Forest-clearing to create early-successional habitats: Questionable benefits, significant costs

Abstract

A campaign is underway to clear established forests and expand early-successional habitats—also called young forest, pre-forest, early seral, or open habitats—with the intention of benefitting specific species. Coordinated by federal and state wildlife agencies, and funded with public money, public land managers work closely with hunting and forestry interests, conservation organizations, land trusts, and private landowners toward this goal. While forest-clearing has become a major focus in the Northeast and Upper Great Lakes regions of the U.S., far less attention is given to protecting and recovering old-forest ecosystems, the dominant land cover in these regions before European settlement. Herein we provide a discussion of early-successional habitat programs and policies in terms of their origins, in the context of historical baselines, with respect to species’ ranges and abundance, and as they relate to carbon accumulation and ecosystem integrity. Taken together, and in the face of urgent global crises in climate, biodiversity, and human health, we conclude that public land forest and wildlife management programs must be reevaluated to balance the prioritization and funding of early-successional habitat with strong and lasting protection for old-growth and mature forests, and, going forward, must ensure far more robust, unbiased, and ongoing monitoring and evaluation.

Landscape context and spatial attributes matter for New England cottontail occupancy

“…Forest harvest and regeneration has been a common habitat management strategy for the New England cottontail (Fuller and Tur 2012) because timber harvest is a practical method for stimulating understory regeneration and can be used to create structurally diverse habitat (Halpern et al 2012, Mallon et al 2016, Jean et al 2019). Regenerating forests did not increase occupancy as anticipated, possibly because of factors such as the disturbance type, extent, and intensity, which affect understory regeneration and the resulting vegetation conditions (Halpern et al 2012, Jean et al 2019, Kellett et al 2023). Selective thinning approaches with higher canopy retention may favor New England cottontail over eastern cottontail (Eline et al 2023).…”

“…Jean et al 2019). Regenerating forests did not increase occupancy as anticipated, possibly because of factors such as the disturbance type, extent, and intensity, which affect understory regeneration and the resulting vegetation conditions (Halpern et al 2012, Jean et al 2019, Kellett et al 2023). Selective thinning approaches with higher canopy retention may favor New England cottontail over eastern cottontail (Eline et al 2023).…”

“…To reverse New England cottontail population declines and range contraction, management has focused on creating more early successional patches throughout the current species range (Fuller and Tur 2012) or applying the field of dreams hypothesis. Strategies to create early successional habitat primarily involve disturbance, often through shelterwood cuts to promote forest regeneration, but also use mowing and burning to manage invasive plant species (Fuller and Tur 2012, Kellett et al 2023). The expansion of a non‐native competitor, eastern cottontail ( Sylvilagus floridanus ), into the New England cottontail range has complicated these management actions to restore New England cottontail populations.…”

Re-appraisal of the global climatic role of natural forests for improved climate projections and policies

“…What processes are enacted with use of this energy, is determined by the genetic programs of all the organisms composing the ecological community. Randomly changing the species composition and morphological status of living organisms in the communityfor example, by replacing natural forest with a plantation with maximized productivity or by forcing the forest to remain in the early successional state (Kellett et al, 2023) -disturbs the flow of environmental information and disrupts the ecosystem's capacity to respond to environmental disturbances.…”

Re-appraisal of the global climatic role of natural forests for improved climate projections and policies

“…What processes are enacted with use of this energy, is determined by the genetic programs of all the organisms composing the ecological community. Randomly changing the species composition and morphological status of living organisms in the community-for example, by converting to developed land (removing natural elements altogether), replacing natural forest with a plantation, clearing large expanses for farmland, or forcing areas of forest to remain in an early successional or degraded state-disturbs the flow of environmental information and disrupts the ecosystem's capacity to respond to environmental disturbances (Makarieva et al, 2020;Kellett et al, 2023). We need a better understanding of this fundamental regulation and its tipping points.…”