How to evaluate your forestland for wildlife & plan improvements

How to Evaluate Your Forestland for

Aiming for Sustainable Ecoregions & Their Habitats

Wildlife & Plan Improvements
0.5
This Forest Stewardship Program (FSP) guide aims to help you evaluate forestland conditions for wildlife & then plan for improvements using simple but critical recommendations. FSP helps private landowners manage their natural resources, often through a management plan written by natural resource professionals. Plans are supposed to integrate & focus objectives of sustaining quality native timber, wildlife populations, soil & water resources, aesthetics, & recreation. Plans prescribe select conservation practices for specific areas of land. Professional plan writers who offer technical guidance using Georgia's FSP hub templates already give prescriptions that integrate multiple natural resources. However because landowner objectives vary, even within an objective for wildlife, it is important to be able to at least broadly assess forestland conditions first to then prescribe options that provide an adequate amount & quality of habitats for select wildlife. This is not easy because every wildlife species has a unique set of ideal habitat conditions of food, water, cover, & space. To simplify decision-making, this assessment focuses on . balancing two land conditions- early successional habitat (ESH) & late successional habitat that produces hard & soft mast (LSH).

Begin by reading this wildlife assessment tool & following through at least steps 1 & 2 on page 4. Using your knowledge of your land now if you want to try, but definitely again later using a ground-truthed stand map created by a natural resource professional, refer to the descriptions below to outline & label all areas on your property as ESH adequate, LSH adequate, or Inadequate. If wildlife is a very important objective, further classify adequate acres as good or great where deserved. With this baseline information now sketched on a map, you can help your plan writer choose & tailor the best recommendation set from page 2 to meet your forest management objectives. For details or clarification about wildlife management, contact a Certified Wildlife Biologist.

Early Successional Habitat

Late Successional Habitat

of open canopy forests & openlands

of closed canopy hardwood forests

ESH is the understory of a forest that receives 30-70% LSH is the midstory & overstory of a hardwood forest

sunlight coverage, is a mix of native grasses, legumes,

composed of native trees that produce acorns, nuts, seeds,

weeds, briars, bugs, & shrubs, is best maintained by

fruit, other mast, & cover that benefits native wildlife like

burning 15-40 acre burn units on a 1-3 year rotation, & deer, turkey, & songbirds.

benefits native wildlife like deer, turkey, quail, & songbirds.

Broad-Scale Habitat Evaluation

% Land Coverage to Create Adequate ESH + LSH
Deer 70-90 + 10-30

Turkey 30-50 + 50-70

Quail 80-100 A property's total AAddeeqquuaatteeEESSHHAAccrreess(_____) is the A property's total AAddeeqquuaattee HLSHMAAccrreess (_____) is the sum of area types prescribe burned or 1st-thinned in the sum of... mixed & hardwood forest area types with past 3 years that are... pine, mixed, & hardwood forest dominant trees that are 70 ft2 basal area or greater, 20-120 area types that are commercial with less than 70 ft2 basal years old, & 40-60% oak of 2-3+ species & 40-60% mix of area (BA), non-commercial with less than 550 trees/acre, 2-3+ non-oak species.
hayland or grazingland restored to native grasses & forbs, & enhanced areas of wildlife openings,
transitional habitat buffers, & wildlife shelterwoods.

Of these adequate ESH acres,

Medium-Scale Habitat Evaluation

Of these adequate LSH acres,

(_____) are GGooooddEESSHHAAccrreess (subtract commercial acres (_____) are GGooooddHLSHM AAccrreess (subtract acres without

not 61-70 BA) &

4-6+ oak & 4-6+ non-oak species) &

(_____) are GGrreeaattEESSHHAAccrreess (subtract commercial acres (_____) are GGrreeaattHLSSHM AAccrreess (subtract acres without 7+

61+ BA & acres not burned 5+ times in past 10 years). species of oak, where 2+ are of the Red Oak Group

& 2+ of the White Oak Group, & 7+ non-oak species).

Exclude acres as adequate if plant diversity or abundance of natives is low or if invasive-exotics are dense, such as lands dominated by crops, sweetgum, privet, Bermuda or fescue grasses.

Exclude acres as adequate if tree & plant diversity or abundance of natives is low or if invasive-exotics are dense, such as lands dominated by saw palmetto, privet, or rhododendron.

Evaluate favored plant foods & cover types with

Fine-Scale Habitat Evaluation

on page 3 to improve quality of ESH & LSH composition.

Georgia Forest Stewardship Program Templates. 20140903ed How to Evaluate Your Forestland for Wildlife & Plan Improvements Page 1of4

Aiming for Sustainable Ecoregions & Their Habitats

White-Tailed Deer are habitat generalists capable of surviving throughout most of Georgia except in intensely
developed areas. Like many wildlife species here, deer were historically abundant but because of commercial markethunting & habitat destruction they were completely extirpated by 1895 except for isolated populations along the coast. Wildlife management helped initially restore most deer populations here by 1974. During the warm-season deer browse about 5 pounds/day of native foliage & other plant matter in early successional habitat (ESH) up to a reachable 5' & during the cool-season prefer oak mast in late successional habitat (LSH). A wild deer lives in a home range of about 250 - 1,200 acres, needing more when habitat quality is low & frequents thick vegetative cover more often when threatened.
FSP Equal-Objective Deer Recommendations: (1) Improve native habitats for nutrition, cover, & wildness by producing land coverage that is 70-90% adequate
ESH acres & 10-30% adequate LSH acres by year 10. 15-40 acre ESH burn compartments are best. (2) Improve hunter-harvest guidelines for deer by choosing those that even sex ratios & age classes while keeping
the population below carrying capacity so that no browse lines or absence of native preferred browse plant species occurs. Each year hunters should harvest a doe per 150 acres to stabilize a population, 75 acres to decrease, or 200 acres to increase, limit harvest to mostly older bucks (3.5+ years of age), & evaluate whether harvest needs adjusting based on knowledge of changes in local population, drought, harvest by neighbors, etc. (3) Join or create a wildlife landowner-cooperative that aims to encompass at least 1,000-10,000+ contiguous acres where landowners commit to improve habitat & hunter-harvest similarly. The more acreage the better. FSP Wildlife-Primary Deer-Primary Recommendations: Prescribe same as above, but based on the landowner's level of interest, increase the amount of habitats & their adequacy level to "good" or "great", quality & adherence to hunterharvest guidelines, & contiguous acres in the wildlife landowner-cooperative. If within a 1 mile radius of the property only 0-20% ESH or 0-10% LSH acres are adequate, prescribe options to increase whichever is most critically limited.
Wild Turkey exist throughout most of Georgia, but usually do not occupy intensely or even moderately developed
areas, or large contiguous areas dominated by or absent of early-successional habitat (ESH). During the cool-season turkeys rely much on mast from late successional habitat (LSH), & during the warm-season on open ESH areas that are mostly 1-year post-burn for brood-rearing (sparse plants at your knees-height). ESH that has not been burned in 2+ years is beneficial for nesting (thick plants at your waist-height), but is avoided most of the year because it limits their ability to see at least 30' while walking. Wild turkey live mostly in flocks & have a home range of about 1,000-10,000+ acres, depending on habitat quality & disturbances.
FSP Equal-Objective Wild Turkey Recommendations: (1) Improve native habitats for nutrition, cover, & wildness by producing land coverage that is 30-50% adequate
ESH acres & 50-70% adequate LSH acres by year 10. 15-40 acre ESH burn compartments are best. Improve warm-season conditions by creating more brood-rearing cover that is immediately between nesting cover & LSH habitat. Improve cool-season conditions by creating better networks of mature upland & bottomland LSH forest buffers by designating 200-600' wide bands that link new travel corridors needed with existing ones. (2) Reduce unnecessary disturbances of mowing, pets, & people, etc., during nesting & brood-rearing (Mar-July). (3) Join or create a wildlife landowner-cooperative that aims to encompass at least 1,000-10,000+ contiguous acres where landowners commit to improve habitat & reducing disturbances similarly. The more acreage the better. FSP Wildlife-Primary Wild Turkey-Primary Recommendations: Prescribe same as above, but based on the landowner's level of interest, increase the amount of habitats & their adequacy level to "good" or "great", quality & adherence to guidelines for reducing unnecessary disturbances, & contiguous acres in the wildlife landownercooperative. If within a 1 mile radius of the property only 0-10% ESH or 0-30% LSH acres are adequate, prescribe options to increase whichever is most critically limited.
Bobwhite Quail were very abundant throughout most of Georgia prior to the 1970s when farming, forestry, &
development occurred at low intensities & when prescribe burning was widespread. Since then, both Georgia's quail & quail hunter populations have declined over 80%. Bobwhite quail depend almost exclusively on native earlysuccessional habitat (ESH) in forests maintained with frequent thins that allow 40-60+% sunlight coverage on the ground & 1-2 year rotational prescribe burns, & in farmland maintained with fallow field borders, corners, & hedgerows. While the home range of a quail is 40 acres, a minimum 2,500 5,000+ contiguous acre area of quality ESH is needed to keep a population healthy.
FSP Equal-Objective Bobwhite Quail Recommendations: (1) Improve native habitats for nutrition, cover, & wildness by producing land coverage that is 80-100% good ESH
acres by year 10. Burn (1-2 year rotation) &/or disk (1-3 year rotation) all ESH areas in winter, & herbicide-kill invading trees threatening to over shade the understory. 15-40 acre ESH burn compartments are best. Convert fields for grazing & haying from exotic grasses like Bermuda & fescue to a mix of native warm season grasses. (2) Reduce unnecessary disturbances from mowing, disking, pets, etc., during nesting & brood-rearing (April-October). (Fla3Sn)PdoWwJwionlhdieenlrri'feoserl-laePcnvrrdeiemloaowtaefrnyaienBrwtseoirclbedowslmtih,fmeiitnelicatQrnteoudaaoismeiwl-ptnhPreeorriva-mecmoahoorauypbneRitrteaaocttfoi&vEmeSrmteHhdeaunhtcdaaiabinmtigitoasdnttis&os:teuinrtPsbcraoaendmscceperqiasubssaesicmsayatimllleaeveralesyalts.t2oaT,PWT5b"hrh0ogeie0vilrsndme-ec5,anfor,itb0ir"irnube0,etg0qeaSb+ucBauarcselpoueiatndprgytnreio&geintnushaostgehdiuoebhsneeatrtceernre.cse to guidelines for reducing unnecessary disturbances, & contiguous acres in the wildlife landowner-cooperative.
Georgia Forest Stewardship Program Templates.
20140903ed How to Evaluate Your Forestland for Wildlife & Plan Improvements Page 2of4

Fine-Scale Habitat Evaluation of Forestland
To release agronomic tree plantings &/or improve habitats for wildlife in an ideal way, it is important to have an experienced registered forester evaluate your forestland's overstory, midstory, & understory at a fine-scale for condition & quality. He/she can then prescribe the best set of conservation practices for each stand to promote favored native trees, plants, habitats for wildlife, & all of your forest management objectives. Practices commonly applied include particular techniques of timber harvesting, prescribe burning, mechanical treatments, &/or herbiciding. Before buying & using herbicides, always also consult a licensed representative & understand the product label (www.cdms.net).
For deer, turkey, quail, & many other game & nongame wildlife that depend on early successional habitat, burn 15-40 acre areas on a staggered 2-year rotation in a checkerboard pattern. Ideally, this should maintain a mix of about 1/3rd native warm season grasses, 1/3rd forbs-legumes, & 1/3rd woody shrub thickets. Thickets should have 50' diameters & be 300' apart. To emphasize deer, increase shrubs to 50% by widening thickets. For details, contact a Certified Wildlife Biologist.
As you have time in coming years, learn to assess the condition of your land as it changes naturally by identifying common plants with an easy to understand guide like the book Forest Plants of the Southeast & Their Wildlife Uses, trees with Native Trees of the Southeast, & rare flora with Field Guide to the Rare Plants of Georgia. Plant & tree communities create many forest types ranging from young to old, & each growth stage favors certain wildlife (examples below).

Early Successional Habitat
of open canopy forests & openlands

Pine Forest

Hardwood Forest

Late Successional Habitat
of closed canopy hardwood forests

Wetland Forest

Hardwood Forest

Prescribe burn every 2 years to maintain a mix of

1/3rd

1/3rd

1/3rd

Native Warm Forbs & Legumes Shrub Thickets

Season Grasses

300' apart & 50' wide

+

+

Forest Yea r
1 20+ Forest Years

Plant Foods Highly Favored in Forest Understory

Tree Foods Highly Favored in Forest Midstory & Overstory

by quail, turkey, & deer (partial list)

by quail, turkey, & deer (partial list)

Beggarweed

Oaks

Blackberry

Plant Management Hints

Dogwood

Tree Management Hints

Beautyberry

Pine, Longleaf

Blueberry Gallberry Ragweed Lespedeza Panic grasses Huckleberry Grape Palmetto Partridge Pea Milk Pea Sumac

Burning &/or disking early successional habitat (ESH) areas on a 2-year rotation
maintains native plants by top-killing fire-intolerant trees that are or would
eventually shade-kill these plants in the forest understory. Areas with a
weak history of fire (suppression of natural fires

Mulberry Tupelo Persimmon Hackberry Sassafras Yellow Poplar Holly Willow Red bay

Thinning & herbicides

applied with Walk to Spray

methods

in

late

successional habitat (LSH)

areas are a great way to

release favored native trees

from competitors to

improve % composition.

& lack of prescribe fire) often have excessive woody cover & need herbicide to restore

Vetch

more natural conditions. ESH dominated by Bermuda, fescue, bahia, other sod grass,

Waxmyrtle

invasive-exotic plants or trees, or lacking diversity for other reasons should be eradicated

Supplejack

with herbicide & restored by planting or broadcasting a native seed mix (pounds per acre)

Greenbriar

of big bluestem (1.5), Indian grass (1.5), little bluestem (1.5), & plants (1.5) - see lists of

Hawthorn

favored plants above, & trees for reforestation. Read "Impacts of Exotic Pasture Grasses on

Strawberry bush

Bobwhites" & "Herbicide Control of Bermudagrass" (www.georgiawildlife.com/node/2248)

Yaupon Yellow Jasmine

Georgia Forest Stewardship Program Templates.

20140903ed How to Evaluate Your Forestland for Wildlife & Plan Improvements Page 3of4

STAND MAP
USING GEORGIA'S FOREST STEWARDSHIP PROGRAM HUB TEMPLATES

Aiming for Sustainable Ecoregions & Their Habitats

Evaluate Your Forestland For Wildlife & Plan Improvements
1. Learn About Key Forest Management Guidelines to help you integrate your objectives with natural resources of timber, wildlife, soil/water, recreation, & aesthetics. Visit www.georgiawildlife.com/hunting/game-management to read... Is Your Land In A Georgia High Priority Restoration Area?, Manage Forests With Enhanced Conservation Strategies, Why Thin & Prescribe Burn Forests, Herbicide Use in Georgia Forests, & Wildlife Openings: Design & Management.
2. Contact a Registered Forester &/or a Certified Wildlife Biologist to ... a) request a ground-truthed Stand Map of your land formatted to this page, b) use this evaluation tool to discuss & plan improvements for wildlife, c) request a Forest Stewardship Program plan written for the next 10-years that includes your stand map & summary recommendations per stand area type & d) help you handle the details of following through with its recommendations.
Registered Foresters from your Georgia Forestry Commission & private consultants can be found at www.gatrees.org
Certified Wildlife Biologists from your Wildlife Resources Division & private consultants can be found at www.georgiawildlife.com & www.wildlife.org
3. Improve Your Ability to Evaluate & Successfully Implement Recommendations from your FSP plan. While it & your stand map are being prepared ... a) read the complete FSP Hub template for each stand area type occurring on your land by requesting them from a Georgia Forestry Commission forester, b) review an aerial photo, topographic map, & soils map of your land by visiting websites like Georgia Tax Assessors, Google Earth, Google Map Maker, & Natural Resource Conservation Service's Soil Data Mart, &/or c) read about specific wildlife species from the weblink listed in #1 above.

N

E

W

S Map Scale

Total Acres (s(teaxndis+tiennghaancreedaasr)e:as): Directions to or Address of Property:

County:

Landowner Objectives: Primary is.... & secondary is.... Landowner Name / Phone / E-mail: Plan Writer Name / Phone / E-mail:

Georgia Forest Stewardship Program Templates. 20140903ed How to Evaluate Your Forestland for Wildlife & Plan Improvements Page 4of4

Manage Forests With Enhanced Conservation Strategies

The Forest Stewardship Program is designed to help private landowners manage their natural resources with a written management plan that integrates & focuses their objectives of sustaining quality native timber, native wildlife populations, soil & water resources, aesthetics & recreation. Plans prescribe select conservation practices for specific areas of land. The program guidelines below are for landowners who have a near-equal emphasis of these .objectives. Annually monitor for & correct issues needing immediate attention like with forestry Best Management Practices & disease, & control invasive-exotic plants by referring to template Herbicide Use in Georgia Forests.

PINE STANDS

Pine forest communities are important for wildlife species because they can provide food, water, cover, horizontal structure, & other space, in the form of early-successional plant habitat.
Combine frequent thins & consistent burns among scattered 15-40 acre burn compartments on a 1-3 year rotation. This helps create & then maintain a checkerboard pattern of early-successional habitats for wildlife & controls competition from advanced woody tree growth. Thin non or pre-commercial stands to below 475 trees per acre & commercial stands with a basal area (BA) of 120+ square feet per acre to 90, with 91-120 to 60, & with 71-90 to 50. BA is a measure of timber productivity foresters estimate & is the sum of surface areas of tree cross-sections at 4.5' high per acre. Repeat thins every 3-6 years to maintain 70 BA or less to allow 30%+ of the ground to be in direct sunlight to grow grasses, weeds, & shrubs that wildlife like deer & turkey need. Refer to template Why Thin & Prescribe Burn Forests?
Create a wildlife opening per 25 acres that is 2-4 acres in size by harvesting trees around logging decks & refer to the template Wildlife Openings: Design & Management for low, medium, & high intensity management options.
Create transitional habitat buffers around open areas that cover 5-25% of each pine stand by thinning to 30 BA within 10, 25, or 40 yards along edges of wildlife openings, rights-of-ways, agricultural fields, & forest roads.
Evenly scatter logging debris & retain hardwood snag trees with 4-6/acre having 5-11" diameters & 1 having 10+".
To temporarily control erosion in disturbed areas with high erosion potential, establish native plantings or noninvasive/non-persistent plantings to allow surrounding native plants to eventually stabilize soil in these critical areas. Prior to winter, plant a mix of (a) browntop millet, partridge pea, & ragweed from April to June if soils are highly compacted like in logging decks/roads, or (b) wheat & oats from September December if after July. Where stabilization from nearby native plants will take many years, use no-till drill to plant these & include a mix of big & little blue stem, switch, & Indian grasses. Avoid invasive-exotic plants, kudzu, serecia lespedeza, Bermuda, fescue, & rye grass.
Daylight sections of forest roads with mudding problems by thinning or clearing roadsides 20+'.
Consider reforesting harvested areas with native tree & plant communities, like longleaf pine.

HARDWOOD & MIXED PINE-HARDWOOD STANDS

Hardwood forest communities are important for wildlife species because they can provide (a) food, water, cover, vertical structure, & other space usually within both terrestrial & aquatic habitats & (b) forest buffers that can serve as travel corridors for wildlife through bottomlands & uplands.

Decide how to manage a stand in the future by evaluating tree species composition & density by selecting at least one sample point per 10 acres & recording BA of trees for: white oak group, red oak group, soft mast producers, pine, other desirables, & undesirables. If pine composition is evenly distributed & greater than 60% then manage for pines, if less than 40% then manage for hardwoods, & if 40-60% manage for either or a mixed stand.

Thin by harvesting or killing cull trees to leave 80 BA or 50-80 croptrees per acre of a 50% even diversity of white &

red oak tree species & 50% even mix of all other tree species. In mixed stands create one wildlife opening per 25

acres, while in hardwood stands create one 4-acre wildlife shelterwood area per 50 acres leaving 30-40 BA of oaks.

For a more intense management option instead: (1) thin as described above but favor leaving fire-tolerant trees, (2)

burn during cool-seasons in scattered 15-40 acre compartments on a 3-5 year rotation for mixed stands & 3-10 for

hardwood stands, & (3) control advanced competing regeneration with direct-stem herbiciding in years after thinning in

mixed stands, while in hardwood stands increase shelterwoods to 2 per 50 acres. EvMenalny ascgaetmterenlotgCgiangn dSeabfreisl.y

MisntrtaeLHeiarnimumgtrahbirittuntincefffinaonetnrrgsseetsslreteabavumef5fse.0r%Ds +oofnc1ao0nt0oh-pa3yr0v0ceo'svtoewnrieotharic5nh02s5Bid'Aeo, f&oafnipAnGNyev6trseahee,tot0errnuera02nagrg05miaiae'al+lsosrftorwreaaitnmetresrb/mtordiotytue.tnIstntsrCtterheraMeaemmraiestmsm/iwnliaecagiantvNeIienrnag2cbt5ou7o%m5dr'ia++eelsc&fE&aonvrHoe5ppn0eayr'tbesfoni,otrnra2ita5l BA. CrIecaeteSbteotrtmersnetworks of mature upland & bottomWlainldffiorreesst buffers to serve as travel corridors for wildlife by desTTigorneraentiaDndgios2ee0as0s-e6s00' wide bands to link existing corridpoerrs.ySeeaertemplate Priority Conservation Landscapes in GA.

DisWcoiunrdage conversion of healthy mature hardwood stands, like those composed mostly of oak, hickory, or cypress.

Drought

Georgia Forest Stewardship Program Templates.

20120504ed Summary of Timber Harvesting Guidelines in Georgia Page 1of1