UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOREST SERVICE

GIANT RIVER CANE RESTORATION PROJECT Decision Memo

SOUTHERN REGION DANIEL BOONE NATIONAL FOREST

Redbird Ranger District Clay and Leslie Counties, Kentucky

KENTUCKY

October 2012

For Information Contact: John Hull Redbird Ranger District Daniel Boone National Forest 91 Peabody Road, Big Creek, KY 40914 (606) 598-2192 http://www.fs.usda.gov/dbnf/

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Giant River Cane Restoration Project

Decision Memo

DECISION This documents my decision to diversify riparian species composition and habitat availability by restoring giant river cane, planting butternut, and hanging wood duck boxes on the on National Forest System (NFS) lands on the Redbird Ranger District of the Daniel Boone National Forest. Giant river cane culms and rhizomes will be collected from existing cane populations along the Red Bird River and transplanted to designated new areas (see the attached map). Planting sites will be areas where cane does not already exist, but will be adjacent to existing cane patches, which will help the area occupied by the cane increase. Planting will be conducted using hand tools such as shovels and dibble bars. The culms selected for transplanting will exhibit good overall health and be three years or less in age. The size of the holes dug for transplanting and planting will vary in size depending on the size and depth of the culm’s root system but will generally not exceed 12 inches in length, width and depth. All planting of culms will be within the cane restoration sites. In areas where cane is to be transplanted, selected trees will be cut with chainsaws to reduce canopy cover to around 50-60% of the existing cover. Felled trees will be bucked up and left on site. Butternut planting will be accomplished utilizing a known seed source located on NFS lands in the Redbird Ranger District. Using this source, seed will be gathered. Seed dormancy requirements will be met by fall sowing of seed at a Forest Service seed nursery. Seedlings will be allowed approximately two years to grow after which they will be harvested, sorted, graded, packaged, and transported back to the Redbird Ranger District for planting. Seedlings will be planted by hand on a spacing of no less than 60 feet. All planting of butternut will take place within the proposed giant river cane restoration sites. Wood duck boxes will be constructed and hung by Forest Service personnel. Boxes will be hung on existing trees within the proposed giant river cane restoration sites.

PURPOSE OF AND NEED FOR THE DECISION The Daniel Boone National Forest’s mission is to sustain the ecological health and productivity of the lands and waters entrusted to its care and provide for compatible human uses. The purpose of this project is to augment existing populations of giant river cane, and develop new populations to work towards the restoration of this rare community. Giant river cane (Arundinaria gigantea), occurring from eastern Texas to Florida and north to Virginia and southeast Missouri, is the tallest of the three cane species native to the United States. Before European settlement, dense stands of giant river cane, or canebrakes, covered large areas of southeastern North America. These canebrakes, containing 15 or more stems per square foot, most commonly grew on floodplain terraces under fairly open forest canopies but also grew in upland forests and savannas within canopy openings. Changes in land use after European settlement caused large canebrakes to become fragmented and less dense resulting in the patchy distribution now present.

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Giant River Cane Restoration Project

Decision Memo

Large giant river cane canebrakes are virtually non-existent today and canebrakes in general have been reduced to an estimated 2% of their former abundance. Giant river cane is uncommon on the Redbird Ranger District. Canebrakes are also included in the Rare Community Prescription Area in the Land and Resource Management Plan for the Daniel Boone National Forest (Forest Plan) and may once have been primary habitat for the uncommon Swainson’s warbler (Limnothlypis swainsonii) (Forest Plan, p.3-19). The Swainson’s warbler has been recorded on six separate occasions during annual breeding bird surveys in three different years on the Redbird Ranger District, 2008 being the most recent recording. Riparian forest composition affects terrestrial and aquatic wildlife habitat, stream aesthetics, stream bank erosion, and water quality. The structural properties of giant river cane canebrakes benefit water quality and wildlife habitat making it a good candidate for riparian forest improvement. Canebrakes are densely filled with stems that grow tall rapidly, and spread outwards, which provides habitat for wildlife species such as white tailed deer, black bear, turkey, and squirrels. Giant river cane canebrakes create a compact network of rhizomes and thick root masses that stabilize the stream bank helping to prevent erosion. They also help filter sediment that accumulates in runoff as it makes its way toward the stream resulting in a lower amount of soil being deposited in the stream; this improves aquatic habitat by “cleaning” rainwater before it reaches the next stream or river. Additionally, canebrakes capture sediment during flooding events helping to reduce deposition in the streams further downstream. Aquatic species such as the Eastern sand darter (Ammocrypta pellucida), arrow darter (Etheostoma sagitta spilotum), mountain brook lamprey (Ichthyomyzon greeleyi), little spectaclecase mussel (Villosa lienosa), and snuffbox mussel (Epioblasma triquetra) would benefit from the slowed runoff, bank stabilization, and sediment capture provided by the canebrake restoration. Without a properly managed riparian corridor, runoff enters the stream before off-loading any substances, sediment or otherwise. In short, the canebrake acts as a physical deterrent to erosion, and filters water both before it enters the stream and during flooding events. For these benefits to be realized, these areas need to be managed to promote the habitat conditions that support the diverse and locally unique assemblage of plant and animal species occurring within them. Butternut, or white walnut (Juglans cinera), is listed as a regionally Sensitive Species (a species for which viability is a concern) in Region 8, the region containing national forests in the southeastern United States. Widespread mortality of butternut was first reported in Wisconsin in 1967. The cause of death was identified as a fungal canker (Sirococcus clavigignenti-juglandacearum) that kills butternut trees of all sizes and all ages. To date, there is no method to control butternut canker; however, individual trees have shown varying degrees of resistance with some specimens remaining healthy and continuing to produce seed. Some such trees exist here on the Redbird Ranger District and would be potential seed sources for propagation of new butternut trees. Planting this species on the Redbird Ranger District in riparian areas and open mixed mesophytic drainages, which provide the rich growing conditions favoring butternut, would aid in restoring a desirable population that is rare and declining.

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Giant River Cane Restoration Project

Decision Memo

The wood duck (Aix sponsa), a very colorful waterfowl species, relies on woodland habitat that is within the vicinity of a reservoir, river, lake, pond, marsh, or wetland. Wood ducks nest in natural tree cavities and sometimes cavities that have been created, and then abandoned, by woodpeckers. Preferred cavities have at least a 4 inch diameter opening and are located around 30 feet off the ground in large diameter (24 inch +) trees, live or dead; although, wood ducks will nest in cavities at near ground level and at up to 65 feet above the ground. These nesting requirements limit the ability of this species to populate an area. In practice since the 1930’s, hanging nesting boxes in areas preferred by wood ducks has been a successful method to locally increase wood duck populations. Nesting boxes provide the one crucial factor that many areas are otherwise without. In short, a properly built and placed nesting box is simulating a natural cavity in a large tree. Considering the amount of time it takes for a given tree to attain the necessary size to house a wood duck, regardless of cavity formation, it is evident that the process of natural wood duck nesting habitat formation is very slow. Implementation of wood duck boxes would result in a rapid formation of nesting opportunities for wood ducks and the potential for an increase in the local wood duck population. Another waterfowl species, the hooded merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus), requires habitat characteristics similar to that of the wood duck and is known to utilize nest boxes that were initially installed for the wood duck. The proposed actions would provide an opportunity to work toward the forest’s goals for management, as described in the Forest Plan. Implementation of this project would also aid in diversifying wildlife habitat by providing an opportunity for development of canebrakes, wood duck nesting opportunities, and Sensitive species retention. Forest Plan goals and standards relevant to the proposed actions are summarized below:  Goal 1 – Maintain a variety of life and recover native and desirable non-native populations that are rare and declining (Forest Plan, p.2-5).  Goal 1.1 – Protect and/or enhance current and potential habitat for Proposed, Endangered, Threatened (PET) species, or Sensitive (S) species and Conservation species. Evaluate habitats to determine those capable of supporting reintroduction of PETS species (Forest Plan, p.2-5).  1.E-Goal 2 – Restore and maintain native species composition as well as the structural diversity of plant communities in riparian areas and wetlands. This goal seeks to provide habitat for numerous vascular and nonvascular plants, amphibians, birds, and mammals associated at least in part with riparian areas (Forest Plan, p.3-12).  1.E-Objective 2.D – In each Management Area, establish and maintain one to two percent of the riparian area along 4th order and larger streams (all ownerships) in canebrakes of up to ten acres. Existing openings will be used whenever possible. Approximately 50 percent will be in sparse overstory (