Research Work Unit Description 2000-2005
Problem Area 3
| Problem 3: What are the effects of alternative forest management practices (especially uneven-aged management) on habitat and wildlife communities? |
|
Clearcutting has been the primary method of
pine regeneration on southern national forests for over 30 years. Forest
industry, which manages 42 million acres of southern forests, also generally
uses even-aged management, but typically employs shorter rotations. Owners
of nonindustrial private forests, who control 67% of the total commercial
timberlands in the South, generally practice less intensive forest management,
often with the goal of improving wildlife, recreation, or aesthetic amenities
rather than maximizing timber production.
Although young pine plantations afford excellent habitat for many wildlife species, even-aged management (especially under short rotations) is generally considered detrimental to species that require an abundance of large snags, cavity and den trees, hardwoods, hard mast, large down wood, and other mature-forest features. Consequently, the Forest Service has been under increasing pressure to consider alternatives to even-aged management (especially clearcutting), such as single-tree and group-selection management, along with expanded management for mixed pine-hardwood stands. In 1992, the Forest Service began adopting a more socially acceptable, environmentally sensitive management approach (termed ecosystem management) to achieve multiple-use objectives. Under this new approach, clearcutting will only be used where other silvicultural approaches are impractical for accomplishing specific objectives. Thus, the Forest Service will rely much more on seed-tree and shelterwood even-aged regeneration and upon single-tree and group selection uneven-aged management, and greater emphasis will be given to maintaining more hardwoods within pine stands on appropriate sites. In Region 8, about 650,000 ac are scheduled for uneven-aged management. Much is known about the effects of even-aged forest management on wildlife, but the effects of uneven-aged forest management on wildlife in pine and pine-hardwood communities are virtually unknown. How will wildlife abundance and diversity compare in frequently thinned, multi-aged stands with that found in different seral stages of even-aged management? What patch cut sizes are required by early-succession Neotropical migratory birds under group-selection management? To what extent will early-succession wildlife species utilize uneven-aged stands and what are the reproductive consequences of doing so? How will forest interior and edge species respond to uneven-aged management. Answers to these and other questions are urgently needed by the National Forest System and other federal land management agencies for environmental assessments of alternative forest management systems. This research is also needed by wildlife and forest extension personnel, state foresters, and private consultants who deal with nonindustrial private landowners who, for economic or environmental reasons, chose uneven-aged management. Approach to Problem Area 3 Solution Return to Wildlife Habitat and Silviculture Home Page
|