Evaluation of the Wildlife Habitat Values of Rights-of-Way

Abstract

Wildlife habitat on segments of a sprayed electric transmission right-of-way (ROW) was evaluated by a new technique that provided useful quantitative habitat values based upon field rating of essential needs of a selected species. Similar evaluation was made of the unmodified by a ROW. Use of the technique in central Pennsylvania with white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) gave an average value of 8.2 for segments of a sprayed ROW with a edge as compared with 5.5 for oak forests without a ROW. A realistic evaluation of the differences between the 2 habitat types appeared to be obtained. A food plot and a wildlife clearing were also evaluated and the practical use of the technique was tested using professional utility personnel. J. WILDL. MANAGE. 43(3):642-649 With the current increase in interest in wildlife management on transmission rights-of-way (ROW) and in the effect of a ROW on a habitat (Lancia and McConnell 1976), it has become evident that a simple but accurate technique for evaluating wildlife habitat conditions could be a useful management tool (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 1976). Such a technique could produce documentation of the specific effects of management on food and cover as well as on general enhancement of a habitat area through ROW management. For the purposes of this technique, a wildlife habitat area will refer to 1 specific component of a wildlife home range. A wildlife range usually encompasses both the daily and annual crusing radii of a species and may include a number of different and widely separated habitats. Therefore, a ROW and its resultant edges, which are an integral part of the ROW, will be considered a specific habitat area that is only 1 component of the total dwelling place of a wildlife species. This is similar to use of environmental type by Leopold (1937). The adjacent forest refers to the without the presence of a ROW. Food and cover factors of the habitat have been used for evaluation as these are the ones usually manipulated in ROW management. However, it is recognized that a habitat is influenced by many factors: climatic, edaphic, physiographic, and other biotic factors that are not usually managed on ROW. The purpose of this paper is to describe a simple field technique that will be useful in evaluating wildlife habitat conditions on a transmission ROW and to report values obtained for a ROW and the forest. More specifically, it describes use of the technique in comparing habitat values of a ROW under several different types of vegetation management with values of the without a ROW. Examples also are given of evaluation of 2 other habitats, a game food plot and a clearing. This research was supported by the Pennsylvania Electric Company, Asplundh, and Amchem Products, Inc., and was performed in cooperation with The Pennsylvania State University. DESCRIPTION OF THE TECHNIQUE The habitat evaluation technique involves use of a field form (Tables 1-3) to obtain quantitative data similar to that re642 J. Wildl. Manage. 43(3):1979 This content downloaded from 40.77.167.17 on Fri, 01 Apr 2016 05:40:15 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms HABITAT VALUES OF RIGHTS-OF-WAY Bramble and Byrnes 643 Table 1. Initial page of the field form for habitat evaluation; completed for a sprayed right-of-way (ROW). WILDLIFE HABITAT EVALUATION, GENERAL Wildlife species White-tailed deer Date 14 Jul 78