Audubon
Mid-Atlantic’s newest resource for Pennsylvania is here, along with two updated
companion publications. Designed for industry professionals, including
consulting and public-lands foresters, Healthy Forests: A Bird-based Silvicultural Guide for
Forestry Professionals,
is chock full of silviculture guidance, management scenarios, and ideas for
successful bird-friendly forestry.
The guide weaves
together effective, traditional forest management techniques with bird-friendly
practices that support multiple objectives, including wildlife habitat
enhancement/creation, timber production, forest regeneration, and recreation.
Understanding that every forest property, client, and situation is unique, the
guide includes sections like ‘Selling Silviculture’ with tips for engaging
landowners. The ‘Silvicultural Options and Scenarios’ section describes
effective management solutions for common forest conditions and issues found
across the Mid-Atlantic region.
Available
alongside the Healthy Forests Guide are two companion pieces:
the Forest Birds Pocket Guide and the Healthy Forests
Quick Start Guide.
The Forest Birds Pocket Guide includes detailed descriptions of the
habitat and forest conditions needed by 18 priority bird species in
Pennsylvania. It’s an easy-to-use companion to the Healthy Forests Guide
with supplemental material to help inform management decisions for priority
birds.
The Healthy Forests Quick Start Guide is
the perfect tool for those of you who are already familiar with incorporating
bird-friendly practices into forest management prescriptions. It’s concise,
relevant, and easy to use, with everything you need on just a single
page.
Audubon’s Healthy
Forests Guide benefitted from critical funding and partnerships with Natural
Resources Conservation Service, Hamer Foundation, National Fish and Wildlife
Foundation, Ruffed Grouse Society, PA Department of Conservation and Natural
Resources, Pennsylvania Game Commission, The Nature Conservancy, Penn State
Extension, American Forest Foundation, U.S. Forest Service, and the Appalachian
Mountains Joint Venture. Each was instrumental in helping to develop this guide
so that it would be useful and relevant to foresters across the commonwealth.
Learn
more and download the guides here.