Bridging native and scientific observations of snowshoe hare habitat restoration after clearcutting to set wildlife habitat management guidelines on Waswanipi Cree land

Abstract

Large-scale timber harvesting in the northern black spruce forest, on Quebec Cree territory, causes immediate loss of productive wildlife habitat for Cree hunters. Duration of this impact is key information to improve forest management. The objective here was to examine the postharvesting habitat restoration delay for snowshoe hare, a species valuable to Cree hunters, as well as a wildlife indicator of the sapling stage. A minimum threshold for vegetation development was established, at which the return of hare populations is considered acceptable by Cree hunters. To do so, an adaptive approach was used, combining Cree hunter knowledge and biological assessment. Hare populations were monitored in 36 cut blocks, ranging from 0 to 30 years after harvest. Cree hunters were interviewed to determine when a cut block becomes adequate for snaring. The combined analysis of the two knowledge sources indicated that stands that meet the threshold average 4 m in height, 6300 trees/ha in density, and are aged between 13 and 27 years. Current regulation sets this threshold at 3 m in height, regardless of cut block scale, and at 20 years postcut when considering family hunting ground scale, and thus, does not fully meet sustainable resource development objectives.Résumé : Les coupes forestières d'envergure, dans la pessière noire nordique chez les Cris du Québec, impliquent une perte immédiate d'habitats fauniques productifs. La durée de cet impact est une information clé pour y améliorer les pratiques forestières. Nous avons analysé la restauration de l'habitat du lièvre d'Amérique après coupe, une espèce indicatrice d'intérêt. Un seuil minimal de développement de la végétation a été déterminé pour permettre le rétablissement acceptable des populations de lièvres pour les chasseurs cris. Une approche adaptative combinant les connaissances de ces chasseurs et une évaluation biologique a été utilisée. Les populations de lièvres ont été suivies à l'intérieur d'aires de coupe âgées de 0 à 30 ans. Les chasseurs cris ont été consultés pour déterminer quand un parterre en régénération devenait bon pour le colletage. L'analyse combinée des deux savoirs a démontré qu'un peuplement atteint ce seuil lorsqu'il est âgé entre 13 et 27 ans et qu'il est composé de 6300 tiges/ha d'une hauteur moyenne de 4 m. La réglementation actuelle chiffre ce seuil à 3 m pour un secteur d'intervention et à 20 ans pour un territoire de chasse familial, ce qui ne permet pas d'atteindre pleinement les objectifs de développement durable des ressources.

Stand-level Attributes of Snowshoe Hare (<em>Lepus americanus</em>) Habitat in a Post-Fire Trembling Aspen (<em>Populus tremuloides</em>) Chronosequence in Central Yukon

“…Stand characteristics, such as shrub cover and tree stem density, have been traditionally recognized as important habitat variables for the Snowshoe Hare (e.g., Wolfe et al 1982;Pietz and Tester 1983;Litvatis et al 1985;Ferron and Ouellet 1992;de Bellefeuille et al 2001;Jacqmain et al 2007), but the depth of deadfall less so. Deadfall above the forest floor likely serves as hiding cover (Hodges 1998;Andruskiw 2003;Berg et al 2012), possibly as thermal cover in winter (Conroy et al 1979;Roy et al 1995), and likely facilitates safer movement by Snowshoe Hares through the local vegetation.…”

“…Snowshoe Hare are important as prey of commercially-valued furbearers such as the Canada Lynx (Lynx canadensis) and as a harvested food (Jacqmain et al 2007;Nelson et al 2008). Various studies have been conducted to identify important habitat attributes of the Snowshoe Hare.…”

“…From these studies, it is clear that Snowshoe Hare prefer tall dense shrubby vegetation, with or without a tree overstory (e.g., Litvatis et al 1985;St-Georges et al 1995;Hodges 2000). Greater site use occurs when the shrub stratum is 1-4 m tall with >4000 stems/ha (Wolfe et al 1982;Pietz and Tester 1983;de Bellefeuille et al 2001;Jacqmain et al 2007) and forage is within 3 m of the ground surface, when overhead and lateral vegetation cover ≤2.5 m tall exceeds 60-70% in summer (Litvatis et al 1985;Ferron and Ouellet 1992;de Bellefeuille et al 2001), and when overhead cover is >40% in winter (Wolfe et al 1982). Stand structure and adequate cover are often more important than either the species composition or an immediately available food supply (Litvatis et al 1985;Ferron and Ouellet 1992).…”

“…For example, de Bellefeuille et al (2001) suggested that peak use of clearcuts in southern Quebec forest was expected when Balsam Fir (Abies balsamea) and Black Spruce (Picea mariana) regeneration was 15-22 and 18-30 years old, respectively. Forest stands >15 years old were more intensively used than younger post-disturbance areas in Quebec (Jacqmain et al 2007;Hodson et al 2011), Labrador (Newbury and Simon 2005), Ontario (Thompson et al 1989), Maine (Monthey 1986), and central Alaska (Paragi et al 1997). Nevertheless, Keith and Surrendi (1971) reported Snowshoe Hare use of 1-year-old burns in central Alberta.…”

“…Most comparative habitat studies have evaluated stand re-establishment during the first 20-30 years after disturbance (e.g., Jacqmain et al 2007), focused on concurrent differences in composition and structure among vegetation types that were not necessarily part of the same chronosequence (e.g., Poole et al 1996), or assessed only selected segments of a chronosequence (e.g., Paragi et al 1997). Unfortunately, changes in Snowshoe Hare abundance in northwestern Canada successional sequences can probably not be extrapolated from studies conducted in southern or eastern boreal forests, except at a very general level, because of regional variability in successional patterns and differences in understory vegetation composition and stand structure (e.g., Chen and Popadiouk 2002;Redburn and Strong 2008;Strong 2009).…”