SEAFWA 2018

AUTHORS: T. Bently Wigley, National Council for Air and Stream Improvement, Inc.; Darren A. Miller, Weyerhaeuser Company

ABSTRACT: Privately owned, working forests, which are actively managed to produce revenue from timber production and other activities, are an important landscape feature in the southeastern United States and produce a significant proportion of the nation’s wood supply. These forests, which usually are heterogenous mosaics of forest cover types and ages, also provide clean water, recreational opportunities, carbon sequestration, habitat, and other benefits. At-risk species, such as those that have been proposed or petitioned for listing under the Endangered Species Act or that are of conservation interest for other reasons, are among the plant and animal species supported by working forests. Many at-risk species in the Southeast are associated with open-canopy pine forests and aquatic or riparian ecosystems. Open-canopy conditions are common in working pine forests due to silvicultural choices (e.g., planting density) and activities, such as forest thinning, selective herbicides to manage hardwood midstory vegetation, and prescribed fire. Forestry best management practices (BMPs), which are very effective at protecting water quality, are implemented at a high rate on working forests. Therefore, streamside management zones and stringers are common landscape features that benefit aquatic and riparian species. Under the auspices of forest certification programs, forest managers must consider biodiversity conservation, retain stand-level elements, protect sensitive ecological areas, limit final harvest unit size, plan harvests to ensure landscape heterogeneity, and protect known occurrences of at-risk species. Because of sustainable active management, working forest landscapes support a large suite of species and make important contributions to regional efforts to conserve at-risk species.