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--- guides_for_wildlife_habitat_management [2012/09/06 18:31]
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+++ guides_for_wildlife_habitat_management [2012/09/07 14:26] (current)
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 ====Timber Prescription Guides for Wildlife Habitat Management By Stages of Stand Development====
 ===Gray Squirrel===
-Seedling or Open:
+**Seedling or Open**:
-Sapling:
+   Exclude Fire or grazing. Without desirable hardwood sprout or seedling reproduction,
+   opportunities for habitat improvement are slim. If present when regenerating,
+   retain two den trees per 5 acres that have a 25-year life expectancy or more.
+**Sapling**:
+   Thin to release a variety of oaks, hickory, walnut, beech, and pecan trees.
+   Protect grape vines, exclude fire and retain vigorous den trees.
 Pole:
-Young Sawtimber:
+   Thin early and heavy to release mast trees and to promote vigorous growth of
-Mature Sawtimber:
+   future sawtimber trees and understory fruit-bearing shrubs and trees.
+   Retain existing or potential den trees such as maple,beech, and black cherry.
+   Promote vigorous growth of future sawtimber and fruiting of understory
+   shrubs and trees. Oak, beech and hickory should comprise about 1/2 stand.
+**Young Sawtimber**:
+   Cut to favor a good mixture of large mast producers and den trees.
+   Retain existing den trees and thin. Protect grape vines.
+   Thin heavily dense mid-stories.
+**Mature Sawtimber**:
+   Make salvage and sanitation cuts and retain a variety of healthy mast producing
+   and den trees. Prior to regeneration, make heavy cuts to encourage oak reproduction.
+   Regenerate hardwoods with clearcuts or large group selection to get rapid early growth.
+   Inventory to assure that oak reproduction is present prior to regeneration harvest cutting.
 ===Bob White Quail===
-Seedling or Open:
+**Seedling or Open**:
-Sapling:
+   This stage of pine stands can be most productive for quail since regeneration areas are
-Pole:
+   excellent habitat for 1-4 years. Double chop during October-March to lengthen period of
-Young Sawtimber:
+   site preparation for quail. Plow out or leave one-year roughs one acre in size for nesting.
-Mature Sawtimber:
+   Plant pines at wide spacing (300-500 per acre). Protect old home sites, spring heads, and
+   branch bottoms. If warranted, plant legumes in long, narrow (about 20 ft wide) food strips
+   through the woods (see local game biologists for specifics).
+**Sapling**:
+   Prescribe burn older sapling pine stands to encourage herbaceous growth. Thin to hasten
+   stand development and open forest floor. Maintain small openings with disc or fire.
+   Protect old house sites, branch stringers, and food patches.
+**Pole**:
+   Thin early and heavy in pine stands. Prescribe burn in 3 year intervals to promote grasses,
+   weed seeds. Exclude fire from the best seed and berry producing understory areas.
+**Young Sawtimber**:
+   Develop park-like pine sawtimber stands by thinning and burning. Exclude fire from edges,
+   plum thickets and fringes of branch bottoms. Prescribe burn portions of stands on 2-3 year
+   schedule. Plow out one-year roughs for nesting and special food areas. Use natural openings
+   and fire-breaks for supplemental food patches of 1 to 2 acres per 160 acres. Plant legumes
+   such as lespedeza bicolor, partridge pea, and common lespedeza. Strips should be long
+   and narrow and lead away from bays and springs.
+**Mature Sawtimber**:
+   maintain park-like stands. At regeneration, protect seed and fruit bearing trees and shrubs
+   along fringe or edge. Log and do cultural activities in winter or late fall. Under such
+   conditions pine stands can be managed for decades on good sites if trees are given room
+   to grow and if selected insect and disease tree removals are made. Prescribe burn every
+to 3 year interval.
 ===Wild Turkey===
-Seedling or Open:
+**Seedling or Open**:
-Sapling:
+   This stage provides nesting and brood range. Plant pines at 10' X 10' or 10' X 12' spacing
-Pole:
+   to aid rapid stand development and lengthen the grass and form production period. Avoid
-Young Sawtimber:
+   site disturbances March through June to protect nesting and brood areas. Manage for
-Mature Sawtimber:
+   sawtimber rotation in both pine and hardwood stands. One-forth of each square mile should
+   be managed to produce mast bearing species if possible.
+**Sapling**:
+   In hardwoods thin to favor oaks beech and other turkey mast. In older sapling pine, burn
+   December-February to encourage grass and forb production. (Turkeys seldom use stands of
+   this stage).
+**Pole**:
+   Thin to release mast producers in hardwoods and pine hardwood stands. Retain 20 to 50% of
+   the stand in oak and beech. In pine, prescribe burn portions of the stand at 3 to 5 year
+   intervals in December through February. Protect shrubs bearing fruits and soft mast in
+   selected areas, especially in transition zones between pine hills and bottoms when burning.
+**Young Sawtimber**:
+   Cut to improve and maintain a variety of mast bearing trees and fruit bearing shrubs. Break
+   up large areas of dense understory. Use fire or logging to keep pine stands open. Confine
+   harvesting season to July-February and remove all products in same operation to reduce
+   disturbance.
+**Mature Sawtimber**:
+   Apply 80 to 100 year rotation. Maintain pine in medium to fully stocked stands to prevent a
+   heavy midstory. Burn pine stands in December-February on a 3 to 5 year cycle. Consider
+   surrounding stands in selective regeneration areas to maintain diversity. At harvest and
+   before regeneration, plan to remove all commercial and noncommercial stems to assure
+   development of intolerant mast bearing seedlings and sprouts. Harvest July-February in one
+   operation or as quickly as possible in stand sizes up to 100 acres in size. Distribute cuts
+   to minimize disturbance and other impacts and retain sawtimber stands needed for turkey
+   habitat.
 ===Ruffed Grouse===
-Seedling or Open:
+**Seedling or Open**:
-Sapling:
+   Prepare sites for conifers and maintain openings by prescribed fire or discing possibly in
-Pole:
+   early spring. Protect and maintain old house places, thickets of thornapple and grape, old
-Young Sawtimber:
+   apple trees, and patches of clover, which are aids to hunting. Plant or encourage conifer
-Mature Sawtimber:
+   patches (1 to 5 acres in size) in extensive hardwood areas.
+**Sapling**:
+   Develop a wide variety of species when making precommercial thinnings. Break up extensive
+   stands of conifers with pockets of hardwood.
+**Pole**:
+   Cut to maintain a variety of tree species and encourage understory shrub growth. Thin
+   early and frequently.
+**Young Sawtimber**:
+   Maintain rapid growth of overstory and vigorous shrub understory through thinnings. Reduce
+   midstory stems. Maintain a variety of species mixture in overstory and understory.
+**Mature Sawtimber**:
+   Maintain vigorous shrub understories while favoring rapid growth in the overstory through
+   thinnings. Regenerate in well-distributed stands (1 to 40 acres in size). Space and
+   schedule cuts to make at least one available during each cutting period.
 ===White Tailed Deer===
-Seedling or Open:
+**Seedling or Open**:
-Sapling:
+   Plant pine seedlings at 10' X 10' or greater spacing (436 less per acre). Prepare sites in
-Pole:
+   early spring. Favor burning over mechanical means to retain root crowns of browse plants.
-Young Sawtimber:
+   Protect hardwood regeneration from grazing and over-browsing. Avoid long continuous
-Mature Sawtimber:
+   wind-rows that that deter deer movement. Retain old house sites, water areas, thickets,
+   and unique winter cover areas (primarily in oak-hickory stands).
+**Sapling**:
+   In older sapling pine stands, prescribe burn to produce forbs and browse. Thin hardwood
+   stands to favor oaks and other fruit bearers. Favor a variety of high and consistent
+   consistent fruit and nut yielders. Exclude fire and grazing from hardwood stands.
+**Pole**:
+   In thinnings, favor oaks and other mast trees. Stimulate early diameter growth. Retain a
+   wide variety of fruit and mast trees in the understory. In hardwood stands favor black
+   oaks 2 to 1 over white oaks, and exclude fire.
+**Young Sawtimber**:
+   Selectively cut hardwood stands, cut to maintain a variety of mast trees; where it is
+   scarce, protect winter cover and browse such as honeysuckle, laurel, etc. Prescribe
+   burn pine stands every 3-5 years. Intermediate cuts help produce sprouts and other
+   browse. Maintain openings by burning or mowing.
+**Mature Sawtimber**:
+   Maintain hardwood stands at full or near-full stocking until regeneration; then cut stand
+   heavy enough to encourage oak reproduction. Protect evergreen browse, cover and water
+   areas in harvest cuts. Defer regeneration of mature hardwood mast stands where scarce
+   (less than 20% of area within a 300-acre range). Cut pine stands frequently to maintain
+   understory browse variety and break up dense midstories. When regenerating select and
+   and retain key areas such as hardwood component stringers, evergreen browse patches,
+   water holes, and old orchards, etc.

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