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Decision Support Tools to Inform the Rehabilitation and Management of High Graded Forests
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Abstract
Numerous forests in the eastern United States have been degraded due to past exploitative timber
harvesting known as high grading. High graded forest stands may not improve without active re-
habilitation and may require targeted silvicultural treatments. This study focuses on high graded
mixed-oak (mixed-Quercus spp.) stands and aims to develop a model that can identify past high
grading and to determine modifications that may improve forest management recommendations provided
by the prominent decision support tool, SILVAH. We present a model that uses standard forest
inventory measurements and does not require knowledge of preharvest stand conditions to predict
with moderate to high accuracy whether a stand was high graded, which could be par- ticularly
useful for nonindustrial private forests. Results indicate that modifications to SILVAH may be
necessary to improve its utility for prescribing silvicultural treatments in high graded stands.
Study Implications: High graded forest stands are often not readily apparent and likely require
specific forest management practices. We present a tool that uses standard forest inventory meas-
urements to predict past high grading, which can be used to inform and prioritize forest manage-
ment decisions. We also present suggested modifications to the prominent decision support tool,
SILVAH, that may improve its ability to prescribe optimal silvicultural treatments for high graded
stands. Results from this study provide forestry professionals/landowners working in the mixed- oak
forests of the northeastern United States with tools to inform forest management decisions
that aim to return degraded stands to healthier and more productive states.
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Research
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WLFW Outcomes: Funded Research
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Golden-winged Warbler Landowner Outreach Mailer Template
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This editible mailer template from the Golden-winged Warbler Working Group is a great way to generate private landowner interest in your area! It outlines the importance and benefits of Golden-winged Warbler habitat and how landowners can participate or get more information.
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Information Materials
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Fact Sheets
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Golden-Winged Warbler General Fact Sheets
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Golden-Winged Warbler Habitat Project Update from Southeast Trust for Parks & Land (STPAL)
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Southeast Trust for Parks & Land (STPAL) and their Wildlife Consultant, Vic Vansant, is undertaking a project with Ecoforester, Carolina Audubon, USDA Equip program, and State of North Carolina Forestry and DENR to create 16-acres of habitat for the “near threatened” golden-winged warbler (GWWA) on 750-acres Bald Mountain Creek Nature Preserve in Yancey County, NC. This bird’s population has declined 98% in the Appalachians in the past 45 years, primarily due to habitat loss.
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News & Events
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Goats Help Restore Golden-Wing Warbler Habitat
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While we could have gone in with a bush hog mower, we tried something new this year – goats, adorable and effective goats.
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News & Events
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Golden-winged Warbler Habitat Restoration Work in Charlotte, VT
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While many migratory birds are spending warm sunny days in Central and South America, Vermont biologists are braving the cold to improve conditions for birds when they return from their wintering grounds to breed in Vermont.
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News & Events
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Light Weight Tracking Technology Could Help Reveal Mysteries of Golden-winged Warbler Decline
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Audubon and partners across the South and Midwest are using radio tags to track a rare songbird.
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News & Events
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The Habitat Matrix - Stepping Down Bird Management From Landscape to Stand
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Part 5 of a 12-part monthly lecture series, Forests for the Birds: Conserving America’s Forest Birds. July 20, 2021.
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Online Training Resources
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Webinars and Instructional Videos
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A Path Forward: Understanding and Restoring Degraded Forests A Working Lands for Wildlife Virtual Event
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The impact of high-grading on forest wildlife in the Eastern deciduous forests.
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Online Training Resources
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Webinars and Instructional Videos
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WLFW-GWWA Project Boundary Shapefiles
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This map of the outer project boundary for the partnership excludes 3 states within the species range in Appalachia that declined to participate due to staff shortages and competing priorities. The image shows the WLFW-GWWA project boundary on a national map of WLFW partnership geographies.
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Information Materials
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Maps & Data
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Maps
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Capture of GWWA on Nonbreeding Grounds
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While studying migratory birds on their Costa Rican wintering grounds in March 2017, associates at the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History (RTPI) were able to add some important data to the understanding of Golden-wing Warbler biology. RTPI affiliate Sean Graesser, who was working in a remote rainforest reserve in northeastern Costa Rica with other RTPI staff on a tropical biology course for high school students, captured a gorgeous male Golden-winged Warbler. When he extracted it from the net to collect data and band it, he realized that this bird already had a uniquely numbered band on its leg – a band that Sean had put there himself a year ago! Since the bird was last seen in March of 2016, it had flown to North America – likely somewhere in that upper Great Lakes Region area, possibly nested and raised young against all odds, and returned to Costa Rica to overwinter. This bird looked healthy as could be and was getting ready to make the same trek again – possibly travelling as far as 6,000 miles each year between its breeding and wintering grounds.
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Information Materials
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Multimedia
