous Forest Habitats And Associated Birds In California (J. Robinson and J. Alexander, lead authors). Point Reyes Bird Observatory, Stinson Beach, CA. CalPIF (California Partners in Flight) Version 2.0. The oak woodland bird conservation plan: a strategy for protecting and managing oak woodland habitats and associated birds in California (S. Zack, lead author). Point Reyes Bird Observatory, Stinson Beach, CA. CalPIF (California Partners in Flight) Version 2.0. The Coastal Scrub and Chaparral Bird Conservation Plan: a Strategy for Protecting and Managing Coastal Scrub and Chaparral Habitats and Associated Birds in California (J. Lovio, lead author). PRBO Conservation Science, Stinson Beach, CA. RHJV (RIPARIAN HABITAT JOINT VENTURE) Version 2.0. The riparian bird conservation plan: a strategy for reversing the decline of riparian associated birds in California. California Partners in Flight. (available on the web at Rich, T. D., C. J. Beardmore, H. Berlanga, P. J. Blancher, M. S. W. Bradstreet, G. S. Butcher, D. W. Demarest, E. H. Dunn, W. C. Hunter, E. E. Iñigo-Elias, J. A. Kennedy, A. M. Martell, A. O. Panjabi, D. N. Pashley, K. V. Rosenberg, C. M. Rustay, J. S. Wendt, and T. C. Will Partners in Flight North American Landbird Conservation Plan. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Ithaca, NY. Richardson, T. W Avian species richness, abundance, and nesting success in aspen habitats of the Truckee River Watershed, final report: Biological Resources Research Center, University of Nevada, Reno. Shufford, W.D., and Gardali, T., editors California Bird Species of Special Concern: A ranked assessment of subspecies, and distinct populations of birds of immediate conservation concern in California. Studies of Western Birds 1. Western Field Ornithologists, Camarillo, California, and California Department of Fish and Game, Sacramento. USDA Forest Service. 1990, as amended. Land and Resource Management Plan, Tahoe National Forest. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Region. Page 4 of 5

5 USDA Forest Service Landbird Strategic Plan, FS-648. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Washington, D.C. USDA Forest Service and USDI Fish and Wildlife Service Memorandum of Understanding between the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to promote the conservation of migratory birds. USFS Agreement #08-MU U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Washington, D.C. USDA Forest Service Mosquito Range Allotment Project Environmental Assessment. Tahoe National Forest. Foresthill, CA. USDI Fish and Wildlife Service Birds of Conservation Concern United States Department of Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, Division of Migratory Bird Management, Arlington, Virginia. 85 pp. [Online version available at < U.S. Department of Interior North American Bird Conservation Initiative, U.S. Committee. The State of the Birds, United States of America, Washington, DC. 36 pages. Page 5 of 5

Migratory Landbird Conservation on the. Stanislaus National Forest. City of Berkeley Tuolumne Camp Permit (46690)

Migratory Landbird Conservation on the Stanislaus National Forest City of Berkeley Tuolumne Camp Permit (46690) Under the National Forest Management Act (NFMA), the U.S. Forest Service is directed to provide