Snowshoe Hare, Lepus americanus, use of forest successonal stages and population changes during 1985-1989 in north-central Washington

Abstract

Snowshore Hare (Lepus americanus) pellet counts along 24 permanent transects in north-central Washington showed hare numbers to be greatest in less-than-or-equal-to 25-year-old successional forests. Observations of numbers of hare tracks during winters indicated that hare numbers did not peak or crash during 1985-1989. Compared to more northern latitudes where numbers of hares change 6-100-fold during 2-5 year intervals, pellet counts showed hare numbers on the study area decreased 1.5-fold from 1986 to 1989. Observations that hare numbers either do not fluctuate or the cyclic changes in hare numbers are greatly dampened within the study area supports the hypothesis that Snowshoe Hare populations do not radically fluctuate at southern latitudes.