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Show JULY IN PEPSI*FOX 13 WOLF MOUNTAIN SUMMER CONCERT SERIES on SdLO now Victim By Stephen Furthur Festival — JULY 22 Ratdog, Bruce Hornsby, Electric Hot Tuna, Mickey Hart’s Mystery Box, Los Lobos, Flying Karamazo Brothers, John Wesley Harding, Alvin Youngblood Hart H.O.R.D.E. with Blues Traveler, Dave Matthews Bana, Lenny Kravitz, Rusted Root — AUGUST 2 Sting — AUGUST 7 k.d, lang — AUGUST 14 Lyle Lovett — AUGUST 17 Special Guest Lisa Loeb Sponsored by COC%LIGHT. Tickets PEC at all Smith’s Tix Outlets, by phone 467-TIXX, 1-800-888-TIXX. VIP Packages 649-5401 Produced by United Concerts * Hotline 536-1234 feedback@uconcerts.com summer MOUNTAIN ‘96 J Produced W. Hoffman henever I take a summer hike in Utah’s high mountains, I think about the thrill of seeing the elusive Northern Goshawk, Accipter gentilis. Often referred to as the “gray ghost of the forest,” this large (wingspan up to 3.5 feet), long-tailed grayish hawk is primarily a denizen of deep, oldgrowth forests in Utah and throughout the western US. Goshawks usually hunt from a perch low in Stephen W. the forest canopy. They attack suddenly, with great speed over short distances. They feed upon a wide variety of both birds and mammals, and take their prey on the ground or in the air. Largest of the three forest hawks in North America, adult goshawks are characterized by soft gray plumage on the breast and belly, and gray or slate blue-gray on the back, punctuated by a white line above the eye. Immature goshawks are brown-backed, with a cream-colored breast streaked with brown. The biggest threat confronting North American goshawks is the loss of old-growth forest habitat. It is the structure of these older forests that is critical to the goshawk. A dense the mortality rate among juveniles is 60 percent. In Canada’s norther boreal forests, goshawk populations are cyclic, fluctuating every 9-to-11 years, reflecting populations changes in its preferred prey — snowshoe hare and ruffed grouse. One or two years each decade, when the hares and grouse populations crash, large numbers of adult goshawks leave their northern forest home ranges, migrating hundreds, even thousands of miles in search of prey. These so-called invasions were documented -by Hoffman HawkWatch International’s Goshute Raptor Migration Project in northeastern Nevada in 1983-84, and again in 1992-93. Along northern Utah’s Wasatch Front, goshawks can be found nesting in many of the canyons, especially on north-facing slopes near permanent streams. Much remains to be learned about the goshawks status, particularly in the Rocky Mountain and Pacific Northwest regions. The goshawk is considered a “sen- sitive species” by the US Forest Service, by the US Fish & Wildlife “Category II” species, which more information on the staspecies is needed prior to making a decision for or against listing as a threatened species. canopy and open underThe current US Forest story enables the Service management goshawk to hunt its prey plan for goshawks effectively. emphasizes the protecBut logging operation of suitable nest tions that either clearcut sites, and secondarily, or remove a significant sustaining a diverse prey portion of large, old base. Although the plan trees, especially the highis a good start, it may not adequately protect a ly prized Ponderosa Adult goshawk, the gray sufficient number of pines, greatly reduce the ghost of the forest. older forest stands prequality of nesting and ferred by goshawks. foraging habitat for goshawks. (See Last year’s Congressional approval Clearcutting the Uintas, page 10.) of the Emergency Salvage Timber Sale Goshawks reach sexual maturity at legislation will, in most cases, facilitate two years of age and take life-long the further destruction of forest habitat mates. The mating pair builds its nest for goshawks — and many other forestbelow the canopy 15-to-45 feet from the ground. Nests can be 20 inches deep dependent species. This legislation is an absolute disaster for forest health and and up to three feet in diameter. Each wildlife habitat. As concerned citizens pair usually has one or more alternate and conservationists we must continue nest sites within their 6,000 acre home to work together to repeal it. range territory. Stephen W. Hoffman is the president Two-to-four bluish-white eggs are incubated for 32-to-34 days. After hatchand founder of HawkWatch International, a Salt Lake City-based wildlife ing, the chicks remain in the nest for 37conservation organization concerned to-41 days. Goshawks can live 15-to-20 with protecting raptors and the Earth’s years in the wild, but they must avoid biodiversity. @ starvation during their first year, when Friday, August 2 ¢ 7 pm Tickets available at all Smith's Tix leytii by phone 467-TIXX, 1-800-888-TIXX Clearcutting The Northern Goshawk: Is It a Threatened Species? Crosby, Stills & Nash and Chicago — JULY 16 TIE of Forest ce by United Concerts Hotline 536-1234 feedback @uconcerts.com PAGE 14 and listed Service as a means that tus of the 4 fo dsayanos o10gd (AvMynvzy oaee ww 1996 |