Focus Species Forestry - Maine Audubon

8. Property-Wide and Landscape-Scale Forestry
Focus species management integrates management at both the stand and landscape scales by
identifying a suite of species with different habitat requirements and territory sizes. Since some
focus species like the marten and goshawk require suitable habitat conditions at the landscape
scale, forest managers must consider how management of individual stands will affect the overall
mix of forest age classes and types at the landscape scale. Small woodland owners cannot
manage at the landscape scale, but they can manage at the overall property level, not just stand
by stand, and adjust management based on surrounding
landscape conditions.
Stands and Landscapes
Following are some basic principles of landscape-scale
ecology.
Habitat Loss and Fragmentation
Habitat loss is the conversion of one habitat type to another,
for example the conversion of mature forest to young forest,
or the loss of the forest itself when it is converted to
development or agriculture. Forest harvesting may result in
temporary loss of mature forest, but conversion to nonforest
is permanent.
Habitat fragmentation occurs when a relatively large patch
of habitat is cut into smaller patches. This may occur by
perforation, which occurs when many smaller cuts are
scattered throughout a large forest block, or when scattered
A stand is a unit of forestland typically
delineated on the basis of species, size,
and density of trees. Most forest
management maps delineate forest
stands. Stands typically range in size
from a few acres to several hundred
acres. Stand-level management is the
fundamental building block of forestry
and focus species management.
A landscape is a large-scale mosaic of
forest stands and other non-forested
community types and ecosystems such as
bogs and streams. Landscapes may range
in size from thousands of acres to tens of
thousands of acres.
homes are built in a forested area. The other end of the fragmentation spectrum is isolation,
which occurs when harvesting or development results in habitat patches that are surrounded by
large areas of dissimilar habitat. Studies have shown that habitat isolation is generally a greater
threat than perforation, especially when the size of the remaining patch is small relative to the
habitat needs of an animal.
Habitat connectivity is the inverse of habitat isolation, and occurs when patches of suitable
habitat are located adjacent to one another or are connected by travel corridors.
Habitat loss and fragmentation typically occur together and may have a compounding effect, and
scientists sometimes have a difficult time identifying which effect is the strongest.
Habitat Interspersion and Large Forest Patches
Habitat interspersion occurs when different habitat types occur adjacent to one another. Some
animals prefer a high level of interspersion in relatively small patches. For example, the ruffed
grouse does best when three age classes in 1-10-acre patches ranging from regeneration to
intermediate or mature stands are interspersed in a 10-50-acre area. In contrast, American marten
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