Final Environmental Impact Statement

Vestal Final Environmental Impact Statement Chapter 3
necessary for gliding. Locations where flying squirrels were found in Wind Cave
National Park did have large pines. Stands of dense doghair pine were avoided (Duckwitz
2001).
Hough (2009) found that ponderosa pine is the most important foraging habitat in the
Black Hills. Flying squirrels selected areas with larger trees and more canopy cover.
Structural stages 1, 2 and 3B were avoided, SS 3C and 4B were selected for, and SS 3A,
4A and 4C were used in proportion to availability. Aspen and birch were avoided for
foraging because flying squirrels are associated with mixed conifer-hardwood forests,
feeding primarily on truffles associated with conifers; however, aspen and birch are
important for den sites (Hough 2009). Grass and shrub areas do not provide good
foraging habitat due to the lack of fungus growth and seed production (Hough 2009).
Structural stages 3A, 3C, 4A, 4B, 4C and 5 all provide suitable habitat on the Forest.
Standing snags and downed logs are also habitat components. Northern flying squirrels
typically nest in tree cavities or abandoned woodpeckers holes in winter and summer.
They may also build nests of twigs, bark, and roots and use abandoned bird nest
platforms in summer (Wells-Gosling & Heaney 1984).
Although flying squirrels are thought to prefer mesic, mature, spruce forests in the Black
Hills, mature and late-successional stage pine forests (SS 4C and 5) on more mesic sites
may also contain the snag resource northern flying squirrels appear to require. The
Forest is conserving habitat for the northern flying squirrel in regards to spruce habitat,
but progress towards increasing the acres of structural stage 5 and the very large tree
component in Management Areas 5.4 and 5.43 is still needed to enhance habitat (USDA
Forest Service 2010).
This nocturnal mammal is a resident of the mountainous areas of the western United
States and boreal forests of North America. The northern flying squirrel in the Black
Hills is an isolated population with the nearest population located in the forests of
western Wyoming (Clark & Stromberg 1987, Wells-Gosling & Heaney 1984).
Meadow Jumping Mouse (SOLC)
This species is strongly associated with riparian habitats along small streams in meadows
and habitats beneath forests with an understory of deciduous shrubs, grasses, forbs and
fallen logs; it is presumed to disperse primarily along stream corridors (Luce et al. 1999).
The meadow jumping mouse is a profound and continuous hibernator, retreating to
burrows in dry ground from October to May. Burrows are also used for nests (Luce et al.
1999).
Domestic animal overgrazing, which consistently removes dense vegetation along eastern
creeks in Wyoming, is thought to have contributed to this species’ scarcity (WYNDD
2002). However, there is little evidence that the mouse is scarce relative to historic
abundance. Zapus in general tend to occur at relatively low abundance and it is uncertain
whether the current abundance is different than the past. Limits to abundance and
distribution include reduction of understory shrubs, grasses and forbs in low-to-mid
elevation riparian areas (Luce et al. 1999, WYNDD 2002). Fragmentation of appropriate
riparian habitat may limit this species’ ability to disperse.
Meadow jumping mice range across Alaska through Canada, the northern and eastern
United States, and across the Great Plains to the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains
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