Forage availability for white‐tailed deer following silvicultural treatments in hardwood forests

Lashley, Marcus A.; Harper, Craig A.; Bates, Gary E.; Keyser, Patrick D.

doi:10.1002/jwmg.176

Cited by 60 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Forage availability in timber harvest treatments increased up to tenfold in comparison to mature forest stands. Studies in similar regions of the southern Appalachians also reported increases in forage availability and NCC for white‐tailed deer following canopy disturbance (Beck and Harlow , Ford et al , Lashley et al ). Researchers in western forest systems have reported similar increases in summer forage availability and NCC for elk following timber harvest (Hett et al , Collins and Urness , Strong and Gates ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Forage availability decreased 5 years following complete canopy removal without additional disturbance at North Cumberland WMA. Previous research has reported forage availability in young hardwood forest stands decreases to levels similar to mature forest stands 6–8 years after canopy removal as hardwood regeneration advances to a point of canopy closure and reduces available sunlight to the understory (Lashley et al , McCord et al ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Prescribed fire is an effective and cost efficient method of disturbance to increase the quality and quantity of forage for elk and white‐tailed deer when adequate sunlight is available (Masters et al , Sachro et al , Van Dyke and Darragh , Shaw et al , Lashley et al ). Our data indicate a 5‐year fire‐return interval would maintain increased forage availability and NCC following timber harvest.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Closed‐canopy mature forests currently dominate the landscape across much of the eastern United States and limit available sunlight to stimulate and support understory vegetation (Anderson and Katz , Rossell et al , Webster et al , Shaw et al , McCord et al ). Closed‐canopy forests limit food and cover resources for many wildlife species that benefit from a well‐developed forest understory or early successional vegetation communities, including elk and white‐tailed deer (Beck and Harlow , Johnson et al , Lashley et al , McCord et al , Cook et al ). The prominence of closed‐canopy forest in the eastern United States threatens the success of elk restoration so techniques to increase nutritional carrying capacity should be evaluated if elk populations are expected to thrive in these areas.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Nutritional carrying capacity for cervids following disturbance in hardwood forests

et al. 2018

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Closed‐canopy forests dominate the landscape across much of the eastern United States and often lack a well‐developed understory, which limits nutrition available for cervids. We evaluated the influence of timber harvest combined with prescribed fire, herbicide treatment, or fire and herbicide treatment in young mixed‐hardwood forests on forage availability and nutritional carrying capacity (NCC) for elk (Cervus canadensis) and white‐tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in the Cumberland Mountains, Tennessee, USA, July–August 2013–2015. We compared forage availability, NCC using a 12% and 14% crude protein nutritional constraint, and vegetation composition in untreated mature forest stands, reclaimed surface mines, and 6 timber harvest treatments (timber harvest only, with early growing‐season fire, with late growing‐season fire, with herbicide only, with herbicide and early growing‐season fire, and with herbicide and late growing‐season fire). Forage availability in treatments involving timber harvest was greater than in untreated mature forest stands and reclaimed surface mines. Forage availability estimates in treatments involving herbicide and prescribed fire were less than all other timber harvest treatments. Nutritional carrying capacity estimates at the 12% and 14% crude protein constraints were greater in timber harvest treatments and on reclaimed surface mines than in untreated mature forest stands. Herbaceous species coverage was greater and woody species coverage was less on reclaimed surface mines and in timber harvest treatments involving herbicide and prescribed fire than in all other timber harvest treatments and untreated mature forest stands. Greater coverage of herbaceous forage species in treatments involving herbicide and prescribed fire and on reclaimed surface mines compensated for reduced forage availability and resulted in NCC estimates similar to all other timber harvest treatments. Our data indicate using periodic prescribed fire and following an herbicide application with prescribed fire are effective techniques to transition young mixed‐hardwood forest communities to early successional communities and maintain increased forage availability and NCC for elk and deer. © 2018 The Wildlife Society.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Nutritional carrying capacity for cervids following disturbance in hardwood forests

et al. 2018

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“…We based deer NCC estimates on a comparative forage quality and quantity index calculated via a constraints algorithm (Hobbs and Swift ). Therefore, we made no assumptions that the index obtained reflects absolute estimates of deer NCC but only relative estimates useful for comparing treatment effects (Hobbs and Swift , Stewart et al , Lashley et al ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

White‐tailed deer carrying capacity, intercropping switchgrass, and pine plantations

et al. 2017

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Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) is a cellulosic feedstock for alternative energy production that can be grown between rows of planted pines (Pinus spp.) within intensively managed forests. Southeastern planted pine occupies 15.8 million ha and thus, switchgrass intercropping could have far‐ranging effects on plant communities and biomass production within these forests if broadly implemented. Such intercropping could lead to alterations to plant communities that may cause bottom‐up ecological changes affecting ecologically, economically, and socially important wildlife, such as white‐tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus; deer). Therefore, we tested whether intercropping switchgrass in loblolly pine (P. taeda) plantations would cause switchgrass to dominate vegetative biomass thereby decreasing biomass of forages and reducing white‐tailed deer nutritional carrying capacity (NCC), or whether disturbance associated with establishment and harvest of switchgrass would facilitate ruderal forbs, and thereby increase biomass of preferred deer forages and increase NCC. In a randomized complete block design, we assigned 2 treatments (intercropped switchgrass and a standard pine management control) to 4 replicates of 10‐ha experimental units in Kemper County, Mississippi during summers of 2011−2015. We detected 323 plant species. Intercropping switchgrass had little effect on plant biomass production, and did not affect white‐tailed deer NCC at a maintenance diet of 6% crude protein. Intercropping provided additional disturbance allowing high‐protein content ruderal plants to colonize, and temporarily increased (3 yr) deer NCC at the 14% crude protein diet considered necessary to support lactation. However, concomitant with a sharp increase in switchgrass biomass in the third year of the study, NCC dropped to levels similar to traditionally managed pine stands. Switchgrass intercropping is not a reliable means of increasing deer NCC as a management strategy but does not appear to reduce carrying capacity in the short‐term relative to standard intensive pine management. © 2017 The Wildlife Society.

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Ungulate occurrence in forest harvest blocks is influenced by forage availability, surrounding habitat and silviculture practices

McKay¹,

Finnegan²

2023

Ecol Sol and Evidence

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Forest harvesting causes habitat loss and alteration and can change predator–prey dynamics. In Canada, forest harvesting has shifted the distribution and abundance of ungulates (deer, elk and moose) that prefer early seral forest, resulting in unsustainable caribou predation by shared predators (bears, cougars and wolves). Long‐term solutions for caribou recovery require management to reduce ungulate prey species within caribou ranges. Silviculture practices applied after forest harvesting directly affect the amount of forage available in harvested areas, and therefore influence ungulate distribution, but few studies have completed detailed assessments on how specific treatments of site preparation, planting and stand tending influence ungulate use of harvest blocks. We used camera traps, silviculture data, GIS‐derived habitat and disturbance data, and detailed vegetation data collected at field sites to investigate ungulate occurrence in harvest blocks in west‐central Alberta, Canada. We compared seasonal ungulate occurrence and investigated how site‐specific characteristics, the surrounding habitat and disturbance density, and fine‐scale silviculture treatments influenced ungulate occurrence in blocks. Deer, elk and moose occurrence was higher in summer compared to winter. Elk, moose and white‐tailed deer occurrence was higher in blocks with greater availability of specific forage species. Moose occurrence was higher in blocks with a lower road density in the surrounding area, and white‐tailed deer occurrence was higher in blocks further from seismic lines and with a lower proportion of harvest blocks in the surrounding area. Deer, elk and moose occurrence was higher in younger harvest blocks. Mule deer and white‐tailed deer occurrence was lower in blocks with higher planting densities of lodgepole pine, and mule deer occurrence was also lower in blocks that had been stand tended. Our study provides detailed information on ungulate response to fine‐scale silviculture methods used in Alberta, directly linking wildlife occurrence to forestry practices, and providing practical scientific information to inform sustainable forestry. Translating this research into practical landscape management decisions could benefit boreal biodiversity, including threatened species like caribou, and culturally and economically important species like deer, elk and moose.

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Forage availability for white‐tailed deer following silvicultural treatments in hardwood forests

Cited by 60 publications

References 33 publications

Nutritional carrying capacity for cervids following disturbance in hardwood forests

Nutritional carrying capacity for cervids following disturbance in hardwood forests

White‐tailed deer carrying capacity, intercropping switchgrass, and pine plantations

Ungulate occurrence in forest harvest blocks is influenced by forage availability, surrounding habitat and silviculture practices

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