A habitat evaluation of the Weir property, an approximately 200-acre in holding of private property within the Little Pend Oreille National Wildlife Refuge (Refuge), was conducted using the Habitat Evaluation Procedures (HEP) methodology. The Weir property consists of two separate parcels, an upper unit of 40 acres and a 160-acre lower unit. Evaluation species were ruffed grouse and white-tailed deer. Life requisites evaluated were available browse for white-tailed deer and winter food and fall-to-spring cover for ruffed grouse. Field data were collected on October 16, 17, and 21, 1997. Approximately 37 acres of the lower 160-acre unit are currently grasslands with no shrub or tree cover, and therefore do not provide suitable ruffed grouse or white-tailed deer cover. They excluded this acreage from the HEP calculations for current conditions. This acreage was included in the HEP calculations for ruffed grouse after future management strategies were factored in. It was not included in projections for white-tailed deer. The entire property was stratified into 6 stands (2 in the upper unit and 4 in the lower unit) for data collection. Data were collected at 10 points, spaced 20 paces (approximately 16 m) apart along one randomly selected transect in each stand, for a total of six transects. A circular quadrat (.004 ha) was used at each sampling point. Within this quadratwe counted all deciduous, coniferous, and shrub stems {ge} 0.9 m in height and made an ocular estimate of shrub (< 1.5 m in height) canopy cover. We measured the height of the closest (to the center of the quadrat) three deciduous trees, conifer trees, deciduous shrubs, and lowest conifer branch. We estimated the distance to 20 aspen trees at three points along each transect. For a ruffed grouse a Habitat Suitability Index (HSI) was calculated for each stand for each variable. Therefore, two HSIs were calculated for each stand, one for winter food and one for fall-to-spring cover. Weighted HSI scores were calculated by taking the lower of the two HSIs for each stand and multiplying by the stand acreage. The overall HSI is equal to the sum of the weighted HSI scores divided by the total area of all cover types. For white-tailed deer the mean canopy cover was calculated for the entire property and used to determine the overall HSI.
Place Name coordinates. (May be approximate.)
Place Name coordinates. (May be approximate.)
