Active Forest Management and Birds

by Tim Duclos, MSc.

The Conservation Team has been hard at work this June making continued advancements towards the next 10-year (2022-2031) forest management plan for Merck Forest. Recently, Conservation Manager Tim Duclos and Student Conservation Association Intern Max Miley completed a rigorous assessment of the forest bird community across forest stands throughout the property -- these being groups of trees with outstanding prescriptions for some form of forest management (i.e. harvesting trees) these past 10 years. After many predawn hikes deep into the property, 206 individual assessments (10-minute point counts), and subsequently groggy afternoons and reams of data, we have gathered a true wealth of information about these forests -- here through a proverbial lens that’s a bit departed from the standard cruising prism (an ocular device used to measure volume of trees at a given location); yet worry not, the prism will definitely be put to use later this season when we complete the forest inventory and habitat component of this assessment. With data on both the bird community as well as forest conditions, this information will empower a level of planning and approach that exceeds the standard forest management strategy; work that is gaining interest from our Federal, State and regional conservation entities: US Forest Service, Vermont Dept. of Fish and Wildlife, Vermont Dept. of Forest, Parks and Recreation, Vermont Forest Ecosystem Monitoring Cooperative, Vermont Center for Ecostudies, and others.

But before I go further, let’s discuss a few key elements related to forest management planning; what is a forest management plan, why is forest management important, and how do birds relate?

A forest management plan is effectively a work plan that is not unlike a health and wellness plan that your doctor may prescribe in order to keep you healthy and at your best based on your health history, current condition, and your goals. A forest management plan documents current forest conditions- standard elements being measures of forest health, diversity of forest age and species, tree quality, and various other environmental, esthetic, historical/cultural, and functional elements that together describe the state of affairs in the woods. Moreover, the management plan also captures forest health threats that may affect your goals: big ones being forest pests, pathogens and a changing climate. From here, the work plan component of the document describes the recommendation for treatment (or no treatment) based on professional evaluation of this information and knowledge of the ever-evolving scientific understanding of these natural systems. And this process is ideally adaptive: meaning forest management is an iterative process of assessment, prescription, action, re-evaluation of outcome, and forwards henceforth; forests are dynamic systems, the knowledge of how to manage them are ever evolving, and goals can change.

But you may ask: why manage the forest at all- why not just let it grow? Understandable question. And the answer is both simple and quite complex. An abbreviated answer is that the forests we have here in Vermont are actually quite young and most can benefit from careful science-based curation of condition, given that forests grow and develop on the order of centuries -- a time scale beyond the lifespan of us humans. The forests that surround us, these young forests, are not yet optimized for diversity and health -- as they are still recovering from being almost entirely cut down in the mid-1800’s as well as stressors since. As such, by curating the condition of the forest based on careful, professional, evaluation of current condition and application of modern science, managers are working to return these forests to a condition of greater biodiversity and resilience. And, moreover, along the way, forest management concurrently increases carbon sequestration, procures renewable resources, and stimulates the local and regional economy. In fact, forest management, ideally and most often, pays for itself. Think of it as a reinvestment of dividends into the corpus of an endowment.

Now, as for what birds have to do with all of this. Well, birds happen to be excellent indicators of biodiversity and overall forest health -- in the sciences, bird communities are often evaluated alongside forest management- more so than any other group of species, other than trees. This is because there is substantial diversity of birds that occupy our forests and their presence, abundance, and collective diversity tell a rich story about forest age, structure, and health. The trees (from large saw-timber to the smallest regenerating stems) represent key habitat for a variety of birds- and the trees themselves comprise a condition that provide overarching habitat for greater biodiversity that also relate to the birds. Moreover, birds are a group of species that, currently, are largely impacted by various stressors and worth conservation focus, not to mention an inherently charismatic group that are relatable to most people. With all of this in mind, emerging forest management approaches such as Audubon Vermont’s Foresters for the Birds program seeks to educate professionals and non-professionals alike about the strategy and benefits of taking into consideration the bird community and their habitat needs in the forest management planning process. In fact, Merck Forest already hosts one Foresters for the Birds demonstration site -- work completed this last cycle. Preliminary data from re-evaluation of the bird community within this harvest area this June has evidenced the success of the harvest: this stand hosts a diverse group of species -- from common yellowthroat and chestnut-sided warblers, which occupy young, regenerating forests, to ovenbirds and red-eyed vireos, which occupy mature forests; here these birds live in the same forested area in a way that one would not otherwise expect or see. This is ecological silviculture in action.

All told, for me, this planning process represents the spirit of Merck Forest and its foundational commitment to active, adaptive, forest management. This is one element of the work of the conservation team and we hope to advance more such work going into this next 10-year forest management cycle. So, stay tuned for so much more folks!

Onwards and upwards.

Sam Schneski, Windham County Forester and Vice President

MFFC Board of Trustees, stops to appreciate an impressive sawlog-quality sugar maple in the southwestern portion of the property during a preliminary stand tour this past winter; trees like this are a result of the history of active forest management efforts at MFFC. Photo Credit: Tim Duclos