Conservation strategies for the lynx and goshawk may figure prominently in the development of thinning prescriptions and in the selection of stands. At the 9,500 foot elevation and below, lodgepole pine dominants as a persistent community type. Since lodgepole pine is a persistent community type at lower elevations and a seral dominant at the higher elevations, species composition would focus on maintaining lodgepole pine as the featured species. Standing mortality in stands would be less than 20 trees per acre and the Hawkworth mistletoe rating would be 3 or less. Englemann spruce and lodgepole pine were favored for retention.
Natural regeneration is planned with protection of advanced regeneration in the understory.
Surrounding stands have demonstrated the ability to regenerate to lodgepole pine and associated conifers. Aspen is present in the project area. On certain sites, aspen is expected to regenerate and occupy portions of the site as a seral species. Open cones would be the predominant seeding source from residual overstory lodgepole pine and trees in adjacent stands. On the quartzite substrates, subalpine fir seems to fail to express dominance.