Focus Species Forestry - Maine Audubon

5. Habitat Management Guides
The following pages include management guides for the six forest ecosystems and special-value
habitats used in focus species forestry. Each habitat guide describes typical identifying
characteristics, ecology, and wildlife 2 .
Focus Species List
The focus species lists for each habitat type are divided into three development stages: early
successional forest, mature forest, and late-successional forest. See Table 2 for a definition of
these development stages. By focusing on both ends of the forest maturity spectrum, habitat
specialists that require young or old forests are accommodated as well as the great number of
species that live in a broad range of development stages. Following are some notes on the species
lists in the habitat management guides:
• There are no late-successional species for aspen-birch because this is a short-lived stand
type that does not develop true late-successional characteristics.
• There are no early successional focus species listed for eastern hemlock or northern white
cedar. Due to the limited extent of these ecosystems, their great value as mature conifer
cover, and the potential for rare plants in cedar-seepage forests, the recommendations
focus on maintaining habitat associated with mature or late-successional phases of these
stands.
• Most research on late-successional species (mostly lichens) has been associated with
northern hardwood, spruce-fir, and northern pine (i.e., not oak-pine) types. Little is
known about other types, but a conservative approach to management suggests allowing
some stands of all types to reach the late-successional stage.
Focus Species Management
This section describes natural disturbance regimes (fire, insects, disease, etc.) for each forest type
and the silvicultural tools that can be used to create and maintain focus species habitat. Focus
species forestry does not attempt to “mimic” the time scales of natural disturbance because even
under the most conservative management trees are harvested much more frequently than they
would die under natural conditions. However, natural disturbance regimes can be used to inform
and help guide forest management, especially by modifying silviculture to produce stand and
landscape structures that are found in natural, unmanaged forests. Refer to Appendix 3 for an
overview of silvicultural systems.
The management recommendations in the following section should be implemented in the
context of the stand-level management guidelines (Section 7), the landscape-scale forestry guide
(Section 8), and the recommendations for focus species associated with that habitat type.
2 “New England Wildlife: Habitat, Natural History and Distribution” by Richard DeGraaf and Mariko Yamasaki
(2001) provides a comprehensive review of wildlife associated with the region’s forest ecosystems.
Focus Species Forestry 17