Johnny O'Neil Late Successional Reserve Habitat Restoration and ...

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miles from the project area. Two other known nest sites are located at Caroline Creek and Dona Creek, approximately four and five miles from the project area. Direct and Indirect Effects Alternative 1-No Action Under Alternative 1, activities would not occur so no direct or indirect effects would result. However, fire behavior is expected to increase over time including: a constant or increasing crown fire potential under both moderate and severe weather conditions; an increase in surface fire intensity under both moderate and severe weather conditions; and either a constantly high or increasing level of basal area mortality (Johnny O’Neil Vegetation and Fuels resource reports). This alternative could result in long-term consequences for bald eagles by increasing the potential for fire to remove or reduce the desired structural components of bald eagle nesting and roosting habitat. Action Alternatives Direct or indirect effects to bald eagles are not anticipated from thinning activities; habitat suitable for bald eagle nesting will not be affected and noise activity disturbance to known eagles will not occur. Smoke generated by prescribed fire activities will occur, but the effects of smoke to eagles that may be foraging along the Klamath River would not be different or would not likely exceed smoke naturally occurring from wildfires. Smoke impacts to air quality would generally be confined to no more than a few hours, or at most a few days. The cumulative effect of prescribed fire on air quality is short-term, because once the burn is over and the smoke has dissipated, the effect is over (Final Air Quality Specialist Report) 4. Action alternatives are expected to decrease the risk of high intensity fire within the analysis area, thereby providing long-term benefits to eagles and their habitat in this landscape. Cumulative Effects There are no known non-federal timber harvests or other related actions proposed at this time so cumulative effects are not expected. Determination Because of the distance of the project area from known eagle nest sites, the lack of suitable habitat affected by the project, and the low likelihood that foraging eagles could be affected by smoke generated by prescribed fire, this project may affect individuals but is not expected to result in a trend toward federal listing or loss of viability. 2
Northern goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) Environmental Baseline The goshawk is a forest hawk associated with late successional forest, or with mid-successional forests with late successional elements, in mixed conifer or true fir habitat types. Foraging habitat is variable and includes mid- and late-successional forest, natural and man-made openings, and forest edges. Moderate and high quality habitats contain abundant large snags and large logs for prey habitat and plucking posts (Hall 1984). Goshawks generally breed in olderage coniferous, mixed and deciduous forest habitats. This habitat provides large trees for nesting, a closed canopy for protection and thermal cover, and open spaces allowing maneuverability below the canopy (Hall 1984). Forest stands containing nests are often small, approximately 25- 250 acres (Reynolds et al. 1982, Woodbridge and Detrich 1994); territories may contain 1–5 alternative nest areas. In northern California, maximum distance between alternative nest stands was about 1 mile, and approximately 85% of alternate nest stands were
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Page 5 and 6: Direct and Indirect Effects Alterna
Page 7 and 8: Roads and landings- Construction of
Page 9 and 10: Since the nearest incidental locati
Page 11 and 12: (Zeiner et al. 1990). For the purpo
Page 13 and 14: Fisher (Martes pennanti) (also a Ca
Page 15 and 16: or retention of large tree/denning/
Page 17 and 18: Determination - Due to the factors
Page 19 and 20: existing roadsides do not provide h
Page 21 and 22: Cumulative Effects Reasonable fores
Page 23 and 24: Creek. This potential habitat will
Page 25 and 26: In 2005, genetic studies revealed t
Page 27 and 28: adjacent to the Klamath River below
Page 29 and 30: Direct and Indirect Effects Alterna
Page 31 and 32: lue-gray tail dropper on the KNF is
Page 33 and 34: that could occur in the Horse Creek
Page 35 and 36: Corkran, C. and C. Thoms. 1996. Amp
Page 37: Strickland, M.A., and C. W. Douglas

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