acres proposed for site preparation treatments with 2,4-D, Roundup and Krenite. These losses in herbaceous and shrubby vegetation production would be offset by increased production of coniferous species. Gratkowski (1967) reported that height growth of released trees was 29 to 86 percent greater than was height growth of trees growing under live ceanothus.

Nontarget vegetation, such such as agricultural crops, stream buffers and rare or endangered species may be affected by the movement of herbicides through the air, water, or soil. Herbicide application may result in short-term damage (or even destruction) of conifer stands. Minor burning of conifer needles is a common impact. These types of impacts defy accurate prediction and, therefore, cannot be quantified.

Although the direct vegetational impacts of herbicide application are short term, the effects of accelerating the establishment of conifer stands are long term. Once the coniferous stands become dominant they will persist until the trees are harvested or until insects, disease or natural disasters remove Under fully managed conditions, the maximum amount of time the conifers can be expected to remain until logging is 80 years.

Planting

Under the proposed timber management plan, coniferous seedlings raised in nurseries would be planted on 44,050 acres. Approximately 32,850 acres of this total would be on clearcut tracts or on tracts subjected to firststage (regeneration) cut under a two-stage shelterwood harvest system. The remainder would involve replanting or interplanting of previously clearcut sites that are presently either not stocked or understocked. An aggregate of 13,400 acres would be programmed for possible replanting and interplanting on sites where the initial treatment failed to accomplish adequate stocking levels.

Planting practices are designed to shorten the time commercial conifer species otherwise need to become reestablished after logging. Planting greatly increases the competitive advantage of the conifer seedlings over the vigorous released growth of the plant communities present on a logged area. Under the best possible site conditions, natural regeneration could occur in 1 year. Under artificial regeneration, seedlings are generally planted the first year following harvest. Because the planting stock is generally already about 2 years old, it has at least a 1-year competitive advantage on good sites and an even greater advantage on poorer sites. Therefore, planting shortens the amount of time required for natural succession to progress beyond the grass/forb and shrub/seeding stages. The major long-term impact associated with planting is that, by increasing the competitive advantage of Douglas-fir, early successional stages stages are more quickly passed through and Douglas-fir attains quicker site dominance. This acceleration not only reduces the residence time of early successional stages but also precludes the development of maximum plant diversity.

IMPACTS ON VEGETATION

Precommercial Thinning

Precommercial thinning of some 7,960 acres would take place in the next decade under the proposed action. Removal of selected trees from the general level of the stand canopy would release the remaining trees from competition for light, moisture, and nutrients and thereby allow them a more optimum growth rate. Understory plants could be damaged during the thinning operation, including any threatened or endangered species present.

The stands treated could be so dense that most of the cut trees would remain in place, supported by living trees. Therefore, the resulting impacts to the understory vegetation would be gradual, as the dead trees fell and decayed with the passage of time and growth of the remaining stand. However gradual, the change in available light, soil moisture relationships, and nutrient availability could change the structure of the original understory community.

Fertilization

Approximately 23, 185 acres of timber stands would be fertilized after proposed precommercial and commercial thinning operations. The impacts associated with fertilization would be short term. This practice would result in an immediate increase in nutrient availability that could favor the establishment of new species while decreasing the vigor of, or eliminating, existing species. The physiology of threatened or endangered species and/or their competitive status in the community could be negatively impacted.

3.5.2 Aquatic Vegetation

Most potential adverse impacts to aquatic vegetation in the JKS YUS have been effectively mitigated in the proposed timber management plan.

Loss of a small amount of aquatic habitat would occur as a result of newly constructed roads crossing streams. It is estimated that one perennial stream (less than 5 cubic feet per second discharge) and four intermittent streams, on the average, must be crossed for each mile of new road construction. This means that 375 perennial stream crossings and 1,500 intermittent stream crossings could be expected with the proposed construction of 375 miles of new

Assuming that 90 percent of all proposed stream crossings would be by culverts and further assuming that the average culvert length is 40 feet for perennial streams and 30 feet for intermittent streams, approximately 2.6 miles of perennial and 7.7 miles of intermittent stream and riparian vegetation would be eliminated over the 10-year life of the proposed action.

Bridge crossings do not replace stream beds as do culverts. However, due to the constant dense shade under bridges, they may alter the natural vegetative production in streams. Assuming that the average bridge is 18 feet wide, perennial stream productivity may be altered in approximately 675 feet of stream length.

Aquatic vegetation also occurs in seeps and springs which are widespread and varied in size and flow rates. An unknown amount of chemical or sediment pollution could occur due to timber management practices. Plant species present could be damaged or killed. Even slight modification would cause a change in species composition, i.e., relative numbers of each species in the community.

Timber management practices could severely affect these relatively small ecosystems, to the point of complete elimination of the spring or seep area, by drying up the water source.

Fertilization of timber stands and herbicide applications are not expected to significantly impact aquatic vegetation because of the no fertilization-no spray buffers along perennial streams. Fertilization necessary to revegetate roadsides could, through drainage and leaching, contaminate waters and thereby affect aquatic vegetation. Impacts would materialize as changes in both structure and composition of these plant communities. In the case of fertilizer pollution, increased nutrient levels in the water would favor an increase in algae and shade tolerant plants. This could increase stream turbidity and reduce water temperatures.

All impacts nificant.

to aquatic and riparian vegetation are expected to be insig

3.5.3 Threatened or Endangered Vegetation

Plant species listed in Tables 2-4 and 2-5 could be susceptible to any of the impacts described under terrestrial vegetation or aquatic vegetation. Under case conditions, the direct effects of injury or death to the plants could cause the immediate extinction of a species in all or a significant portion of its range. The more subtle effects of vegetative community changes could cause the eventual extinction of a species through loss of competitive ability relative to other vegetation on the site.

If any species of vascular plant is determined to be threatened or endangered by the finalized listing (to be published by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service), any action that contributes to its extinction or to its threatened or endangered status would be in violation of the Endangered Species Act of 1973. Therefore, the Environmental Assessment Record (EAR), that would be prepared prior to any site specific action, would identify any threatened or endangered plant species known to be present on the site.

Alterations to community structure and community longevity would be the most significant impacts to terrestrial vegetation. These impacts are significant because they represent the long term elimination of the majority of old-growth communities from high intensity lands in the JKS YUS. Continued forest

IMPACTS ON ANIMALS

management would not allow natural succession to replace these communities with the passage of time because future forests would be harvested before they reached the 80-year age class.

Other impacts to terrestrial vegetation are less significant because vegetation which is disturbed or destroyed by timber management would eventually be replaced by other plants of the same species and natural succession would be given time to restore community structure.

3.6 IMPACTS ON ANIMALS

3.6.1 Introduction

The impacts of the proposed action on the animal resource are the result of the particular operation or combination of operations to which the resource is subjected. Different components of the animal community may be affected differently by each individual action. The following discusses the effects the proposed action would have on terrestrial vertebrates, fish, and threatened and endangered species.

In most cases the effects on animal habitat will be discussed since this is where the greatest and longest term impacts would be. Examples are used for explanatory purposes while the anticipated impacts on selected species are shown in Table 3-8, located at the end of this section.

3.6.2 Terrestrial Vertebrates

3.6.2.1 Cutting Practices

The greatest effect the proposed timber cutting would have on the terrestrial vertebrates would be the elimination or modification of about 79,000 acres of existing habitat. Different cutting schemes would affect these acres in different ways. The removal of mature and old-growth forests, or parts thereof, removes the habitat of those species of animals adapted to exist in that plant association. If similar unoccupied habitat exists nearby then those displaced individuals could occupy them. However, it is unlikely that such a situation exists as it is assumed that habitats are currently at carrying capacity. Therefore, unless those displaced individuals can adapt to the new conditions they would probably perish.

Snag-dependent wildlife would be adversely affected due to snag removal during harvest operations. A proposed management decision calls for snags and cull trees to be left on edges of clearcuts. Also at least one 24-inch snag (35 feet in height), one cull tree, and three dead trees either standing or down should be left on each 2 acres in shelterwood and single tree harvest areas.

The vegetative successional stages that follow would benefit species adapted to these conditions. cases a clear benefit/harm factor is not easily

projected. For example, deer use thick timber for hiding and thermal cover. Food supply, however, is more abundant in clearcut areas where plant succession is in its early stages. A clearcut, then, may provide abundant food for several years and benefit deer, but if the harvested area provided the only cover, this increased food supply may not be utilized.

Single tree selection harvest will not be discussed as it was judged to have insignificant affects on terrestrial vertabrates.

Clearcutting is proposed for 1,150 acres during the initial 3 years and for a total of 4,000 acres during the decade.

For approximately the first 5 years following clearcutting, animal species that use successional stages other than grass/forb would not use these acres except perhaps for passage. Species that use old growth would be eliminated forever as harvest plans call for another cut of second growth at 60-80 years, thereby precluding the establishment of old growth (200+ years) on those acres.

Food supplies for grazers and browsers would increase in the early successional stages. Deer and elk use would increase and peak 6 to 8 years following clearcutting (Harper 1969 and Crouch 1974). Likewise increased populations of deer mice, Oregon voles and snowshoe hares would increase while Douglas squirrels, redback voles and northern flying squirrels would probably decrease (Gashwiler 1970). Raptors such as goshawks and great horned owls that nest in mature or old growth would have their nest sites protected as indicated in Table 1-6. While this action may safeguard known nests, it may remove the surrounding foraging areas of old-growth dependent species and have a significant impact on them.

During the first 3 years, 150 acres of crucial deer winter range (Sales 81-11, 81-22, 82-11, and 82-18) and 400 acres of elk winter range (Sales 80-3, 80-13, 80-15, 80-16, 81-14, 82-3, 82-11, and 82-12), would be clearcut. This would increase food supply and decrease thermal cover. This amount is not significant as there are an estimated 337,000 acres of crucial deer winter range in the JKS YUS. None of the elk winter range is considered critical. It is unknown how many acres of winter range would be clearcut during the remainder of the decade.

Shelterwood harvest would be applied to approximately 11,700 acres in the planning area during the first 3 years and to about 49,500 during the first decade. Shelterwood cutting would eliminate mature and old-growth timber as surely as would clearcutting. It does, however, take a longer period of time, and allows conifer seedling establishment. By opening up the canopy during the first stage of cutting, some species of animals may be benefited by the limited amount of grasses, forbs, and shrubs that would initially be present. After the final cut, the conifers that were established would probably outcompete the other vegetation and eliminate that habitat type.