Questions_Addressed_0002.docx

140L6221R0032

AMD 002

Questions Addressed 140L6221R0032 Lynx Habitat Suitability

1. The RFP indicates that the contractor is monitoring plots within specific strata within each LAU, is there an estimation of the number of plots besides the 1 plot per 20 acres or estimation of size of strata that will be monitored?

a. This is an excerpt from the Horizontal cover measure guidance 2009-08-12. The Dempsey unit is 18,776 acres in size and the Commissary unit is 21,031 acres in size however not every acre within these units would be assessable habitat. Please see attached maps that outline the types of habitat present. The PDF maps don’t list acreages per habitat types.

i. Plot sampling intensity – It is difficult to provide a specific formula for determining an adequate number of horizontal cover plots in a given stand across lynx habitat in the Northern Rockies. Plot number will vary depending upon the uniformity of each stand. An 80% confidence level is desirable to provide a fairly high certainty that the recorded cover values are truly representative of the stand. However, sampling at this level may require a large number of plots and because funding, personnel and time are limiting it may not be possible to sample at this level. The following is an objective, unbiased method that can be used:

a. After initial stratification, sample horizontal cover on 20% of the acres to be assessed at the rate of one plot per 10 acres.

Example: The project area has 5,000 acres of mapped lynx habitat that are classified as multi-storied. Screening of these acres indicates that 4,000 acres either clearly meet or do not meet the 35% winter horizontal cover (or 48% summer horizontal cover) threshold value and therefore horizontal cover measurements are deemed not necessary on those acres. The remaining 1,000 acres of multistoried stands need to be assessed, therefore:

1,000 ac x 0.20/10 = 20 horizontal cover plot measurements needed

b) Each plot needs to be randomly located. Use GPS units to locate these plot centers in the field.

c) Each stand sampled should have at least two plots

d) The number of plots should be increased if the stand is highly variable.