Assessing Forest Structural and Topographic Effects on Habitat Productivity for the Endangered Apennine Brown Bear

Any forest management potentially affects the availability and quality of resources for forest-dwelling wildlife populations, including endangered species. One such species is the Apennine brown bear, a small and unique population living in the central Apennines of Italy. The conservation of this relict bear population is hampered by the lack of knowledge of the fine-scale relationships between productivity of key foods and forest structure, as this prevents the design and implementation of effective forest management plans. To address this issue, we sampled the main structural stand attributes within the bear’s range and used multivariate generalized linear mixed models in a Bayesian framework to relate forest structural attributes to proxies of productivity of key bear foods. We found that hard mast was positively associated with both forest typology and high forest system, but negatively related to both the time elapsed since the last forest utilization and the amount of deadwood. The availability of soft-mast producing species was positively related to past forestry practices but negatively associated with steep slopes historically managed with high tree densities and a low silvicultural disturbance. Our findings also suggest that herb cover was negatively affected by terrain steepness and basal area, while herb productivity was positively affected by northern and southern exposure. Additionally, richness of forest ants was associated with forests characterized by low volume and high density. Our findings confirm that the productivity of natural bear foods is strongly affected by forest structural and topographical characteristics and are relevant as preliminary information for forest management practices to support the long-term conservation of Apennine bears.

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Vegetation management on private forestland can increase avian species richness and abundance

The Condor ◽

10.1093/condor/duaa048 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Jesse M Wood ◽

Amy K Tegeler ◽

Beth E Ross

Keyword(s):

South Carolina ◽

Species Richness ◽

Forest Management ◽

Management Practices ◽

Basal Area ◽

Timber Harvest ◽

Avian Species ◽

Active Management ◽

Private Lands ◽

Species Richness And Abundance

Abstract Conservation efforts on private lands are important for biodiversity conservation. On private lands in South Carolina, in the southeastern United States, forestry management practices (prescribed burning, thinning, herbicide application) are used to improve upland pine habitat for wildlife and timber harvest and are incentivized through U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Bill cost-share programs. Because many forest-dependent avian species have habitat requirements created primarily through forest management, data are needed on the effectiveness of these management activities. We studied privately owned loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) stands in the South Carolina Piedmont region. Our objective was to understand how management practices influence avian species richness and abundance at local (forest stand) and landscape levels in relatively small stands (average ~28 ha). We surveyed 49 forest stands during 2 bird breeding seasons with traditional point counts and vegetation surveys. We evaluated the effects of management on pine stand characteristics, avian species richness, and abundance of state-designated bird species of concern. Repeated burning and thinning shifted stand conditions to open pine woodlands with reduced basal area and herbaceous understories. Stands with lower basal area supported greater avian species richness. Some species increased in abundance in response to active management (e.g., Brown-headed Nuthatch [Sitta pusilla] and Indigo Bunting [Passerina cyanea]), but relationships varied. Some species responded positively to increases in forest quantity at a landscape scale (1–5 km; e.g., Northern Bobwhite [Colinus virginianus]). We found species-rich avian communities and species of conservation concern on working timber lands, indicating that incentivized forest management on private lands can provide valuable habitat for wildlife.

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Naturalness Assessment of Forest Management Scenarios in Abies balsamea–Betula papyrifera Forests

Forests ◽

10.3390/f11050601 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 (5) ◽

pp. 601

Author(s):

Sylvie Côté ◽

Louis Bélanger ◽

Robert Beauregard ◽

Évelyne Thiffault ◽

Manuele Margni

Keyword(s):

Forest Management ◽

Management Practices ◽

Management Strategies ◽

Abies Balsamea ◽

Assessment Model ◽

Betula Papyrifera ◽

Management Scenarios ◽

Data Set ◽

Ecosystem Quality ◽

Forestry Practices

Research Highlights: This research provides an application of a model assessing the naturalness of the forest ecosystem to demonstrate its capacity to assess either the deterioration or the rehabilitation of the ecosystem through different forest management scenarios. Background and Objectives: The model allows the assessment of the quality of ecosystems at the landscape level based on the condition of the forest and the proportion of different forest management practices to precisely characterize a given strategy. The present work aims to: (1) verify the capacity of the Naturalness Assessment Model to perform bi-directional assessments, allowing not only the evaluation of the deterioration of naturalness characteristics, but also its improvement related to enhanced ecological management or restoration strategies; (2) identify forest management strategies prone to improving ecosystem quality; (3) analyze the model’s capacity to summarize the effect of different practices along a single alteration gradient. Materials and Methods: The Naturalness Assessment Model was adapted to the Abies balsamea–Betula papyrifera forest of Quebec (Canada), and a naturalness assessment of two sectors with different historical management strategies was performed. Fictive forest management scenarios were evaluated using different mixes of forestry practices. The sensitivity of the reference data set used for the naturalness assessment has been evaluated by comparing the results using data from old management plans with those based on Quebec’s reference state registry. Results: The model makes it possible to identify forest management strategies capable of improving ecosystem quality compared to the current situation. The model’s most sensitive variables are regeneration process, dead wood, closed forest and cover type. Conclusions: In the Abies balsamea–Betula papyrifera forest, scenarios with enhanced protection and inclusion of irregular shelterwood cuttings could play an important role in improving ecosystem quality. Conversely, scenarios with short rotation (50 years) could lead to further degradation of the ecosystem quality.

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Effects of forest management practices on red-shouldered hawks in Ontario

The Forestry Chronicle ◽

10.5558/tfc80054-1 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 80 (1) ◽

pp. 54-60 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Brian J Naylor ◽

James A Baker ◽

Kandyd J Szuba

Keyword(s):

Forest Management ◽

Management Practices ◽

Nest Success ◽

Basal Area ◽

Forest Management Practices ◽

Effectiveness Monitoring ◽

Hardwood Trees ◽

Negative Effect ◽

Special Concern ◽

The Impact

The red-shouldered hawk (Buteo lineatus) is a species of special concern throughout its northern range. It is considered to be sensitive to forest management practices because it requires dense mature hardwood forest for nesting. In Ontario, guidelines that prescribe spatial and temporal buffers were developed in about 1990 to mitigate the potential impacts of harvesting. We monitored 84 nesting areas of red-shouldered hawks in central and southeastern Ontario from 1988 to 1995 to describe the effects of forest management practices on the occupancy and productivity of nesting areas, to evaluate the effectiveness of the guidelines, and recommend modifications as appropriate. The number of years nesting areas had been used previously had a significant negative effect on activity status, but not on nest success. Nesting areas harvested with application of the guidelines had a similar probability of being active to those in uncut forest but nesting areas harvested without application of the guidelines did not. Neither the area nor proximity of selection cuts with a moderate to high residual basal area ( ≥18 m2/ha) affected the activity status of nesting areas. In contrast, the area and proximity of heavy cuts (shelterwood cuts or selection cuts with a residual basal area of 1416 m2/ha) appeared to have a negative effect on activity status. When nesting areas were active, the proximity and amount of harvesting did not influence nest success. We concluded that the impact of harvesting on the activity status of nesting areas could be mitigated by prohibiting heavy cuts within 300 m of active nests and retaining ≥20 ha of forest dominated by tolerant and mid-tolerant hardwood trees, ≥18 m tall, with ≥70% canopy closure around nests. Key words: Buteo lineatus, effectiveness monitoring, habitat guidelines, nest success, Ontario, red-shouldered hawk, forest management, selection, shelterwood, tolerant hardwoods

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Forest pests and their management in the Anthropocene

Canadian Journal of Forest Research ◽

10.1139/cjfr-2017-0033 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 48 (3) ◽

pp. 292-301 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Matthew P. Ayres ◽

María J. Lombardero

Keyword(s):

Forest Management ◽

Pest Management ◽

Management Practices ◽

Forest Pest ◽

Trial And Error ◽

Forest Pests ◽

The Core ◽

Rapid Changes ◽

Forest Pest Management ◽

Management Plans

Forest managers are facing unprecedented challenges from rapid changes in forest pests. The core causes are changes in climate, land use, and global distributions of organisms. Due to invasions and range expansions by pests, and propagation of nonnative trees, managers are increasingly confronted with pest problems outside their range of experience. There is a need to adapt pest management practices more quickly and efficiently than is possible when managers work in isolation and mainly learn by trial and error. Here we identify general tactics for adaptation of forest pest management in the Anthropocene: growth and application of practical theory; improved biosecurity against future invasions; improved monitoring, prediction, and mitigation; increased sharing of knowledge among regions, countries, and continents; management plans that anticipate continuing change; improved assessment of costs, benefits, and risks of possible responses to new potential pests; assessment of system responses to pest management decisions so that subsequent decisions are increasingly better informed; and improved understanding of the couplings between forests, forest management, and socioeconomic systems. Examples of success in forest management can aid in other sectors (e.g., agriculture, pastoralism, fisheries, and water resources) that are similarly important to our environmental security and similarly challenged by global change.

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Establishing quantitative habitat targets for a ‘Critically Endangered’ Neotropical migrant (Golden-cheeked Warbler Dendroica chrysoparia) during the non-breeding season

Bird Conservation International ◽

10.1017/s095927091100027x ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 22 (2) ◽

pp. 213-221 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

DAVID I. KING ◽

CARLIN C. CHANDLER ◽

JOHN H. RAPPOLE ◽

RICHARD B. CHANDLER ◽

DAVID W. MEHLMAN

Keyword(s):

Forest Management ◽

Breeding Season ◽

Management Practices ◽

Basal Area ◽

Oak Forests ◽

Line Transect ◽

Habitat Conditions ◽

Neotropical Migrant ◽

Forest Management Practices ◽

Dendroica Chrysoparia

SummaryThe Golden-cheeked Warbler Dendroica chrysoparia is a federally endangered Neotropical migrant that inhabits montane pine-oak forests in Mexico and northern Central America during the non-breeding season. Although it is known that Golden-cheeked Warblers are closely associated with ‘encino’ oaks (evergreen or holm oak) such as Quercus sapotifolia, Q. eliptica and Q. elongata, which have shiny, narrow, elliptical, or oblong leaves, quantitative habitat targets are useful for effectively incorporating this information into conservation planning and forest management practices. We analysed data on wintering Golden-cheeked Warblers collected during the non-breeding season in Honduras from 1996 to 1998 to identify quantitative targets for habitat conditions for this species. Data on warbler abundance were collected using line transect surveys located in montane pine-oak forests in a stratified-random fashion. Habitat data were collected at five 0.04 ha plots on these same transects and the averaged values used as predictors of Golden-cheeked Warbler abundance. We found that Golden-cheeked Warblers were strongly associated with the basal area of encino oaks and density of ‘roble’ oaks, such as Q. segoviensis, Q. purulhana and Q. rugosa, which have large, lobed leaves. Density of Golden-cheeked Warblers peaked at ≈ 5.6 m2 ha–1 basal area of encino and ≈7 roble oaks ha–1. These values can be used to identify quantitative habitat targets that can be directly incorporated into forest management practices to ensure that these activities maintain habitat conditions necessary for their use by Golden-cheeked Warblers.

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Silvicultural madness: a case from the “Scientific Forestry” initiative in the community forests of Nepal

Banko Janakari ◽

10.3126/banko.v27i3.20542 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 54-64 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

B. Basnyat ◽

T. Treue ◽

R. K. Pokharel

Keyword(s):

Forest Management ◽

Forest Restoration ◽

Management Practices ◽

Community Forestry ◽

Timber Harvesting ◽

Site Quality ◽

Community Forests ◽

Study Approach ◽

Management Plans ◽

Scientific Principles

Following a case study approach, this paper explains how scientific forest management plans were developed and implemented in community forests of a mid-hill district in Nepal. Field observations were carried over a period of two years (December 2014 to December 2016) in two community forests. User group members, forest officials, forest technicians and executive committee members were consulted. The plans were prepared simply by compiling the administrative requirements where management prescriptions were defined either based on forest technicians’ knowledge or taken directly from the guidelines with little reference to the actual site quality, management objectives, and forest stand conditions. Apart from harvesting of trees, users hardly implemented the plans’ silvicultural prescriptions and forest restoration activities. Moreover, forest officials administratively reduced the number of trees that users could harvest to around half of what the plans allow. Accordingly, forest user groups face a paradoxical forest administration that promotes timber harvesting according to so-called scientific principles, which it then brushes aside to satisfy bureaucratic demands. The study concludes that the concept of scientific forestry is merely used as a “brand” or a seemingly sound “narrative” in community forestry, while it is of little practical relevance because administrative decisions are more powerful in guiding forest management decisions. Hence, the study suggests a replacement of the current schizophrenic mix of so-called “scientific forest management” and sweeping administrative orders with adaptive management practices in community forests. Banko JanakariA Journal of Forestry Information for Nepal Special Issue No. 4, 2018, Page : 54-64

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Invasive-Plant-Removal Frequency—Its Impact on Species Spread and Implications for Further Integration of Forest-Management Practices

Forests ◽

10.3390/f9080502 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 9 (8) ◽

pp. 502

Author(s):

Bernabas Wolde ◽

Pankaj Lal

Keyword(s):

Forest Management ◽

Plant Species ◽

Management Practices ◽

Invasive Plant ◽

Control Method ◽

Trend Test ◽

Invasive Plant Species ◽

Management Plans ◽

Plant Removal ◽

Armitage Trend Test

For a given invasive plant species and control method, effective invasive plant eradication requires regular monitoring and management. While most previous studies characterize invasive plant species, develop appropriate control methods, or prioritize species for management using aggressiveness and other considerations, few study why some forestland owners are less likely than others to regularly remove invasive plant species. Such information is useful in prioritizing and targeting forestland owners who are at greater risk for invasion, with the stands threatening adjacent forestlands. Towards this end, we surveyed 1800 forestland owners in Virginia and Texas. We use data on forestland owners’ socioeconomics and forestland features—such as acreage, forestland ownership objectives, and forest management activities—to determine how these factors affect the regularity of invasive-plant removal. For these purposes, we used the Cochran–Armitage trend test, the Cochran–Mantel–Haenszal regression, odds ratio estimates, and partition-analysis techniques. Our results suggest that female forestland owners, owners with smaller forestlands, and forestland owners without written forest-management plans are less likely than others to regularly remove invasive plant species. Forest-management activities, such as building/maintaining roads in the forestland, partially harvesting stands, and wildlife- and fisheries-improvement projects, also significantly predict a more regular invasive-plant-removal tendency. However, since these activities are potential pathways for the spread of invasive plant species, we controlled for the other significant covariates and measured the relationship between frequent practice of the given forest-management activities and having a tendency to regularly remove invasive plant species. The results suggest that forestland owners that regularly practiced the said forest-management activities have higher odds for tending to remove invasive plant species regularly, suggesting that, despite their demonstrated effort at removing invasive plant species from their forest, their management activities may be inadvertently contributing to the spread of invasive plant species. These results highlight the importance of integrating invasive-plant-removal plans with forest-management plans as well as forestland owners’ educational and outreach needs.

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Effects of errors in basal area and mean diameter on the optimality of forest management prescriptions

Annals of Forest Science ◽

10.1007/s13595-021-01037-4 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 78 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Roope Ruotsalainen ◽

Timo Pukkala ◽

Annika Kangas ◽

Petteri Packalen

Keyword(s):

Forest Management ◽

Net Present Value ◽

Basal Area ◽

Inventory Data ◽

Present Value ◽

Management Objectives ◽

Mean Diameter ◽

Stand Attributes ◽

Relative Errors ◽

Correct Data

Abstract • Key message Errors in forest stand attributes can lead to sub-optimal management prescriptions concerning the set management objectives. When the objective is net present value, errors in mean diameter result in greater losses than similar errors in basal area, and underestimation greater losses than overestimation. • Context Errors in forest inventory data can cause inoptimality losses in the objectives set to forest management. Losses occur when the forest is treated with management prescriptions that are optimal for erroneous data but not for correct data. • Aims We evaluate the effect of varying levels of errors in basal area and mean diameter on the inoptimality losses. • Methods Errors from 20% of overestimation to 20% of underestimation were simulated in basal area and mean diameter. For each stand, the management prescription that maximized the net present value was selected with and without errors. The inoptimality losses were calculated for different error levels. • Results The tested error levels resulted in inoptimality losses of 0.11–3.01%. Errors in mean diameter increased inoptimality losses more than similar relative errors in basal area. Simultaneous underestimation of basal area and mean diameter led to greater inoptimality losses than simultaneous overestimation of these attributes. • Conclusion If the forest is considered as an investment, using inventory data where basal area and mean diameter are underestimated causes greater losses compared with data where these attributes are overestimated. Errors in mean diameter are more important than similar errors in the basal area. Large errors in basal area and mean diameter should be avoided especially in stands where the basal area is high.

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