Ecological forestry at National Wildlife Refuges: Experiences from Seney National Wildlife Refuge and Kirtland’s Warbler Wildlife Management Area, USA

Abstract

Although land management over much of the history of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Wildlife Refuge System (NWRS) has emphasized single-species management, recent policy has encouraged land managers to focus on broader ecosystem restoration goals. One framework for forest ecosystem management that is becoming more popular in the NWRS and other federal and state resource agencies has been termed "ecological forestry"-an approach to forest ecosystem management where the focus is on incorporating an understanding of the outcomes of natural disturbances and stand development processes into designing silvicultural practices. This approach stresses understanding the effects of natural disturbances on biological legacies, structural and compositional heterogeneity, and the recovery periods between disturbance events (including how this recovery period influences stand complexity). Recently, resource managers and ecologists from Seney National Wildlife Refuge, The Ohio State University, and Central Michigan University have partnered to examine how these guiding principles can be integrated into NWRS forest ecosystem management. Specifically, we are partnering to develop management strategies to help: 1) restore the once extensive mixed-pine forest ecosystems of eastern Upper Michigan; 2) mitigate the effects of the beech-bark disease complex on American beech (Fagus grandifolia Ehrh.), a foundation species in northern hardwood forests of eastern North America; and 3) promote more natural forest patterns for wildlife species of young jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lamb.) forest ecosystems, including the federally endangered Kirtland's warbler (Dendroica kirtlandii). These efforts are ongoing and will continue to be monitored over time. However, initial collaborations suggest that the NWRS provides an excellent crucible to study the application of ecological forestry principles and develop novel ways to manage forest ecosystems.

Variability and persistence of post-fire biological legacies in jack pine-dominated ecosystems of northern Lower Michigan

“…Despite the prevalence of stringers in many regions and ecosystem types, their natural range of variability in frequency, size, shape, composition, and longevity after formation has thus far never been examined, making it difficult to incorporate these biological legacies into silvicultural prescriptions for jack pine-dominated ecosystems within an ecological forestry context (e.g., Corace et al, 2009).…”

Do partial cross sections from live trees for fire history analysis result in higher mortality 2years after sampling?

“…Efforts are currently underway to restore these forest ecosystems and resource managers are looking for guidance in these efforts (Corace et al, 2009). In particular, resource managers have begun using a combination of prescribed fire and mechanical treatments, such as thinning, to increase recruitment of red pine and eastern white pine seedlings, increase mean residual stem diameters, and reduce fuel loadings associated with the high densities of jack pine that developed following turn-of-the-century logging, and subsequent management (Drobyshev et al, 2008a).…”

Snag Benchmarks and Treatment Options for Mixed‐Pine Forest Restoration in Eastern Upper Michigan

“…Efforts to restore mixed‐pine forests have begun because of the multiple ecosystem services they provide and associated changes in some federal policy (Meretsky et al ). Restoration at Seney National Wildlife Refuge (NWR; Corace et al ) has been guided by studies of old‐growth mixed‐pine stands that serve as restoration benchmarks. The existence of these stands has allowed the reconstruction of fire regimes using dendrochronology (Drobyshev et al 2008 a ) and the quantification of relationships among forest structure and composition variables along a disturbance gradient (Drobyshev et al 2008 b ).…”