Ten Principles for Bird-Friendly Forestry: Conservation Approaches in Natural Forests Used for Timber Production

Bird–forestry relationships have been the subject of research and conservation initiatives for decades, but there are few reviews of resulting recommendations for use by forest managers. We define “bird-friendly forestry” as forest management that applies recommendations from research seeking to rec...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inBirds (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 4; no. 2; pp. 245 - 261
Main Authors Arcilla, Nico, Strazds, Māris
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Rovaniemi MDPI AG 01.06.2023
Subjects
Biodiversity
Bird migration
boreal forests
Commodities
Deforestation
Endangered & extinct species
Europe
Forest management
Forestry
Harvest
indicator species
natural disturbance emulation
North America
silviculture
Timber
Trends
Wildlife conservation
Canada
Sweden
United States > US
North America
Europe
Finland
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Summary:Bird–forestry relationships have been the subject of research and conservation initiatives for decades, but there are few reviews of resulting recommendations for use by forest managers. We define “bird-friendly forestry” as forest management that applies recommendations from research seeking to reconcile logging with bird conservation in natural forests used for timber production. We reviewed relevant studies to synthesize 10 principles of bird-friendly forestry: (1) protect and enhance vertical structure through uneven-aged silviculture; (2) leave abundant dead wood in different decay stages; (3) maintain residual large green trees; (4) create and maintain sufficient amounts of uncut reserves and corridors; (5) maximize forest interior by retaining large contiguous forest tracts in landscapes with sufficient functional connectivity; (6) maintain buffers along streams, rivers, and wetlands cultural and urban landscapes; (7) maintain horizontal stand structure and enhance vegetation diversity by creating canopy gaps; (8) extend the temporal scale of logging cycles; (9) minimize post-logging disturbance to forests, particularly during the bird breeding season; and (10) manage for focal species and guilds. These principles may serve as guidelines in developing bird-friendly management plans customized for regional priority species, with a clearly articulated vision and quantitative objectives through which success can be measured.
ISSN:2673-6004
2673-6004
DOI:10.3390/birds4020021