From theby Cristina Santiestevan

MARCH/APRIL 2015 ◆ 76 ◆ VIRGINIA WILDLIFE ◆ WWW.HUNTFISHVA.COM6

But from the perspective of many wildspecies, both game and nongame, an olderforest does not meet their needs. Over-maturetrees often produce less mast—the nuts andfruits of forest trees—such as acorns andhickory nuts. is means less food for deer,turkey, bear, ruffed grouse, and other mast-eating animals; so, their numbers decline.ose towering trees also block sunlight fromreaching the forest floor, which is why shrubsare scarce. As a result, ground cover is limitedand the deer, bear, and turkey, as well as smallermammals and birds have few places to hide

from predators, and their numbers also decline.Some animals thrive in the open understory ofan over-mature forest, but many do not.

In Virginia and elsewhere, wildlife biolo -gists, hunters, and nature lovers all agree thatmany forest-dependent species are declining.e list is long and varied, including wood -cocks, turkeys, ruffed grouse, cottontail rabbits,and other game animals, as well as nongamespecies such as prairie warblers, least weasels,and brown thrashers.

“e best science we have indicates thatthe decline is due to the fact that our forests—

not just in Virginia, but up and down theeastern seaboard and particularly in theAppalachian region—have become matureforests,” explains Jay Jeffreys, science team leaderfor DGIF. “When that happens, certain com -munities of wildlife benefit, and others do notbenefit and their numbers in turn can go down.A whole variety of species require some open,shrubby, young forest habitat mixed in.”

e answer is simple: increase the diversityof the forest. For it to be healthy, it must includea blend of mature forest, maturing forest, andyoung forest. at young forest—known tobiologists as early successional habitat—is key.In its early years, a young forest may moreresemble an overgrown field than any forest ofour imagination. ere might be blackberryand raspberry brambles, sumac, and evengrasses. But from that tangle of growth, youngtrees will emerge. Within a decade or two, theywill stand taller than a grown man and willbegin to cast shade on the plants that growbeneath. As their canopy expands and theshadows deepen, the understory will naturallyopen up. e raspberries and blackberries willdisappear, to be replaced by sparse forest shrubsand open spaces. e young forest will havegrown up.

A healthy forested ecosystem includesstands of all ages. A portion might be shaded bytowering mature trees that measure their lives incenturies, while another section might beexposed to full sunlight and filled to over flowingwith brambles and grasses, with the remainderbeing somewhere between the two extremes.is is the kind of forest that supports a wealthof wildlife; smaller animals that need shelter forhiding, and larger animals that prey upon them.

Loosely defined, a young forest is anythingranging from a bramble-covered field to a 10-or 15-year-old stand of trees. It is not a statichabitat. e patch of young forest will grow andmature, to be replaced by another patch ofyoung forest elsewhere in the larger forestedecosystem.

In the northern Piedmont and west of themountains, roughly five percent or less ofVirginia’s forested land would be consideredyoung. is is not enough, says Bourgeois. “Alot of our wildlife species that are in seriousdecline are those that require young forests. Ifwe could get 15 to 20 percent of our forest inthat young forest habitat, that would be awe -some. A lot of these declining species wouldbegin to recover.”

remain confined to the understory, unable tomature and produce the seeds or nuts thatwould support wildlife and anothergeneration of trees. Eventually, the forestbecomes an arboreal retirement community,populated almost entirely by elderly speci -mens.

A mature forest appears dramatic to thehuman eye. e trees stand tall, as we imaginethey should. e understory is often relativelyopen, inviting hikers and others to strollbeneath the canopy. It is the forest of ourchildhood storybooks.

“M ost things that grow needsunlight,” explains AlBourgeois, a wildlife

biologist with the Department (DGIF).“Some things can grow in the shade of trees,but the oak and the hickory—which isprimarily what we have out here in theAppalachian Mountains—need a lot of sun -light.” Put another way, young oaks andhickories and many other trees and plantscannot grow well in the shadows of theirelders. If the forest canopy remainsundisturbed, those sprouts and seedlings will

Forests should be old anddramatic. Trees should stand talland proud. ese are the lessons

we learn in children’s books and throughout our lives. But, it is not this simple.

©Bi

ll Le

a

©R

alph

Hen

sley

Al B

ourg

eois

Many wildlife species require the tendershoots, sprouts, and seedlings of a young forest.

e problem is largely one of perception. “Aclearcut looks like a moonscape,” says Bourgeois.is is an image that is difficult to forget: churnedsoil, broken branches, and apparent generaldestruction. How could it be anything else? But,in fact, it is. e clearcut may look dreadful theday after the timber is hauled away, but it does notstay that way for long. “e young forest startsright when you are done cutting,” explainsBourgeois. “After three or four years, the wholearea will be covered in raspberries and black -berries. You’ve got oak seedlings. You’ve gothickory seedlings. You might have sassafras.” And,living within all that abundance is wildlife: quail,turkeys, cottontail rabbits, migratory songbirds,ruffed grouse, least weasels, and much more.

is rapid recovery is aided by theDepartment’s approach to timber harvests,guided by the Virginia Department of Forestry’sbest management practices. Streams are pro -tected, buffered by undisturbed stands of treesmeasuring 50 to 100 feet in breadth. All accessroads are laid on the grade, significantly reducingany threat of erosion. Hollow trees may be leftstanding, immediately increasing the wildlifevalue of the land. en, following timberremoval, land managers come back and work thesoil, adding lime and fertilizer if necessary andseeding the ground with native grasses. erecovery—and its benefit to wildlife—aredramatic.

Already, some landowners, hunters, andoutdoorsmen have begun to embrace thismanagement approach. “e hunters that utilizethat tract were thrilled to see what we were doing,”says Stephen Living, land and facilities managerfor the Department’s eastern region, about atimber harvest project recently completed on theGATR tract in the Mockhorn Island WildlifeManagement Area (WMA). eir enthusiasm isunderstandable; the GATR project will likely

boost populations of woodcock, turkey, and deer.Likewise, Living expects to see increased use of theproperty by migratory songbirds, including severalspecies designated by the Wildlife Action Plan asspecies of greatest conservation need.

“I think our constituents understand that ourfocus is wildlife,” says Living. “When we do timberwork, we aren’t doing it for the value of the timber.We are doing it for what we can do for the wildlife.”

Jeffreys is hopeful that this image problem willfade as the benefits of cutting and burning forestsbecome better known and understood. “ebeauty of it is that this young forest habitat is notlost. It is not like a subdivision or parking lot, wherethat habitat is just gone. at young forest, in time,will become an older forest. And then we start over.e forest replenishes itself contin uously.”

Toward DiversityA biologically diverse forest—wealthy with gameand nongame species—is a genera tionally diverseforest. is is the lesson that wildlife biologists havecome to learn and embrace in recent decades.Already, DGIF is successfully managing landsthroughout the state for mixed-age forests, with ablend of very young, very old, and much inbetween.

Looking ahead, the plan is to do more.Additional clearing is planned for the HighlandWMA in western Virginia, and new projects arebeing developed for the Chickahominy WMA andHog Island WMA, both in southeastern Virginia.With time and effort, Virginia’s forests may achievethe Department’s goal of 15 to 20 percent in youngforest. e benefits—recovering populations ofwood cock, turkey, migratory songbirds, smallmammals, and more—will be visible to all.

Mature trees are good,” says Burkett. “Butlittle baby trees are good too, as are grasslands andshrubs. From a wildlife perspective, it’s thatdiversity of habitats that we really need in order toconserve all these species.” •

Cristina Santiestevan writes about wildlife and the environment from her home in Virginia’s Blue RidgeMountains.

MARCH/APRIL 2015 ◆ 9

most practical approach is to harvest the timber,cutting down and removing the majority of thetoo-old trees. Sometimes an entire 10- or 20-acreplot is clearcut, while other times DGIF opts for ashelterwood-cut or thinning, removing some treeswhile leaving others standing. e decision of whatto cut and what to leave is made on a tree-by-treebasis by DGIF’s forester, biologists, and landmanagers. e timber is then sold at fair marketvalue.

“We do make money on it, but that’s not thereason we cut timber,” says Bourgeois. “We’recutting it for habitat. But we don’t want to give itaway.”

Fire is another option. Controlled burns maybe set in places where timber harvest is eitherimpractical or not allowed—as on some parts ofthe backcountry—or in fields or other manage -ment areas where biologists want to encouragemore biodiversity. “When I think fire, I thinkbiodiversity,” says Jeffreys. “If it is done the rightway and at the right time, you get that age classdistribution and the all-important cover at groundlevel such as young trees, shrubs, grasses, andherbs.”

A Public Image Challenge“It’s just not intuitive for most people that it’s agood thing—in the right proportion and at theright time—to cut trees,” continues Jeffreys, whoexplains that public perception is perhaps theDepartment’s greatest challenge when managingfor young forest. “Several years ago, we were gettinghammered by the media and a lot of users of ourwildlife management areas on cutting trees in acertain management area. e groups we were atodds with did not understand that balancing theage classes in our forests was a vitally importantthing to do for bringing back or making habitat forthese species that need young forest habitat.”

Then and NowYoung forest does not come about without someloss. “is part of the world, it’s hard to keep treesfrom growing,” explains Chris Burkett, WildlifeAction Plan coordinator for DGIF. “You reallyhave to work at it to keep the forest from regen -erating. When trees die back, you end up with ayoung forest. You might have grasses or shrubs for10 or 15 years before the trees grow tall enough tomake it feel like a forest again.”

Historically, forests sprang up, grew tall, andwere knocked down. e cycle would be triggeredby lightning strikes that sparked fires, wind stormsthat leveled hillsides, floods that drowned maturetrees, and pests and diseases that wiped out wholespecies or landscapes. For the most part, this is nolonger the case. “What we are finding, at least overthe last several decades, is that there’s a realreluctance to let a lot of these natural processesoccur,” says Burkett. “But there’s also a real reluc -tance to actually cut trees. And so we’re seeing verylarge chunks of the landscape in this really oldforested state.”

e truth is, there is good reason to limitthese natural disturbances when possible. In atruly wild setting, natural disasters are necessaryand even welcome as a means to supportbiodiversity. But, when people live so close withthe land, the randomness of these events becomesa risk. Fire, for example, poses a very real threat tohomes and communities. And invasive diseasesand pests have increased the risk of unnaturallydramatic losses, such as the fate that befellAmerican chestnuts in the early decades of the lastcentury. “We don’t want to manage by gypsymoth,” says Bourgeois. “We could have 1,000-acre blocks of forest die at one time, and we reallydon’t want to see that. We want to manage it.”

In the absence of natural disturbance,wildlife biologists are left with two viable manage -ment options: cutting and burning. Often, the

8 ◆ VIRGINIA WILDLIFE ◆ WWW.HUNTFISHVA.COM

A selective cut, after 2 years.Green-up from a prescribed burn, 5 weeks later. A clearcut after 3 to 4 years of growth.A forest recently cleared.

RESOURCES

• The Young Forest Project: www.youngforest.org

• Virginia Department of Game and InlandFisheries: www.dgif.virginia.gov/quail/forest-land.asp©

Bill

Lea

©Bi

ll Le

a

Al B

ourg

eois

Al B

ourg

eois