Data used in generating the above table:

Table 2 - Survey and Manage category descriptions (from the ROD 2001):

Redefine Categories Based on Species Characteristics

+ Manage High-Priority Sites
+ Pre-Disturbance Surveys
* Strategic Surveys

+ Manage High-Priority Sites
°NA
* Strategic Surveys

Relative Rarity Pre-Disturbance Surveys Pre-Disturbance Surveys Status Undetermined
Practical Not Practical
Rare Category A - 57 species Category B - 222 species Category E - 22 species
+ Manage All Known Sites | * Manage All Known Sites + Manage All Known Sites
* Pre-Disturbance Surveys “NA “NA
* Strategic Surveys + Strategic Surveys + Strategic Surveys
Uncommon Category C - 10 species Category D - 14 species! Category F - 21 species

*NA
°NA
* Strategic Surveys

1 Includes three species for which pre-disturbance surveys are not necessary

S & M Guidance — Management category:
Forest Service Correspondence, File Code 1950 - Direction Regarding the Survey and Manage Standards and
Guidelines - May 13, 2014

Survey and Manage Species Analysis

A. Known sites of Survey and Manage Species
Review of NRIS and other datasets indicated there is one known sites of Dendriscocaulon intricatulum a Category E

Survey and Manage lichen species within the project area in Unit XX . A 0.25 acre no disturbance buffer has been
established around this site.

B. Survey and Manage Species Further Analyzed

Category A and Category C species identified for pre-disturbance surveys were based upon species range relative to the
project area, presence of suitable habitat in the project area and extent of habitat-disturbing activities therein, and current
scientific information relative to species taxonomy. As a result of the analysis, pre-disturbance surveys were conducted
for two vascular plants and one bryophyte. As a result of surveys, one new site of the vascular plant Cypripedium
montanum (Category C) was detected and two new sites of the bryophyte species Prilidium californicum (Category A).

C. Evaluation of Alternative 2:

The following is an evaluation of habitat disturbing activities relative to the known and newly detected Survey
and Manage species in the 1St 48 Roadside Fuelbreak Project area. Only vascular plants and non-vascular
botanical species will be further analyzed. The assessment considers the extent and significance of habitat
disturbance, in particular, life cycles, microclimate or life support requirements, from actions proposed under
alternative 2.

Dendriscocaulon intriculatum (Manage Known Sites) — in Unit 805

Dendriscocaulon intricatulum is a lichen that grows on the bole and branches of oak trees. As a lichen, it exchanges water
and gases through its “skin” and thus is influenced by changes in atmospheric moisture. Generally speaking, lichens are


Literature Cited:

Amaranthus, M.P. and D. Page-Dumroese, A. Harvey, D. Cazares, and L.F. Bednar. 1996. Soil compaction
and organic matter removal affect conifer seedling nonmycorrhizal and ECM root tip abundance and diversity.
USDA Forest Service PNW-RP-494, 12pp.

Duncan, N. D., T. Burke, S. Dowlan, and P. Hohenlohe. 2003. Survey protocol for survey and manage
terrestrial mollusk species from Northwest Forest Plan.

Dahlberg, A. and J. Stenlid. 1995. Spatiotemporal patterns in ectomycorrhizal populations. Canadian Journal
of Botany 73 (Supplement): $1222-S1230.

Durall, D.M., Jones, M.D., Wright, E.F. Kroeger, P., Coates, K.D. 1999. Species richness of ectomycorrhizal
fungi in cutblocks of different sizes in the Interior Cedar-Hemlock forests of northwestern British Columbia:
sporocarps and ectomycorrhizae. Canadian Journal of Forest Research. 29, no. 9. p. 1322-1332.

McRae, J. D. 2018. Biological Assessment/Biological Evaluation for Threatened, Endangered, Sensitive Plant
and Fungi Species. 1st 48 Roadside Fuelbreak Project, Mad River Ranger District, Six Rivers National Forest,
January 15, 2018. On file Six Rivers National Forest.

US Department of Agriculture. 2001. Record of Decision for amendments to the survey and manage, protection
buffer, and other mitigations measures standards and guidelines in Forest Service and Bureau of Land
Management planning documents within the range of the northern spotted owl. US Depart of Agriculture and
US Department of Interior 160pp.


project is outside the range of the species/taxa, or if the project design can avoid habitat associated with a given
species.

Persistence of the species at the site

¢ Defined as whether the activity might cause a significant negative effect on the habitat or the persistence of the
species at the site where the activity is being proposed. There is no reference in the survey and manage standards
and guidelines to look at the watershed, District, or range-wide scales when making this determination. It really is
not a question about the persistence of the actual species as a whole, instead it's a question about the persistence of
a (potential) site of a species.

Species requiring pre-disturbance surveys

© Pre-disturbance surveys are conducted prior to signing NEPA decisions or decision documents for habitat
disturbing activities. This applies to Category A and C species, as well as Category B fungi if proposed activities
are occurring in late-succession forest stands and considered habitat disturbing.

e Surveys are conducted using protocols for each species or taxonomic group (e.g. fungi species)

Table 1 includes the S&M botanical species that are known or have the potential to occur in the project area and only
refers to the list associated with option 2b—those projects initiated after April 30, 2015.

Table 1 - List of S&M Botanical species that have the potential to, or are known to occur in the project area

Group Scientific Name S & M Category Known or Previously
“2014 option 2b” Project documented
initiated after April 30, 2015

Non-vascular Buxbaumia viridis E Potential

plants/Bryophytes
Ptilidium californicum A Potential

Non-vascular Dendriscocaulon intricatulum | E Previously documented (one

plants/Lichen site)

Vascular plants Cypripedium fasciculatum Cc Potential
Cypripedium montanum Cc Potential

Fungi Boletus pulcherrimus B Potential
Dendrocollybia racemosa B Potential
Phaeocollybia olivaceae E Potential
Sowerbyella rhenana B Potential
Tricholomopsis fulvescens B Potential



most susceptible to changes in their environment when the thallus is hydrated. In this condition, lichens are most
photosynthetically active, contrarily, no gas exchange occurs in air-dried lichens (Nash 1996). Changes in atmospheric
moisture and its effect on lichens are influenced by temperature. Lichens are well-adapted to temperatures experienced in
their micro-habitat (Nash 1996), but tolerances to heat outside the natural range of variability can trigger a stress response
in the lichen. In a dry state, lichens have a tremendous capacity to tolerate heat stress, but when hydrated that tolerance
diminishes.

In light of these ecological variables associated with lichens, the 1 48 Roadside Fuelbreak Project includes design
features that attempt to reduce potential negative effects of heat and smoke as well as maintain residual substrate for
Dendriscocaulon intricatulum. A 0.25-acre buffer (radius approximately 50 feet) was established at the detection in Unit
805. This buffer area is considered a no-disturbance buffer. Trees shall not be fallen into the buffered area.

Cypripedium montanum (Pre-disturbance Surveys & Site Management) — Adjacent to Unit 421

Potential habitat disturbing activities related to Cypripedium montanum known sites pertain to mechanical disturbance
that removes plants, disrupts upper soil horizons, triggers a shift in associated species composition, and opens the canopy
beyond the tolerance threshold of mountain lady’s slipper. Where new sites were detected, no-disturbance buffers were
established in the field. Buffers were delineated in the field to account not only for protection of the plants but to account
for habitat elements associated with mountain lady’s slipper, specifically overstory shading and existing canopy layers,
existing moisture conditions, maintenance of coarse woody debris, maintenance of existing tree, shrub and forb diversity,
and adequate habitat around the existing plants for short-range dispersal of seeds and rhizome. Trees shall not be fallen
into the buffered area.

Edge effects were also taken into consideration. Edge effects include changes in air and soil temperature, wind velocity,
and relative humidity from a given edge into an intact forest. To reduce the potential for edge effects to known sites,
buffers, their size and dimension, were established with aspect, slope position, and proximity to riparian areas in mind. A
0.5 acre buffer was established around the occurrence in the riparian zone adjacent to Unit 421. Cypripedium montanum
is not only a Survey and Manage species but also Forest Sensitive species. A more detailed analysis of effects is included
in the Biological Evaluation/Biological Assessment for this project (McRae 2018).

Ptilidium californicum (Pre-disturbance Surveys and Site Management) — in Units 419 and 805

Potential habitat disturbing activities related to Ptilidium californicum pertain to extent of canopy opening and vegetation
manipulation in the vicinity of the documented occurrence which could increase drying effects of solar radiation and
wind, removal of mature trees around the occupied tree which would remove sites for future dispersal opportunities, and
broadcast burning that could result in torching the base of the occupied tree. Two occurrences of Ptilidium californicum
were detected, one in Unit 419 and the other in Unit 805, both on the base of a 36-inch-diameter white firs in a mid-
mature stands.

A no-disturbance buffer of approximately 0.5 acres was established around the occupied trees to ensure the retention of
the existing vegetation and stand structure, which provides the shade to the forest floor surrounding the occupied tree. The
buffer incorporated mature trees for future dispersal opportunities. Under the proposed action the silviculture treatments
surrounding the buffer would provide peripheral shade to the buffer, thereby reducing edge effects, and potentially
suitable substrates by retaining pre-dominant, healthy dominant and co-dominant conifers around the buffer. Trees shall
not be fallen into the buffered area.

With the project design features in place for Dendriscocaulon intricatulum, Cypripedium montanum, and Ptilidium
californicum, measures have been provided for the persistence of the species at known sites, therefore, the project is
consistent with the current Survey and Manage direction.


Survey and Manage Species Analysis
1st 48 Roadside Fuelbreak Collaboration Project
Mad River District, Six Rivers National Forest
January 15, 2018

Completed by: —| @ A <2O 7 Date: ___January 15,2018
John M
Botanist
Six Rivers National Forest


Equivalent Effort Fungi Surveys

Equivalent effort surveys were conducted for potential survey and manage plant species in July 2017. Survey efforts
focused on potentially suitable habitat for these species, specifically stands in the mid-mature and older seral stages with
the structure and canopy cover that defines the habitat. Surveys were performed by Scott Davidson, mycologist who
conducted a reconnaissance of all potential areas within the project area on October 14, 2017. He identified 194 acres of
suitable fungi habitat for survey. Following Survey and Manage protocols, Scott conducted his first fungi surveys from
November 10, 2017 to November 12, 2017. He recorded 43 species of fungi, mostly wood rotting saprobes or pathogenic
fungi but no Survey and Manage species.

He conducted his second survey from November 28, 2017 to November 30, 2017. During this survey he found Ramaria
rubrievanescens, a Category B Survey and Manage fungi requiring management of the known site. The site was flagged
with a no disturbance buffer and the boundary of unit 402 was moved so that the buffered area is now outside of the unit.
Trees shall not be fallen into the buffered area.

Ramaria rubrievanescens (Equivalent Effort Surveys and Site Management)

Potential habitat disturbing activities related to Ramaria rubrievanescens pertain to removal or severance of mycelial
components (which comprise the fungal organism) residing in the organic or topsoil layer for mycorrhizal fungi, reduction
in canopy shade and organic forest floor cover, reduction in the abundance of host trees and refuge species to sustain
inoculum through periods of successional change in the stand, removal or reduction of forest floor organics and coarse
woody debris which form the primary micro-habitat for saprobic species, and breakdown of soil structure (e.g.,
compaction) which not only affects the mycelia therein but also damages fine root tips to which the mycelia attach
(Amaranthus et al. 1996).

Silvicultural and fuels design, project design features and LRMP Standards and Guidelines reduce the level of negative
direct and indirect impacts to sensitive fungi. Silvicultural and fuels design includes: a) the nature of the silvicultural
treatments (thinning from below, variable density, retention of existing species diversity) that allow for structural
diversity, retention of host trees and partial shade to the forest floor, and b) the nature of the fuels treatment in the units
which focus on thinning, pruning and piling of small diameter trees and shrubs within a limited space near roads. Project
design features and LRMP guidelines oriented toward soils or wildlife that also benefit sensitive fungi and include:

For each unit, soil porosity would be maintained to at least 90 percent of its natural condition over at least 85 percent of
the unit area. Skid roads and trails would be limited to no more than 15 percent of the harvest area. At the end of project
activities, a layer of litter and duff would occur over at least 50 percent of the activity area. In all treatment units, retain
at least five logs per acre of existing coarse woody debris (at least 20 inches in diameter and 10 feet long) on the ground.

All existing large snags (20 inches or greater in diameter) would be retained in units unless they pose a safety concern.

While not eliminating effects to fungi, it is assumed by managing for habitat elements in stands to be thinned, adverse
effects to sensitive fungi species can be reduced. Effects of relatively small-scale activities are not likely to significantly
reduce the fungal species diversity that was in place prior to the disturbance (Durall et al. 1999). In certain areas in a stand,
meso-habitat features would be impacted by skidding, felling of canopy trees, yarding tops, end-lining or pile burning, but
mycelial networks can extend several meters through the forest floor, so conceivably localized impacts may impact or
sever part of the fungal individual but would not necessarily impact the entire body of the organism. Furthermore, if
vegetative and soil conditions are retained in places within the unit, spores stored in the soil provide a propagule for
development of fungi after the disturbance. These impacted areas would recover in time and along with it the development
of fungal communities (Dahlberg and Stenlid 1995).


18 48 Roadside Fuelbreak Collaboration Project
Mad River District, Six Rivers National Forest
Survey and Management Report for Six Rivers National Forest
January 15, 2018

Survey & Manage

Survey & Manage Guidance 2018 - Six Rivers National Forest

This document is intended to provide a summary of the current Survey and Manage status and management direction to
address those Survey & Manage vascular, non-vascular and fungi species that correspond to the Ist 48 Roadside
Fuelbreak Collaboration Project area.

The following document: “Forest Service Correspondence, File Code 1950 - Direction Regarding the Survey and Manage
Standards and Guidelines - May 13, 2014” provides the current Forest Service direction for the S & M program. At this
point in time, project work on SRNF will be considered under either option 2a or 2b, unless the project record can
demonstrate that “Survey and Manage pre-disturbance survey(s) have been initiated (defined as “at least one occurrence
of actual in-the-field surveying undertaken according to applicable protocol”) for the project.

Under Option 2, management direction is dependent on when the project was initiated. Initiated is defined in this context
as “scoping [has been] initiated or the project is entered into the Schedule of Proposed Actions”. Districts can choose
which direction to follow, if the project was initiated prior to April 30, 2015, the project can follow the direction in (a) or
(b) below. For projects initiated after April 30, 2015, your project must follow direction in (b):

“a) The January 2001 ROD standards and guidelines and the associated January 2001 species list, and/or the four
categories of projects exempt from the Survey and Manage standards and guidelines as stipulated by Judge Pechman
(October 11, 2006 Pechman exemptions). (Same as previous June 12, 2013 Interim Direction.)

(b) The January 2001 ROD standards and guidelines and the December 2003 species list, except for the red tree vole
which remains as Category C across its range, and/or the four categories of projects exempt from the Survey and Manage
standards and guidelines.”

Exemptions

The four categories of projects exempt under option 2b for the Survey and Manage standards and guidelines as stipulated
by Judge Pechman (October 11, 2006, “Pechman exemptions”) are:

a.) Thinning projects in stands younger than 80 years old;

b.) Replacing culverts on roads that are in use and part of the road system, and removing culverts if the road is
temporary or to be decommissioned.

c.) Riparian and stream improvement projects where the riparian work is riparian planting, obtaining material for
placing in-stream, and road and trail decommissioning; and where the stream improvement work is the placement
of large wood, channel and floodplain reconstruction, or removal of channel diversions; and

d.) The portions of projects involving hazardous fuel treatments where prescribed fire is applied. Any portion of a
hazardous fuel treatment project involving commercial logging will remain subject to the survey and manage
requirements except for thinning of stands younger than 80 years old under subparagraph a of this paragraph.


Trigger and the need for survey of the proposed project area, three criteria must be
evaluated:
e It must occur within the suspected range of a species covered by the appropriate protocol (by year and species).
e It must occur within suitable habitat for those target species.
e The proposed project must have the potential of being a habitat disturbing activity which would cause significant
negative effect on the species habitat or the persistence of the species at the site.

Three basic criteria must be met for species to be included in the standards and guidelines:
The species must occur within the Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP) area, or occur close to the NWFP area and have
potentially suitable habitat within the NWFP area. The species must be closely associated with late-successional or old-
growth forest. The reserve system and other Standards and Guidelines of the Northwest Forest Plan do not appear to
provide for a reasonable assurance of species persistence.

S&M Vascular Plants, Bryophytes and Fungi

Option 2b is applicable to the 1 48 Roadside Fuelbreak project. This option references the December 2003 species list.
The list includes numerous fungi species that could occur on the Forest and within the project area. Table 1 below lists
the Botanical S&M species considered for this project by virtue of the species range and the presence of potentially
suitable habitat in the project area. Beyond activities captured by the Pechman exemptions listed above, the trigger for
pre-disturbance surveys is based upon the potential for the activity to be habitat disturbing and thus resulting in a
“significant negative effect” to the persistence of species at the site. The following paragraphs elaborate on the definitions
of “habitat disturbance” and “persistence at a site.”

Defining significant negative effect on the species habitat, or persistence of the species at the
site.

Habitat Disturbing Activities (species habitat)

¢ Defined as those disturbances likely to have a significant negative impact on the species habitat, its life cycle,
microclimate, or life support requirements.

e The evaluation of the scale, scope, and intensity of the anticipated negative impact of the project on habitat or life
requirements should include an assessment of the type, timing, and intensity of the disturbing activity.

e “Habitat-disturbing” is not necessarily the same as “ground-disturbing”; helicopter logging or logging over snow-
pack, for example, may not disturb the ground but might clearly affect microclimate or life cycle habitat factors.

Exemptions:

e Routine maintenance of improvements and existing structures is not considered a habitat-disturbing activity.
Examples include pulling ditches, clearing encroaching vegetation, managing existing seed orchards, and falling
hazard trees.

e  Pre-disturbance surveys are not required for wildland fires for benefits in designated wilderness. Wildland fires
for resource benefits are prescribed fires that result from natural ignition, are consistent with the applicable land
and resource management plan, are addressed in a fire management plan, and are burning within prescription (see
S&G pg. 22).

e Exemptions to pre-disturbance survey requirements may also be proposed for wildland fire for resource benefits
in LSR if the Late-Successional Reserve Assessment addresses the potential presence and likely effect on Survey
and Manage species, and REO review of that aspect of the Assessment concludes such fire(s) will not prevent
achievement of the persistence objectives of these standards and guidelines.

e A line officer should seek a specialists recommendations to help determine the need for a survey based of site-
specific information. The project may not require surveys if no suitable habitat exists within the project area,