Animals and Plants
Due to our mostly high-desert environment, it might surprise many to learn that the Modoc National Forest has a great diversity of plant life beyond the sagebrush and juniper. Seasonal water sources provide the necessary habitat for quick bursts of springtime flowers across the Devil's Garden, while the moist mountain areas of the Medicine Lake Highlands and Warner Mountains provide a more consistent environment for flowers throughout the summer. Flowers at the highest elevations may be seen from late-June through August into September depending on the weather.
Noxious and Invasive Weeds are a problem nationwide. Click on this link for more information about the problems these plants and weeds cause, and how you can help stop their spread on public lands. What Can I Do?
Easy tips to help stop the spread of invasive and noxious weeds.
Waterfowl and Weeds
When Weeds Move in Waterfowl Move Out
Want to learn more about the beautiful wildflowers of our national forests and grasslands and their remarkable adaptations to the environment?
Visit the "Beauty of It All" page from Forest Service's National Botany Program.
You might also want to visit the Pacific Southwest Region's Botany and Rare Plants Program page
Download and print a beautiful full color brochure on Modoc flowering plants: Selected Wildflowers of the Modoc National Forest
(PDF - 4.01MB - 56 pages)
Over the years the wildlife program on the Modoc National Forest has evolved. In 1969 the US Congress passed the National Environmental Policy Act. This act gave ordinary citizens the ability and right to be heard and influence the way public land policy was formed. With the creation in 1973 of the Endangered Species Act, federal and state land managers changed their focus to managing public wildlife programs for specific species. Currently, there is a shift to restoring ecosystems by the integrating the needs of multiple wildlife species and working with timber managers, grazers, miners, recreationists and others to achieve common goals. The Sage Grouse Initiative is an example of multiple parties working to restore sage steppe systems to benefit species depended on this habitat type and not just the sage grouse.
Every project brought forward on the Modoc involves surveying and documentation of the wildlife species that may be involved. Protection of the environment in which these animals live and breed is not only the law of the land and but also "the greatest good for the greatest number in the long run."
Gifford Pinchot, first chief of the Forest Service.
Habitat Restoration
In the past, the public thought of wildlife management in terms of single species improvement: planting hatchery fish in local lakes and streams, limiting predators to improve deer populations or managing artificial wetlands for waterfowl hunting. While in their day and time these programs were popular, the modern ecosystems manager looks at the forest from a broader landscape perspective that will benefit the entire ecosystem and multiple species. In addition, an understanding is needed of the historic context of the succession of plant communities, how climate change and weather patterns affected them and the results of human and natural fires on the landscape. Effective ecosystems management has many benefits beyond wildlife including, watershed improvement and clean water, improved grazing conditions and timber production.
Aspen Enhancement
The Warner Mountain Ranger District has been very fortunate to work with partnerships in all phases of planning, implementation and monitoring in support of the aspen improvement program. During the planning phase, the district worked with permittees, local fish and game representatives and environmental organizations to modify and implement management treatments.
The district has worked with both internal and external partners to remove conifers, change grazing patterns, and use prescribed fire to remove slash to favor aspen suckering. In one area, district employees worked with a local family using horses for logging. The logger removed merchantable materials up to 21 inches in diameter at breast height.
The National Wild Turkey Federation then funded fire crews to fell the balance of the conifers not removed during the timber sale. In these stands, aspen regeneration is well on the way toward meeting the goal of 500 stems per acre that are 15 feet in height or taller.
Working with partners during the monitoring phase has also been crucial, as monitoring is sometimes not funded. The results of monitoring have helped change our prescriptions by adjusting pile placement to enhance aspen suckering or by dropping trees to create a debris fence to alter livestock browsing patterns. Without internal and external partnerships, the wildlife program would not have been able to accomplish it's habitat improvement goals.
Sage Grouse Habitat Improvement
Guzzlers
Guzzlers collect and store precipitation to provide drinking water for wildlife. A guzzler consists of a collecting surface to gather precipitation, which is funneled into a tank where the water is stored. Water from the tank supplies a trough or drinker where it is used by many kinds of wildlife. Guzzlers help wildlife live in areas where natural sources of drinking water are lacking.
Raptors and Other Birds
One of the most fun and exciting parts of wildlife viewing and studying is seeing an animal that you have only seen in books or zoos. The same is true for spotting a new bird for the first time and adding it to your life list. Visit our pages on Raptors and Other Birds for tips on birding ethics, a Modoc Bird List and information about current studies and surveys being done on the Modoc.
Eyes on Wildlife
The Forest Service's Watchable Wildlife Program, is a recreation, education, and conservation program that was developed by the USDA Forest Service in 1988. Eyes on Wildlife facilitates habitat management and improvements for wildlife viewing on many National Forests. It provides enhanced opportunities for all people to experience wildlife; promotes learning about forest animals and plants and their habitat requirements; and develops broad public support of conservation that maintains healthy ecosystems for all plant and animal species.
Howard's Gulch Auto Tour
This short tour is just off and parallel to Hwy 139 and begins south of Howard's Gulch Campground. Several interpretive panels provide information on the history of the area, habitat restoration, plants and animals. For complete information and photographs of each interpretive panel, click here.
Wildlife Partners and Projects
Partnerships with other agencies, tribes and public organizations are important to the success of projects on the Modoc National Forest. Partners contribute time, ideas, money and support us with the development of long-range management plans and the implementation of conservation, restoration and stewardship projects. The following are just a few of the current projects in which our partners are currently involved. For more, see the information on Partnerships on this site.
Great Grey Owl Surveys -- CA DFG
The Great Gray Owl is classified as a California state endangered species. Little was known about the distribution of this species outside of the central Sierra Nevada Mountain Range until recently, due to efforts by Joe Croteau, Environmental Scientist for the California Department of Fish and Game (DFG). More on the recent Great Grey Owl survey.
Small Mammal Survey -- San Jose State
Since 2001 a team from San Jose State has been conducting field research on the Warner Mountain Ranger District of the Modoc National Forest. The teams ongoing field research focuses on small mammal community structure; species diversity, and relative abundance of small mammals in the Warner Mountains of Modoc and Lassen Counties, California. Mammalian community structure is analyzed in relation to varying elevation gradients habitat associations, and the effects of fire in the mountain range. For more information about the team, their hypotheses and findings read Warner Mountain Field Research.
Highlights
- Threatened and Endangered Species
The Forest Service National Site - US Fish & Wildlife Threatened and Endangered Species
- Waterfowl and Weeds
When Weeds Move in Waterfowl Move Out