Fuels Reduction in a Western Coniferous Forest: Effects on Quantity and Quality of Forage for Elk |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Graduate Student, Department of Biological Sciences, Idaho State University, Pocatello, ID 83209, USA;2. Associate Professor, Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID 83844, USA;3. Research Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Idaho State University, Pocatello, ID 83209, USA;4. Disturbance Ecology and Management Team Leader, USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, La Grande, OR 97850, USA;1. University of Wyoming Extension, Laramie, WY 82071, USA;2. Department of Animal and Range Sciences, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59715, USA;3. Montana State University Extension, Livingston, MT 59047, USA;4. Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071, USA;1. Graduate Research Assistant, Animal Sciences Department, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58102, USA;2. Associate Professor, Animal Sciences Department, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58102, USA;3. Professor, School of Natural Resource Sciences, Animal Sciences Department, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58102, USA;4. Associate Professor, Animal Sciences Department, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58102, USA.;1. Assistant Professor, State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agroecosystems, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China.;2. Associate Professor, Agriculture and Ecology Research Department, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000, China.;3. Visiting Scholar, School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68588, USA.;4. Professor, School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68588, USA. |
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| Abstract: | Use of mechanical thinning and prescribed fire to reduce fuels in dry forest ecosystems has become increasingly common in western North America. Nevertheless, few studies have quantified effects of fuels reduction treatments on wildlife. We evaluated effects of fuels reduction on quantity and quality of forage available to elk (Cervus elaphus) in northeastern Oregon. From 2001 to 2003, 26 stands of true fir (Abies spp.) and Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii [Mirbel] Franco) were thinned and burned, whereas 27 similar stands were left untreated to serve as experimental controls. We estimated percentage of cover, percentage of in vitro dry-matter digestibility (digestibility), and percentage of nitrogen (%N) of 16 important forage species and genera in treatment and control stands during spring (May–June) and summer (July–August) of 2005 and 2006. Quantity and quality of forage were lower in summer than spring in both stand types. In contrast, total cover of forage was higher in treatment than in control stands during spring, whereas the opposite was true during summer. For graminoids, %N was higher in control than in treatment stands whereas digestibility did not differ between stand types. For forbs, neither index of forage quality differed between stand types. When treatment stands were separated by years since burning, %N and digestibility of forbs and %N of graminoids increased from 2 to 5 yr following treatment, and by the fifth year after burning had exceeded maximum values observed in control stands in both seasons. As a result of the interacting effects of fuels reduction and season on forage characteristics, treated stands provided better foraging opportunities for elk during spring, whereas control stands provided better foraging opportunities during summer. Consequently, maintaining a mosaic of burned and unburned (late successional) habitat may be of greater benefit to elk than burning a large proportion of a landscape. |
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