Document text
Forest Plan puts BLM in a Search for slugs Photos by Bob Pennell Bureau of Land Management wildlife biologist Vicki Arthur searches for slugs in the Wagner Creek area outside Talent. In top photo, wildlife biologist Martin Posey points a twig at a papillose tail-dropper slug. Critter is one of 400 species to be surveyed By PAUL FATTIG TALENT -- The critter may move slower than molasses in December, but you still have to act fast to catch the papillose tail-dropper. That's because the window of opportunity to survey for the elusive slug slams shut fast, explained Marlin Posey, a wildlife biologist for the Medford District of the Bureau of Land Management. BLM releases draft plan on species survey The Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service last week released a nearly 500-page draft on how they plan to survey and manage for roughly 400 species as a way to help settle the long battle over the threatened northern spotted owl. As part of the 1994 Northwest Forest Plan, the surveys are intended to find out more about species found in northern spotted owl habitat. However, none of the plant and animal species being surveyed are covered by the Endangered Species Act. Under the draft plan, the agencies are calling for a new survey method that would allow some 695 million board feet of lumber in the Pacific Northwest annually, compared to the 680 million board feet currently allowed. The preferred alternative would also manage known sites for 318 species, conduct surveys on 60 species before any ground-disturbing activity and conduct strategic surveys aimed at answering specific questions on 343 species. Under all three alternatives in the plan, 64 species would be dropped from survey and manage requirements, an action scientists say is based on new information. The public has until March 3 to comment on the draft plan which is available at agency offices. More information on the draft is also available on the Internet at www.or.blm.gov/nwfpnepa "After an extended period of sub 40-degree temperatures is where I draw the line of going out of protocol," Posey said as sleet pelted the BLM forest in the Wagner Creek drainage Thursday early afternoon. "And this week has been the first week where the temperature has been consistently below 40 degrees most of the time," he added. That means the protocol period when BLM employees or contractors can survey for the little-known mollusk as part of the requirements for the 1994 Northwest Forest Plan is about to close in the Medford District. The BLM and Forest Service last week released a draft on how they plan to survey and manage the roughly 400 species listed in the Northwest Forest Plan. The public has until March 3 to comment on the plan. Compiled by scientists around the region, the survey list includes bryophytes (mosses and liverwort), fungi, lichen, mollusks (snails and slugs), amphibians, vascular plants, one bird (great gray owl) and mammals (lynx and red tree voles). In addition to the papillose tail-dropper, there are eight known mollusks on the Medford District, including the blue-gray tail-dropper. Both it and the papillose are terrestrial slugs. The agency is surveying for four terrestrial snails: Oregon shoulderband, Oregon Megomphix, Siskiyou sideband and the Crater Lake tightcoil. There are also two aquatic snails -- the Klamath Rim pebblesnail and the Fredenburg pebblesnail -- being surveyed in the district. While some may question the need for the surveys, the scientists delving into the mysterious world of mollusks are taking their missions seriously. "They (mollusks) are the backbone of life," said Vicki Arthur, a BLM wildlife biologist working with Posey. "They are the decomposers of leaves and refuse. They are important in the food chain. "We're making an attempt to do timber management and other types of projects and still protect the components of the ecosystem," she added. "That's the whole idea, even though it seems extreme to be looking for such small creatures that are difficult to survey." Posey, who has been on the slimy trail of mollusks in the district since the fall of 1997, agreed. "The data we've collected so far show they are an important part of fungus dispersal," Posey said. "We know they graze on fungi and help distribute the spores. They probably also graze on other vegetative matter." The district's fall mollusk survey season typically begins after three days of ground-soaking rain. This year it began around Nov. 1. "You need a range of temperatures from about 40 degrees up to about 78 degrees, yet maintaining a balance of moisture at the same time," Posey said. "They take refuge under large logs or any holes or crevasses they can find in the ground." The protocol ends when the ground begins to freeze. At that point, surveyors stop chasing slugs until the protocol window reopens briefly in the spring. In the Medford District, 1,100 new blue-grey tail-dropper sites have been found since the fall of 1998 on some 23,000 acres surveyed. During the same period, about 500 new papillose tail-dropper sites have been found on the district. "The more we survey, the more we find," Posey said. Thursday proved no exception. Posey found a papillose snail-dropper the size of a large pea feeding on the bottom of a mushroom. "This is as big as they get," he said proudly. A half-dozen slightly smaller ones were discovered on a rotting strip of Douglas fir bark buried in the wet leaves of a broadleaf maple. They are called tail-droppers for a reason, Posey said. "When they are disturbed, the rear portion of their tail will sometimes drop off," he explained. "We have carnivorous snails in the Pacific Northwest that prey on other snails and slugs. They follow their slime trail and sneak up on them." The escargot with a bite are common and easily recognized by their light olive green shell, he said. "But the tail-droppers can drop off the rear portion of their tail to escape," he added. "They grow a new one and go on with their lives." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA