Real-World Research

When developing a strategic plan for desired forest conditions for wildlife, managers assumed (based on general relationships found in published literature) that a number of quantifiable forest stand characteristics (e.g., canopy cover) benefit priority songbird species. However, the specific assumptions were relatively untested. Accordingly, our LMVJV partners evaluated the association of breeding birds with bottomland forest habitat conditions created through wildlife-forestry silviculture on public lands in the MAV (Twedt & Wilson 2016). This study confirmed several underlying assumptions regarding habitat structure for some bird species, and identified unanswered question for others.