N.E.S.T. finds 35 red tree vole nests in S.Oregon

A Nest Surveyor, 07.08.2006 01:07

The Northwest Ecosystem Survey Team (N.E.S.T.) has been surveying in southern Oregon in three timber sales: Tennesse Lime, Anderson West and East Fork. We found 35 previously undiscovered red tree vole nests, when verified by the Bureau of Land Management, these nests will require protection that will lead to the reduction of these timber sales to the possible cancellation of certain timber sale units.
N.E.S.T. is going to continue it's surveys and we need new volunteers to continue this work.

Inside of red tree vole nest

Red tree vole nest

N.E.S.T. surveyor shooting a line in a tree to look for red tree voles

The Northwest Ecosystem Survey Team (N.E.S.T.) is a group of forest defenders committed to protecting the habitat of rare species associated with old growth and late-successional forests. NEST enforces environmental protections built into the Northwest Forest Plan (NWP) by finding species listed in on the Survey and Manage list. One of the species that we survey is the red tree vole. The red tree vole is a small arboreal rodent that lives in the tops of Douglas firs and feeds on its needles. It makes its nest from the discarded interior of the needle, which is called a resin duct. We document the presence of this animal by finding its nest and reporting it to the responsible agency (usually the Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management). Put simply, under the Northwest Forest Plan, documented red tree vole sites get roughly 10 acres of protection. Our documentation of this species has led to the protection of hundreds of acres of old growth forest in about a dozen timber sales. Our surveys have also been instrumental in court cases resulting in federal injunctions.
This summer N.E.S.T. has found 30 red tree vole nests at the Trapper timber sale in the WIllamette National Forest and now 35 nests at the Tennesse Lime, Anderson West and East Fork timber sales in the Illinois Valley.
N.E.S.T. is effective forest defense with proven results. Our work has even piqued the interest of famed spotted owl researcher Dr. Eric Forsman and his graduate student who are now researching the red tree vole. Our work out at trapper is now incorporated into thier research data.

N.E.S.T. Needs volunteers!

NEST needs volunteers of all kinds. Although previous climbing experience is great, it's not necessary as we can train you in less than a week to climb trees and locate nests. There are also other plants and animals on the ground that can be looked for as well. A typical NEST camp is composed of 5 to 10 persons. We spend about two weeks at each timber sale moving from unit to unit looking for the presence of protected species in the canopy and on the ground. Equipment and food is provided as we get donations from a variety of Eugene businesses. You will need to bring your own sleeping bag and whatever else you might need to make a two-week stay in the forest enjoyable. Besides locating protected species, we encounter all kinds of wildlife and get to see some of the most beautiful endangered ecosystems that Cascadia (the pacific northwest) has to offer.

Contact Josh for rides and more information thombanjo AT riseup.net or call at 541 688 2600

e-mail:: thombanjo at riseup.net
Homepage:: http://

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kudo's to surveyers!! 07.08.2006 - 03:49 Thank-you so much for your critical work! It never ceases to amaze me how often lay people know more about our endangered resources that the agency people do. Are they blind? Keep up your vital work. An idea for help: get ahold of the folks at Siskiyou Field Institute - they are aware of who likes to hike about in the area and also the Siskiyou Project as well as I.V. Forest Group could send out requests for help. a wee fox> Amazing... 07.08.2006 - 15:06 Please keep up the good work...So far in almost every instance there are far more red voles than previously inventoried, given the protection measures, the more voles that are found the easier it will be to remove them as a protected species. The problem previously was that no one had paid much attention to the little varmits so there was little data to refute the claims that they needed protected, now through efforts such as these we can finally begin dealing with the real numbers. Chane Sau> Indeed 07.08.2006 - 18:40 Exactly right, We have nothing to fear from learning the truth. It is only those who wish to exploit the forest for commercial means that do. If someone's whole purpose for paying attention to a species is to remove it from the ESA, then they have a puny view of the web of life and our need to protect it. I thank NEST for showing all activists that by finding even a very narrow niche into bona fida biological surveys and scientific data collection, we greatly empower ourselves. We can learn from this example to broaden our sphere of influence and diversify as forest defenders! David> The sword cuts both ways 08.08.2006 - 01:33 Let me see if I understand correctly, the desire to show how many red voles exist in order to show that they do not belong on the protected species list is exploiting, but the use of incomplete science to put them on the list in the first place is just good business? David is right about one thing, this is a good example for all to see. Another thing we agree on is that NEST is doing a great job! After the "huge" turn out today at the USFS office I can really see the support building (not), couple this with the proof of how faulty the original "science" was using your own numbers is just a bonus. It has nothing to do with exploitation of the Forest, but has everything to do with facts and not rhetoric. I'm curious though, how many surveys are being done in the Biscuit and other burns that are such an enhancement to the eco system? Chane Sau> Bravo! 08.08.2006 - 03:48 I totally agree with Chane Sau and have seen this process work to the benefit of all. Forests that need to be protected as essential habitat are getting that through the efforts of NEST. The Forest Service gets a needed boost in help looking for threatened and endangered species. Certainly, those species WILL be found in old growth habitats (and old growth-like habitats, too!). This adds to the databases and the accumulated knowledge of those kinds of ecosystems. However, finding a species may also stop a very necessary thinning project, as well. Is it OK to save a group of common, but "threatened" animals, only to have that forest burned at high-intensity, killing off habitat for a great many creatures, great and small? Or, is it better to enhance and improve a stand of trees, simulating natural fire and reducing drought stress? Regardless of their motives and goals, NEST, at this time and place, is helping us to learn more about these ecosystems. Maybe at some point in the future, we CAN go in and practice some active management without impacting important animals and organisms. PS Just because I am Forest Service, posting off work hours, that doesn't make me corrupt, greedy, evil and destructive, as claimed in the extremely offensive and predjudical post elsewhere on this site. Hotfeet> NESTs work will not lead to de-listing 09.08.2006 - 04:28 We are not providing the type of data, mainly the numbers, that we be needed to delist the RTV. It would take a serious project on a watershed basis to do that. If anything we are showing that voles need old growth stands to survive, as we dont find them in younger stands, tree farms, or heavily cut over areas. I think that we point out the flaws in the survey protocal which misses most nests in bigs trees or nests in cavities. Cascadian Fox from NEST> And the numbers are? 10.08.2006 - 00:48 Exactly what percentage of the survey's were done in 30-50 year old stands? 50-70 year old? 70-90 year old? You are right about the fact that the protocol is seriously flawed, in particular the amount of acreage set aside per nest. Your assertion that they only live in old growth is also flawed as was the same assertion regarding NSO. This can be easily proven by looking at the NSO locations throughout western Oregon, while there are ample ghost nests on the Federal land there are a large percentage on industrial ground, which by the preservationist own assertions are cutover wastelands, much of which has already yeild the second rotation to those timber barons. Chane Sau> RTVs in old growth 22.08.2006 - 17:58 you said - Your assertion that they only live in old growth is also flawed as was the same assertion regarding NSO. I never asserted that they ONLY live in old growth, just that WE have never found them in younger stands, plantations or heavily cut over areas... They can be found in younger stands that are connected to old growth and/or ripirian areas... Younger trees just dont provide the strutural complexity for the nests.... Nest Surveyor> And still no answer 27.08.2006 - 19:26 The questions still remain. How many surveys were done in the identified age classes? And the fact is that there is the complexity for nest in the younger age classes, and the nest do exist, so I can assume that you are either willing to mislead or actually don't know what you are talking about. The statement that "WE have not found them there" simply means that "you" haven't looked, yet your comments would lead others to believe that they only exist in "Old Growth", which is by the standards set forth by many on this site the same as lying. The facts don't lie, but the delivery system seems to have some leaks in it. The fact that they do live else where and do reproduce else where and in fact survive else where is against the facts used to identify them as a protected species. Chane Sau> Old growth dependant species 04.09.2006 - 03:57 The youngest stand I surveyed was in a stand of about 100 year old trees with no remnants (tin the trapper timbers sale which is in the mckensie district of the willamette). I spent two weeks and climbed 30 of the best trees (those with large branch whorls and pamate branch clusters) and only found 4 nests, two odf which would be considered active. That was unit 22. Then just a 1/4 mile down the road in unit 40, myself and a team of climbers found 26 nests, all of which were in remant old growth trees in a mixed age stand. I'm no scientist, but I have been climbing for RTVS for 6 years. My experience in looking for RTVs in stands has always shown me they like the big old trees, the broken tops, the trees with big dead limbs they can cavity nest in. I dont do surveys in younder stands because I try to concentrate my efforts on old growth, the BEST habitat for red tree voles as far as I am concerned. It is my belief, based upon 6 years of experience in the field, that RTVs thrive in old growth forests, but I have yet to see a thriving RTV colony in a plantation. Even though I have never surveyed plantations, ive been in enough of them to notice that RTVs are not there in abondance cause I dont see there nests or evidence of them (resin ducts or scat on the ground at the base of trees). I love the forest and all the creatures in it. Right now the RTV is a survey and manage species and I will continue to look for it and document it's presence as long as its effective to do so. What do you base your beliefs on the RTV on ? Reading papers by Forest service biologists ? NEST surveyor> A few questions and recommendations 04.09.2006 - 08:44 Is the RTV on the endangered species list? Or, is the RTV a "species of concern", under the survey and manage part of the NWFP? Is it protected because it's essential food for the NSO? Indeed, the RTV needs to be monitored but, does each occurance deserve a full 10 acres of protection? If you folks are just using the rules to stop legal timber sales, you're likely to have lots of resistance. If you were to use a collaborative slant, you might get more of the results you're looking for. For example, if you were to coordinate your efforts with the "ologists" of the Forest Service and BLM, DURING the preliminary planning stages (NOT after the sale is sold!), I think they would be more likely to drop or adjust their unit boundaries. This goes for ALL species of concern but, if you were to concentrate on the listed species, you could certainly get more area set aside (and rightfully so!). As long as us Feds continue to concentrate on logging old growth (and old growth-like) stands, there are going to be some of those species in those stands. Hotfeet> Beliefs.. 04.09.2006 - 16:40 Surveyor, my "beliefs" are from over 25 years of working in forest management, from planning to layout to administration to fire suppression and veg management. I have worked with the NWFP and administred over a hundred federal sales and twice that on private ground, well over 300 mmbf personally. I have planned and even protected Protected Species and watched as species of concern resulted in bastardized harvest units that were not realistic to harvest and even created uneccessary hazards to the men working. I have watched as private land is havested, replanted and commercially thinned for the next rotation, while the Public's timber is left to rot and burn as the growth far exceeds the harvest. Mean while our taxes go up and the folks who suck up the welfare look alot like the same ones on the protest lines. All the while methods of harvest have evolved, the ability to mimic older stands through harvest of younger stands has been developed and the ability to have a variety of different stands and uses has been established, yet daily we hear from the folks who still profess the same rhetoric as 40 years ago, still take every chance to promote "one side" as the full story, still rely on "after the fact" discoveries, all in the name of the environment. The same environment that has been being chronically destroyed year after year as a result of the preservationist "success" and yet you yourself follow right in line to only give one side. Chane Sau> Stay Foxy 19.12.2010 - 04:37 Keep up the good work. You are never forgotten. Stay focused like an arrow in flight. saffron> Homepage:: http:// RTV protection on private land? 05.05.2011 - 03:31 Are private land logging operations required to survey for Red Tree Voles, Great Gray Owls, Spotted Owls, Pacific Fishers, Siskiyou Salamander and Goshawks, if there is historical and current presence of these "survey & manage species" on the private land? CB> Homepage:: http://