Oak Communities Meeting

Restoring Oak Community Habitat for Wildlife

October 4, 2001 Adair Officer’s Club, Adair Village

MEETING NOTES

Announcements and Updates - Jennifer Weikel, Pacific Wildlife Research:

Patti Haggerty- Be sure to send her updated e-mail addresses as they change (ce@peak.org). Winter meeting will be in Salem, theme is regulation and laws. Please submit ideas on topics and speakers. To subscribe to the OR-Oak list server, send email to: majordomo@cof.orst.edu (in BODY, not subject, put ‘subscribe or-oak’ then your email address.)

Rick Brown, Defenders of Wildlife - Pointed out an opportunity to reduce conversion of oak communities on private land through the Forest Legacy Program. Administered by Oregon Dept. of Forestry (overseer, Jim Cathart), there is a program that matches landowners willing to give title or easement with local governments to hold the title or easement. Federal funding is available if 25% of the cost is locally funded. Rbrown@defenders.org

Carla Alford, Eugene District Bureau of Land Management - The Eugene District has received a National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grant ($140,000) for oak and pine communities restoration in their Willamette Valley fringe lands. A restoration plan has been created for a demo site that will test efficacy of several restoration methods. Work will be complete the fall of 2002. At that time, results will be shared with the Oak Communities Group.

Barb Schrader - There will be a workshop on Oregon white oak at Northwest Science in Boise, and they are soliciting ideas. She is interested in setting up permanent plots on oak restoration projects throughout this area, and standardizing data collection.

Hugh Snook introduced Sarah Duemling, who is attending for the first time. She manages 2,000 acres of mixed hardwood and conifer forest northwest of Salem, with emphasis on sustainability and diversity. Because she has many good examples of oak management and restoration, it may be a good site for a future field trip with the group. Sarah would be interested in joining or forming a hardwood marketing co-op to create better markets for her hardwood thinnings.

Field Trips

Greg Fitzpatrick, The Nature Conservancy: Bald Hill, a Corvallis City Park, was the site of two prescribed burns in late September. The field trip will focus on those, a control project for Brachypodium sylvaticum, native seed collection and growout, and Barb Schrader’s oak mistletoe research. Greg noted that the interpretative trail is now complete and pamphlets published to accompany it.

Al Kitzman, Benton County Parks. The 128 acre parcel that contained the former Fort Hoskins was acquired by the County in 1992, and will be managed as an historic interpretive day use facility. Restoration activities have begun under a Forest Stewardship Management Plan prepared by Scott Ferguson of Individual Tree Selection. The field trip will review work done to

open meadows, reduce fuel loads, remove overtopping Douglas-fir, open viewsheds, establish photo monitoring points, control Scotch broom, and see the first prescribed burn ever in a Benton County park (2000). Participants will travel some of the 1.3 miles of interpretative trails constructed and visit native plant restoration (direct seeding) plots established in a Corvallis Forest Sciences Lab study (Nan Vance, PNW Experiment Station, Forest Service).

Steve Smith, Oregon Dept. Fish and Wildlife: Assistance to Private Landowners in Wildlife Habitat Restoration:

Serving as a watershed manager with ODFW, Steve says that most of his work deals with politics and the ‘crisis du jour’. He credits the work of others that have been effective advocates of wildlife habitat protection on private lands: Bruce Taylor, Director of the Pacific Wetland Venture, and Jim Houks, Finley Wildlife Refuge, USFWS, and those at the Natural Resource Conservation.

There is no money tied directly to oak habitat conservation. Upland game bird and big game (blacktail deer) management funds and license fees can be used due to the habitat link.

Land use planning is probably the single greatest cause of oak habitat loss, because policies tend to direct management to those areas. Oak habitat that fits neither the farm, forest, or urban classifications was viewed as unimportant, worthless for agriculture or forestry. If oak is removed from such areas, and crops established, it can generate sufficient income to meet farm income requirements that allow building there. Furthermore, urban boundaries tend to expand into oak areas, rather than to encroach into agricultural lands.

“Point location protection” is the only wildlife habitat protection provided in land use planning- an eagle’s nest, for example. Counties are certainly willing to apply more protection, but may lack specific information necessary to do so (species, habitat types, locations, etc.). Vegetation mapping and wildlife habitat distribution modeling has been done to help meet this need. The Willamette Restoration Initiative has helped as well.

There are no tax incentives. Since 98% of the Willamette Valley is in private ownership, and public ownership is unlikely to increase, there is obviously a great need to encourage habitat conservation on private lands. But there is no current program to compensate landowners for lost value for conserving oak woodlands. By holding the property tax rate the same, possibly motivating them to avoid rural/residential tax rate by developing a conservation plan. ODFW can take first look, then will recommend outside group to prepare plan, incentives could be incorporated by following year.

There is progress in eliminating penalties. To this end, the State Legislature recently passed the “Open Space” tax deferral, a type of conservation easement. It is NOT a tax break, but a removal of the back-taxes penalties for leaving farm deferral. One can leave farm deferral and enter the Open Space tax deferral without penalty.

Forest Practices Act rules don’t help. If oak is harvested, and prior ODF approval is not received to maintain hardwood, it will fall under reforestation rules requiring establishment of 150 conifers per acre.

What is needed? Members of this group could do -

• Grass-roots work with local planning commissions. State, politically, cannot mandate oak conservation from above.

• Help landowners by providing expertise to develop conservation plans for ODFW approval. The agency has no funding to write them.

Questions and comments:

Acreage limit for Open Spaces deferral? Check with County, eligibility depends on Zone.

The Forest Legacy Program for private landowners may apply to these goals (Sarah Duemling).

Bob Altman, American Bird Conservancy: Bird Conservation in Oak Woodlands: Priorities and Projects.

The North American Bird Conservation initiative unifies other programs into one umbrella, to develop conservation through landscape oriented partnerships. His role of coordinator of the North Pacific Rainforest Region is to facilitate and support all existing conservation, and to fill gaps. Oak habitat is a gap in protection, it is in danger, with little focus in the past. Lewis’ woodpecker, western bluebird and white-breasted nuthatch have been extirpated from some areas, due largely to this habitat loss. A dozen other oak-associated species are declining in population. Declines started in WA, now moving south into OR (sensitive species). Special status listing of the three species above, and Oregon vesper sparrow (potential ESA listing, west Cascades) may drive protection of oak habitats.

Conservation strategies are in place through Partners in Flight. Protection objectives include: no net loss, active management for sustainability, retaining large patches and oaks > 22" dbh, and retention of key habitat conditions such as edges and openings, regenerating oak, native shrubs and herbs, and open-grown oaks.

The American Bird Conservancy has partner projects and conservation projects (Packard/NFWF grant) ongoing, with future projects and funding in the works. The Conservancy is available to assist and support oak conservation, especially as it relates to bird conservation.

Questions and comments:

Why do population declines of oak-related species seem to appear first in the north, then south?

Baseline populations are lower in the north, compared to the south, because there is less oak habitat there.

Joan Hagar, OSU and Pacific Wildlife Research, Song Bird Assemblages in Willamette Valley Oak Habitats:

Changes in oak habitat in the last century have greatly affected habitat. Remaining stands tend to be more dense, reducing crown width and branch size, mast production, and regeneration. The remaining open savanna types are fragmented and therefore much less functional as habitat. Changes in the amount and character of oak habitats represent a threat to regional biodiversity, particularly in birds.

Joan Hagar and Mark Stern (OR Nat’l Heritage Program) conducted a survey of songbirds in nine oak stands in the Willamette Valley, comparing assemblages found today with those found 30 years ago in a similar survey. Assemblages in the oak stands were also compared to those found today in conifer dominated forests, to understand potential changes if oak-to-conifer conversion continues.

In the survey, bird species associated with open woodlands showed a decrease, while those associated with closed canopy forest increased. Swainson’s thrush, winter wren, and starling increased, while chipping sparrow, common bushtit, and white-breasted nuthatch have declined. Furthermore, conversion to closed conifer stands would negatively effect western wood-peewee, black-capped chickadee, house wren, lazuli bunting, downy woodpecker, white-breasted nuthatch, and others. While remaining oak stands still provide habitat for these species, (there is not much overlap between bird species that prefer oaks versus those that prefer conifers) work is needed to restore habitat conditions important for these species.

Questions and comments:

What stand size represents functional habitat for birds?

Monitoring was on sites up to 300 ac. 100 acres is very effective for smaller species. Larger birds can use small stands, if there are other stands nearby.

What can be done to improve the structure of trees and stands?

Thinning, conifer removal, and fire re-introduction. Stands show good response to removal of overtopping conifers, including epicormic sprouting.

What is the function of connectivity?

Some species need individual oaks, some require stands. Birds have relatively good dispersal ability. It is important to look at individual species, however, and assess what is adjacent, including overall habitat mosaic over the landscape.

Dave Vesely, Pacific Wildlife Research, Herptofauna Communities in Oregon White Oak Woodlands:

Dave reported on a study conducted in 1997-1998, to identify patterns of habitat use by amphibians and reptiles in oak woodlands at the microsite and landscape scales. Ten study sites from near Sheridan to Fern Ridge Reservoir were selected with varying structural conditions, >25 acres, and > 50% basal area of oak, from dry foothills to wetlands. Methods included pitfall and funnel traps, visual encounter surveys, and use of artificial cover objects (corrugated tin panels). The plots were studied at the microsite scale, while the surrounding landscape was characterized by habitat mapping within a 1 km circle.

Newts were found at all sites, tree frogs at 60%, ensatinas and western fence lizards at 50%, garter snakes at 40%, northern alligator lizard at 30%, and rubber boas and sharp-tailed snakes at a few sites. Many species had inadequate sample sizes.

At the microsite level, newts were found to be associated with downed logs and dense shrubs; western fence lizard was associated with open stand conditions. At the landscape level, amphibians were associated with nearby water bodies, reptiles with water and with adjacent oak stands.

No species were found to be strongly associated with oak trees themselves, perhaps the association is with deciduous woodlands. Population level studies would be very useful.

Other conclusions: for more effective study, need to use several different methods at several different times of the year due to bias capture. Amphib/herps do not appear to be as closely tied to oaks as certain species of birds.

Matt Carlson, OSU, U of Alaska: The Oak Ecosystem: Where are the Pollinators?

Oak are pollinated mostly by wind and bees. Bees evolved from wasps, feeding pollen to their young, rather than insects. About 50% of bee species are pollen generalists, others are tied to a species or genera. bees have tremendous species diversity-over 705 (+325) spp in Pacific Northwest/about 230 (+150) in Willamette Valley. Diadasia spp. are important in oak woodlands in Willamette Valley.

In oak communities, generalist bees are most often found, with just a few specialists. Specialists may have declined due to reduction and changes in oak habitat that have decreased native flowering species. In southern Oregon oak stands, a greater diversity of bee species are found. The major predators of bees are flies that kill their larvae, and birds.

Field Trip notes contributed by Randy Comeleo

Bald Hill Park Tour, led by Greg Fitzpatrick, TNC

Goal of management actions is to restore open Savannah similar to 1936.

- 25 of 210 acres is being "restored", 10 acres thus far and 4-5 more this fall

- using city chippers, TNC started then handing over the city (Steve DeGhetto, Park Manager)

- treated to remove English Hawthorne, some blackberry, apple, pear, remove hybrid hawthorns also, also hybrid blackberry w/ one seed, English Hawthorne has red berries which are persistent through the winter.

- Treated stumps w/ 50% dilution of Roundup for Hawthorne and apple, may not be necessary during water stressed periods of late summer, but not sure yet, doing study

- Pear is very susceptible to Roundup, Roundup is really for herbaceous, not woody plants.

- Limbing up oaks to prevent laddering of fire; fall burns aim to protect native forbs for spring.

- They are chipping the fuel and taking the chips to mulch site in town, need to be aware of Hawthorn berries in chips and other weed species which are not killed in composting.

- Pre-clearing densiometer readings taken.

- Aim to burn every 2-3 years as training exercises, shooting for 10 acre burns which are easy to manage.

- Baseline bird surveys were made.

- OSU Forestry Club will thin for free (?) and take firewood?

- Expectations were that duff would burn hot but was so compacted that air could not get under mat, some worries about heat stress on oak roots?

- Seeded w/ wild blue rye from N. Albany, collected w/in a 20 mile radius, no forbs seeded at site #1, site #2 seeded with forbs: Achillea (Yarrow), Potentilla (Cinquefoil), Eriophyllum (OR sunshine), Wyethia (Mules ears).

- Brachypodium sylvaticum: patchy at Bald Hill, not bad yet, OSU to do eradication experiments, already is resprouting; hairy edged morph likes sun, non hairy edged morph shade loving (Swiss research) MacDonald Forest "epicenter".

- From Barb Schrader, OSU, mistletoe research, explosively discharged spp. In Doug-fir studied in past, oak mistletoe, Phoradendron; bird dispersed, oak host not specific, not sure what impact is on oaks yet.