Opinion ID: 3034729
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: impact on goshawk prey

Text: Native Ecosystems also contends substantial questions are raised by the uncertain effects of the Jimtown Project on red squirrels, which serve as prey for the goshawk. In support of this challenge, Native Ecosystems seizes on the conclusion in the EA that certain species, including the red squirrel, would decline in the project area as a result of the changed habitat. 15152 NATIVE ECOSYSTEMS v. USFS Native Ecosystems reads the EA as saying that red squirrel populations would suffer a “sharp decline” as a result of the project. The EA’s statement is much less dramatic in context: The abundance of several species would decline as a result of proposed changes in habitat structure, but it is unlikely that any species would disappear. Species that would suffer the sharpest population declines are those tied to the denser stands of mature trees and to the thickets of seedling and sapling conifers. These animals would shift primarily to unthinned reserves in and adjacent to the project area. Species likely to decline are the ruby-crowned kinglet, yellow-rumped warbler, white-breasted nuthatch, red squirrel, porcupine, and brown creeper. [9] The identification of potential declines does not permit us to leap to the conclusion that the EA raises substantial questions on project impact, especially where the EA also concluded that the thinned stand would continue to provide prey for goshawks: Overstory thinning would reduce the density of red squirrels—a primary prey item—and make the proj- ect area less inviting to foraging goshawks. The thinned stand would continue to support a variety of suitable prey species (hairy woodpeckers, mourning doves, robins, Townsend’s solitaires) and local goshawks might continue to exploit it. Where other prey species will be available, Native Ecosystems’s focus on the red squirrel does not demonstrate that the project’s effects are highly uncertain.