the young forest project v3...harvard forest dioramas the young forest project: growing wildlife...

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www.youngforest.org

Canada lynx

Yellow warbler

Michael Zahra

Paul Asman and Jill Lenoble

WikiMedia Commons

Chestnut-sided warbler

The Young Forest Project

The Young Forest Project: Growing Wildlife Habitat Together

In recent years, the sights and sounds of many wild creatures have gradually been fading away.

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www.youngforest.org

Indigo bunting

Karner blue butterfly

Brown thrasher

Kevin Bolton

Dan Pancamo

Joel Trick, USFWS

www.youngforest.org



Their numbers have been steadily falling over much of the last century because they don't have enough places to live, find food, and raise their young.

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Woodcock

Wood turtle

Smooth green snakeVic Peters

Patrick Coin

Eugene van der Pijll, USGS



Across the Northeast, state wildlife agencies have identified more than 80 different birds, mammals, and reptiles that live in young forest as Species of Greatest Conservation Need. They need our help to survive.

Source: Gilbert, M. 2012. Under cover: wildlife of shrublands and young forest. Wildlife Management Institute, Cabot, VT. 87pp.

Augmented by…

USGS. Undated. SWAP Species Conservation Status Analysis Tool. Accessed September 22, 2012. http://swap-analysis.appspot.com/index.jsp

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www.youngforest.org


Bill Burne


Conservationists from throughout the Northeast launched the Young Forest Project in 2011 to make folks aware of the plight of these wild creatures and to let landowners and the public understand how we can help them.

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www.youngforest.org

Young Forest Habitats

Aspen-Birch Forest

Shrublands

Jim Oehler

Kelly Boland


What is young forest? It's a kind of habitat thick with young trees or shrubs, often with patches of grasses and wildflowers mixed in. Young forest is created by forces that remove mature trees: natural disturbances like fire, flooding, or windstorms, or by humans through practices such as mowing, brush-cutting, or harvesting trees. New plant growth quickly cloaks disturbed areas as shoots spring up from root systems of toppled trees or shrubs, and as seeds, carried in by wind or water, give rise to plants that like to grow in full sunlight.

Young forest habitats include…

Aspen-birch forest ….

Shrublands……

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www.youngforest.org


Alder Swales

Old Farm Fields and Pastures

Chuck Fergus

Jim Oehler


Low wet areas dense with native shrubs such as alders . . .

And old farm fields that have been abandoned for 10 or more years.

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Pine Barrens

Regenerating Clearcuts

Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission

Jim Oehler


Young forest also includes pine barrens . . .

And clearcuts growing back following timber harvests.

These kinds of habitat all need periodic disturbances to create and restore them. In times past, natural forces could do the job.

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www.youngforest.org

Peter Prokosch, UNEP Photo Library

Ice Scour and Flooding


Young Forest History

One natural force that helped create young forest was seasonal flooding and ice scour.

When rivers flooded during the spring, big ice blocks would break loose and get carried downriver with enough force to scour away trees and shrubs along riverbanks.

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Streamside Shrub Wetland

Jim Oehler



This created perfect conditions that let sun-loving shrubs like dogwoods, willows, and alders grow thickly in streamside areas. Flooding from heavy rains had a similar effect.

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Flooding Controlled

Daniel Case, Wikipedia



Today, we have tamed the ferocity of high-water events by damming streams and rivers. From small millponds to large hydroelectric dams, more than 28,000 structures interrupt the flow of rivers and streams in the Northeast -- that amounts to an astounding seven dams for every 100 miles of streams in the region.

Source: Anderson, M.G. and A. Olivero Sheldon. 2011. Conservation Status of Fish, Wildlife, and Natural Habitats in the Northeast Landscape: Implementation of the Northeast Monitoring Framework. The Nature Conservancy, Eastern Conservation Science. 289 pp.

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www.youngforest.org

Beaver Impacts

Jim Oehler Bill Burne



Flooding isn't the only natural disturbance that once helped create young forest along our waterways. Beavers built dams that flooded nearby areas, killing trees and creating conditions where young forest could spring up.

Unlike mandmade dams, beaver dams are fairly short-lived, because once beavers use up local food supplies, they abandon their dams and move elsewhere. Without beavers busily repairing the dams, they eventually break apart.

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www.youngforest.org

Peter Prokosch,

UNEP Photo Library

Beaver Meadow to Young Forest

Bill BurneJim Oehler



The old pond slowly changes to a wet meadow, and if no other beavers return to build a new dam, [click to fade into next picture] the meadow grows thick with shrubs, forming excellent young forest habitat for wildlife.

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Beaver Flooding Controlled

Beaver Dam

Courtesy of MassWildlife



In today's built-up landscape, beavers can't have the impact they once had. Many areas once available to beavers have been drained and developed . . . like this 34-acre beaver pond in central Massachusetts, [click to fade into pond now taken up by development], which today is a school, playing fields, houses, and businesses. Similar scenarios can be found throughout the Northeast.

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Wind and Ice Storms

Jim Oehler



Wind and ice storms likely provided patches of young forest, but the patches that result from these disturbances are typically too small to support most young forest wildlife today.

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Fire Renews Habitat

“The Indians have an annual custom…of burning the woods, plains and meadows in the fall of the year….”

- Adriaen Van der Donck (1656)

Photos courtesy Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission



In the past, Native Americans used fire to control woodland underbrush, improve the quality of their hunting grounds, and make openings for farming. It's a fact that fire rejuvenates vegetation. By setting fires, Native Americans helped perpetuate and maintain pine barrens, shrublands, and young regrowing woods. Today, trained professionals use fire in a controlled way to make and restore different kinds of young forest.

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www.youngforest.org

Clearing for FarmlandJim Oehler

Harvard Forest Dioramas



European settlers cleared vast areas of forest for farming, timbering, and fuelwood. More than half of New England was farmed or grazed in times past, with only a few tracts of land left untouched by the saw or axe.

[Click to have pic evolve to second growth forest diorama]

By the early twentieth century, most of those once-cleared areas had been allowed to grow back as shrublands and young forests. The abandoning of farms happened over many decades and provided a steady and abundant source of young forest habitat for the wildlife that needs this kind of home.

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Today’s LandscapeYoung Forest History

Jim Oehler

Bill Burne

Jim Oehler


Today, those abandoned fields are now 80- to 100-year-old forests, or they've sprouted houses or factories or stores.

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Today’s Landscape

Colleen DeLong Chuck Fergus



In some parts of the Northeast -- for instance, the Mid-Atlantic region -- there's considerable remaining farmland, as well as plenty of grown-up woods. But there's very little of the "in-between" habitat, like this shrubland, that can be considered young forest.

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www.youngforest.org

Trends in Forest Area Young Forest History

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New England Middle Atlantic


With many of our old fields now grown into mature woodland, and with few natural disturbances allowed to continue unimpeded, we now have a lot more forest than we did a hundred years ago.

Source: Smith, W. Brad, tech. coord.; Miles, Patrick D., data coord.; Perry, Charles H., map coord.; Pugh,

Scott A., Data CD coord. 2009. Forest Resources of the United States, 2007. Gen. Tech. Rep. WO-78.

Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Washington Office. 336 p.

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www.youngforest.org

Trends in Young Forest Young Forest History

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10152025303540

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% Y

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New England Middle Atlantic

New England minus ME


The amount of young forest has fallen dramatically over that same period. In New England, young forest today makes up only about 20 percent of all wooded land. Most of this is in Maine, which is outside the range of many young forest animals, such as the prairie warbler, the hognose snake, the box turtle, and the Karner blue butterfly. Outside of Maine, [click to bring in status of young forests in New England minus Maine] forests in the rest of New England include only about 7 percent that can be considered young -- a continuation of a long downward trend.

In the Mid-Atlantic, the percentage of young forest peaked between 1960 and 1970, followed by a decline that marches on to the present day. Of the Mid-Atlantic's forest, only about 10 percent is in a young growth stage.

Source: Trani, Margaret K.; Brooks, Robert T.; Schmidt, Thomas L.; Rudis, Victor A.; Gabbard, Christine M. 2001. Patterns and trends of early successional forests in the Eastern United States. Wildlife Society Bulletin. 29 (2): 413-424. http://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/2901

Udpated with information from the US Forest Service’s Forest Inventory and Analysis online database. http://www.fia.fs.fed.us/tools-data/

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Trends in Young Forest and Woodland Songbirds


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Young Forest Woodland

% Decreasing % Increasing


These trends have benefited a number of woodland-dependent wildlife but not those that need young forest. It’s becoming harder all the time to keep enough habitat around for the wildlife that need this kind of cover.

Breeding data show that two-thirds of the region’s 24 Young Forest birds exhibited significant population declines between 1966 and 2010. In comparison, less than a quarter of the 60 mature forest birds showed significant declines during the same period. Birds in both groups are being harmed by habitat loss and fragmentation in both their breeding and wintering grounds, but young forest birds are being impacted to a far greater extent.

(Sauer et al. 2011).

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www.youngforest.org

Trends in Young Forest SongbirdsThe Young Forest Project

Jim Oehler

Bill Thompson, USFWS

Eastern towhee

Dan Pancamo

Common

Yellowthroat


These graphs show breeding bird survey data from New England for two birds: the common yellowthroat and the eastern towhee. The number of males of these species heard singing has been falling over the last 50 years. Trends are similar for many other kinds of young forest wildlife throughout the Northeast.

Source: Schlossberg S. and D.I. King. 2007. Ecology and management of scrub-shrub birds in New England. A comprehensive review. Report submitted to Natural Resources Conservation Service, Resource Inventory and Assessment Division, Beltsville, Maryland.

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www.youngforest.org

Brian LemireJim OehlerJoel Carlson

Maintaining Young Forest Today



Today, carefully planned habitat management projects -- including restoring old farm fields through mowing [click to next pic], harvesting trees [click to next pic], and setting controlled fires -- all play an important role in keeping young forest a part of the landscape and thus helping a wide range of wildlife. Without humans' habitat management efforts, these creatures will dwindle to levels where local populations and even entire species may become extinct.

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www.youngforest.org

Christian Artuso

Golden-Winged Warbler

Bird

s/S

urve

y R

oute

Appalachian Mountain Region



Golden-winged warbler populations have fallen dramatically across the Appalachian Mountains region and in much of the rest of the Northeast. Golden-wings are gone from 11 states where they once lived. Without our help, this beautiful songbird will continue its population slide, and may well vanish from the few remaining areas where they still live.

Source: Buehler, D. A., J. L. Confer, R. A. Canterbury, T. C. Will, W. C. Hunter, R. Dettmers, and D. Demarest. 2006. Status Assessment and Conservation Plan for the Golden-winged Warbler, Vermivora chrysoptera, in the United States. U. S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service Biological Technical Publication FWS/BTP-R6XXX-2006, Washington, D.C. http://www.gwwa.org/ecology.html

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www.youngforest.org

John Greene

New England Cottontail

Jeff Tash



New England's only native rabbit is in trouble. As recently as 1960, it lived in young forest habitats throughout much of New England and eastern New York, as shown by the dotted red line on this map. Today, the species' range has shrunk by more than 80 percent, with these rabbits hanging on in a half-dozen isolated patches, shown by the areas in tan.

If people don't make the commitment to create enough young forest -- through harvesting trees, mowing, and burning areas to create dense young shrub and tree growth -- this brush-loving rabbit will likely be put on the federal Endangered Species List, and may even go extinct.

Sources:

Fuller, S. and A. Tur. DRAFT 2012. Conservation Strategy for the New England Cottontail (Sylvilagus transitionalis). 132 pp.

Arbuthnot, M. 2008. A Landowner’s Guide to New England Cottontail Habitat Management. Environmental Defense Fund. 37 pp.

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www.youngforest.org

American Woodcock

Timberdoodle.org

Wildlife Management Institute



The American woodcock is a popular game bird. The number of male woodcock heard singing on their breeding grounds each spring has dropped 56 percent over the last 40 years in the eastern United States. The dwindling numbers of males implies that there are many fewer female and young woodcock as well. Wildlife research has shown that it is not hunting but an ongoing loss of young forest habitat that has caused this bird's drastic decline. If we don't make and restore enough young forest, there will be fewer and fewer woodcock around.

Source: Kelley, J.R., Jr., and R.D. Rau. 2006. American woodcock population status 2006. USFWS

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www.youngforest.org

Karner Blue Butterfly

Joel Trick, USFWS

The Nature Conservancy of Eastern NY



The Karner blue butterfly was once common in Wisconsin, Michigan, New York, and parts of nine other states, as shown on the tan-shaded area on this map. Now it lives only in small isolated islands of pine barrens habitat in four states and is listed as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Pine barrens is a kind of young forest with dense shrubs, scattered pitch pines, and openings of prairie grass and wildflowers, often rooted in sandy soil. Today, conservationists renew this habitat through tree-cutting and controlled burning. Karner blue butterflies depend for their very survival on these human-caused disturbances that renew their special habitat.

Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 2003. Final Recovery Plan for the KarnerBlue Butterfly (Lycaeides melissa samuelis). U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Fort Snelling, Minnesota. 273 pp. http://www.fws.gov/midwest/endangered/insects/kbb/pdf/kbb-final-rp2.pdf

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www.youngforest.org

Things Grow Quickly!

Jim OehlerJim Oehler

Aspen (left) and oak seedlings (right) sprouting up only 5 months after a cut.



Young forest is dwindling. But we can fix this problem. Part of the solution lies in strategic, responsible, and ongoing forest management carried out through practices such as harvesting stands of trees, conducting prescribed burns, and mowing or disking to create and maintain patches of young forest within today's largely mature forested landscapes.

Managing for young forest needs to be ongoing, because this kind of habitat is short-lived. Some kinds of forest are considered "young" for only the first 10 to 15 years of their existence. After management, trees' and shrubs' stumps and root systems quickly send up new shoots during the first summer after being mowed, cut, or burned; seeds of grasses, wildflowers, shrubs, and trees sprout when warmed by the sun and moistened by rain.

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www.youngforest.org

Wildlife Respond!

2-3 year old cut Jim Oehler

William H. Majoros John Benson

Eastern bluebird Tree swallow

WikipediaDan Pancamo

Chestnut-sided WarblerCommon Yellowthroat

5 year old cutJim Oehler

Wikipedia

John Harrison

10-15 year old cut

Rose-breasted GrosbeakRuffed Grouse



As managed areas quickly green up, they become welcoming, life-sustaining homes for many types of wildlife. During the first few years after a clearcut in northern hardwood forest, eastern bluebirds and tree swallows will move in, if habitat managers make sure to leave some old trees with cavities for these birds to nest in.

[Click to fade out 2-3 yr old clear cut pic and to fade in 5 yr old clear cut pic]

In four or five years, when the new trees grow to about head high, chestnut-sided warblers, mourning warblers, and common yellowthroats move in.

[Click to fade out 5 yr old clearcut pic and to fade in 10-15 yr old clear cut pic]

As the dense new trees remain thick and get taller, black-and-white warblers, veeries, rose-breasted grosbeaks, and ruffed grouse become abundant.

Hardwood forests stay "young" for about 10 to 15 years after they're harvested. After that, conservationists may select nearby patches of woods for more timber harvesting, so that young forest remains a part of the landscape.

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www.youngforest.org

1998 Aerial Photo

1992 Patch Cuts

2009 Aerial Photo

1992 Patch Cuts



Because forests in the Northeast grow back quickly, we use periodic mowing, cutting, or burning to keep enough young forest around for the wildlife that needs it.

These patch cuts were made in 1992. Watch what happens as we advance to the next slide.

[Click to fade out 1998 aerial and fade in 2009 aerial]

Fast forward to 2009. The patch cuts made back in 1992 are now 17 years old, with the trees getting too old, and no longer thick enough to provide homes for the wildlife that need young forest. So in 2006, conservationists made another series of patch cuts next to the '92 cuts.

This kind of habitat management is a win-win situation: Humans harvest valuable timber products, and wildlife thrive among the young trees that promptly grow back again.

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www.youngforest.org

Woodland Wildlife Needs Young Forest Too

Steve Maslowski, USFWS

Steve Maslowski, USFWS

OvenbirdScarlet tanager

WikipediaBlack rat snake

Harvey Barrison

Black bear

D. Gordon E. Robertson

Wild turkey



Young forest helps species like chestnut-sided warblers, bobcats, and New England cottontails, which are considered residents of this special habitat. But research has shown that even species that love mature forest -- such as ovenbirds and scarlet tanagers -- head for young forest to feed their young and fuel up before beginning their long migrations southward in autumn. Reptiles and mammals seek out patches of young forest for the great feeding and resting cover that these transient habitats provide.

[Click to bring in other wildlife that use young forest habitats for feeding]

Young forests act as nature's supermarket for these and many other species.

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www.youngforest.org

Management Benefits More Than Wildlife


Victor Young Geoff Clarke

$7 billion spent in 2011 on Watching Wildlife!

Yellow warbler


Making young forest helps more than just wildlife. Humans reap recreational and economic benefits as well.

Wildlife viewing opportunities abound in young forest. According to a recent survey, more than 17 million people engaged in wildlife viewing in the Northeast in 2011. Those folks spent more than $7 billion pursuing their passions -- adding birds to a life list, capturing a colorful songbird on camera, or watching sky-filling flights of migrating waterfowl. Their activities brought important economic benefits to many businesses both large and small, including hotels, restaurants, and stores selling outdoor gear, as well as the people those concerns employ.

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www.youngforest.org


$13 billion spent on Hunting & Fishing!

Mark Beauchesne NH Fish & Game



Young forest offers great hunting for grouse, woodcock, wild turkeys, snowshoe hare, eastern cottontails, white-tailed deer, moose, and more. Hunting provides opportunities to strengthen connections between family and friends, and to nature. In 2011, nearly 7 million folks when hunting or fishing and spent more than $13 billion on equipment, lodging, and meals while enjoying a facet of our culture that's been part of our regional wildlife heritage for centuries.

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www.youngforest.org


Jim Oehler

Jim Oehler

Cersosimo Lumber

Malin Clyde



Managing for young forest also brings significant economic benefits to landowners, loggers, and sawmills while providing a sustainable source of locally produced lumber, paper pulp, firewood, and wood pellets for generating heat and power.

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Plan Wisely


Jim Oehler


Managing for young forest is not appropriate in all situations or all locations. Management activities need to be planned by professional foresters and wildlife biologists to make sure they won't harm other important resources such as vernal pools or historic sites, but will instead help maintain our region's rich wildlife diversity while improving woodland health and ensuring that plenty of older forest is kept around for the wildlife that need that habitat.

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www.youngforest.org

Mature Forest is Important Too


Ed GuthroEd Guthro

Barred OwlRed-headed Woodpecker


Making young forest is important to meeting state, regional, and national wildlife conservation goals. But so too is maintaining enough older forest. Populations of mature forest wildlife were once in trouble because of excessive, unplanned logging. But those populations have shot back up as forests in our region have matured. Places like Adirondack State Park in New York and the White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire were set aside because we were once losing our precious woodlands. Enough young forest can be provided to safeguard our wildlife resources without jeopardizing the older forests that are also important to our region's environment.

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www.youngforest.org

We Need Your Support!


Malin Clyde

Landowners

• Consult with a forester or biologist

• Funding may be available to help!

• Talk to your friends and neighbors


We need your help to make enough young forest for wildlife. If you own 10 or more acres, your land may be a candidate for young forest habitat. Contact your consulting forester or state wildlife agency for advice on evaluating opportunities on your land. These conservationists can also help you learn if funding may be available to help you create young forest habitat.

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www.youngforest.org



Local and State Officials

• Support responsible young forest habitat policies

• Talk to your colleagues, friends, neighbors

Rick Stilsonowegopennysaver.com


If you're a local or state government official, you can have a tremendous influence on conservationists' ability to make and maintain young forest. Local opposition can make it really tough to meet our young forest habitat goals. Talk to your neighbors and colleagues about the importance of having diverse forested habitats, including young forest, and support policies that promote responsibly creating those habitats that are so important to wildlife, recreation, and our economy.

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www.youngforest.org



Malin Clyde

Local Residents

• Support responsible young forest habitat policies

• Talk to your colleagues, friends, neighbors


If you hear about a carefully planned and implemented habitat improvement project in your area, give it your full support. Talk to your friends and neighbors about it. Explain what's being done, and how it helps wildlife. Tell your local elected officials that you're in favor of policies and regulations that allow responsible young forest habitat actions to take place.

Learn all about the benefits of young forests, and what you can do to help, by visiting the website www.youngforest.org. Check out the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) to clear up misconceptions and come to a fuller understanding of why conservationists consider making young forest to be a very important task.

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www.youngforest.org

They Need Your Support!


WikipediaChestnut-sided warbler Patrick CoinSmooth green snake Dave PapeSpotted turtle USFWSCanada lynxSimon Pierre Barrette

Magnolia warbler

SteveHillebrand, USFWS

Long-tailed weasel


Only with your support -- whether by making young forest on your land, approving of habitat-restoration projects, or helping to explain the benefits of young forest to others -- can we make sure enough of these valuable habitats will be around to help the multitude of species that depend on them, both now and in the future.

Join us in the mission of Growing Wildlife Habitat Together.

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the young forest project v3...harvard forest dioramas the young forest project: growing wildlife...

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