Download Life in your Watershed Nanaimo Water Day

Nanaimo Water Day 2016
Outline
Life in Your
Watershed:
•Introduction
Nanaimo River
•TimberWest
•Nanaimo River Watershed
•Birds and wildlife in the Nanaimo River
Watershed
•Healthy ecosystems and communities
Water Day 2016
Molly Hudson, RPF
March 20. 2016
Introduction
Introduction
TimberWest
Forest Corp.
• Western Canada’s
largest private land
management company –
325,000ha of private
land
• Also license holders for
TFL47 and FLs
•Molly Hudson, TimberWest Forest Corp. Resource Specialist
• Part of the Environment and Resource Integration (ERI) team
•What is a Resource Specialist?
 Oversee ecological, sensitive ecosystem, fish and wildlife-related operational
issues
 Coordinate long-term/annual monitoring studies
 Liaise with community partners and stakeholders
• ERI also has RPBios, RPFs, PEngs, RFTs, erosion control
specialists (CPESC)
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Introduction
Introduction
83,000 ha
20
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Nanaimo Water Day 2016
Introduction
Introduction
86%
JUMP
Nanaimo River Wildlife Species
Forestry and Wildlife
Focal species for forest
management:
Vancouver Island Species at Risk
Vancouver Island Marmot
• Burrowing rodent
species
• Lives in subalpine
meadows
• Species recovery
success story
• >30 marmots in 2003,
now up to
approximately 300!
• Northern goshawk
• Marbled murrelet
• Owls: western screech
and northern pygmy
• Red-legged frogs
• Great blue heron
Also:
• Vancouver Island
marmot
• Bats
• Roosevelt elk
• Many more…
Vancouver Island Marmot
Marmot predators:
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Nanaimo Water Day 2016
Northern goshawk, laingi subspecies
Physical description
White eyebrow stripe
Dark cap
White and grey breast (A)
Brown and white breast (J)
Blue-grey wings and back
Raven-sized
Long tail w/bars (A)
Darker bars on juvenile tail
Adult female
Nesting
Foraging
• Most
common tree
species Fd
and Dr
Feather piles
and prey
remains
• Common prey
species
include red
squirrels,
grouse, jays,
woodpeckers,
thrushes
• Also Hw, Mb
• Often reuse
old nests
Douglas fir
Juvenile
• Alternate
nests spaced
50-700m
apart
Bigleaf maple
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Nanaimo Water Day 2016
Marbled murrelet
Marbled murrelet
• Description:
• Winter: white breast and
neck, black wings and back
• Summer: brown back,
marbled sides and breast
• Robin-sized, seabird shaped
Rick & Nora Bowers
• Nesting:
James P. Blair
• Large diameter mossy
branches
• Old growth habitat
•Nests are very difficult to
find, so we manage habitat
instead:
 Old growth with large
diameter trees
are active at dawn and
dusk
 Current surveys done with
radar at dawn
 MaMu
Kevin Jordan photo
Glenn Bartley
Owls
Purple Martin
•Cavity nesters
Northern Pygmy Owl, swarthi
subspecies
• Very small, no ear tufts, spotted
head, streaky breast
• Diurnal
• Cavity nester in many forest
types
•Often use old pilings
•Nesting in First Lake
discovered 2014
• 2015 - About 1180
pairs successfully
raised ~ 4400
nestlings!
Rory Hill photo
Frogs
Red-legged frog
• Red legs (surprise!), mottled
sides, golden eyes, brown-grey
back
• Egg masses found in wetlands,
calm areas of streams and
ponds, attached to the base of
vegetation underwater
• Adults can also be found in
moist forests
Frog habitat
• Wetland and riparian area management
Northern Pacific tree frog
(aka chorus frog)
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Nanaimo Water Day 2016
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Other wildlife species
Partnerships
Columbian black-tailed deer
Roosevelt elk
Black bears
Ospreys
And many more!
• Forest companies work with government and
stewardship organizations
Healthy ecosystems and communities
Questions?
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Research
Habitat protection
Habitat restoration
Communication
• Nanaimo River Watershed provides important habitat for
many wildlife species
• It provides water for both the residents of the City of Nanaimo
and local industry
• It provides recreation opportunities to residents
• It also provides approximately 600 jobs to the area
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Loggers, road builders, truck drivers
Treeplanters
Foresters, geotechs, biologists
Fibre to local mills
And many more…
Molly Hudson, RPF
[email protected]
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