Focus Species Forestry - Maine Audubon

• Is the surrounding landscape mostly large-intermediate and mature forest, and is it likely to
stay that way for foreseeable future? If so, providing some young forest habitat will enhance
habitat diversity at the landscape level. In contrast, if the surrounding landscape is in very
young stands, the best course would be to maintain as much old forest as possible.
• Does the ownership form part of a travel corridor in a developed or agricultural area?
• Is the property part of a relatively large block of forest for the area?
• Is the property adjacent to a special-value habitat, such as a deer wintering area?
Answers to these and similar questions can help inform management decisions for the property.
Set Development-Stage Goals for the Landscape
To meet the needs of the full range of focus species, the landscape needs to provide adequate
habitat for both early successional forest species (regeneration and sapling-small pole stages) and
those that are characteristic of mature or late-successional stages. Refer to Table 2 for definitions
of development stages. The following table can be used as a guide to setting landscape goals
Landscape Goals for
Stand Development Stages 1
Landscape
Development Stage
Goal
Regeneration, Saplings and Small 5-30%
Poles
Intermediate Varies 2
Mature ≥ 20%
Large-diameter mature stands (≥15 ≥ 10%
in. dbh) and Late Successional
1
Adapted from DeGraaf et al. 1992, Maine Council on Sustainable Forest Management 1996, and draft
recommendations of the Maine Forest Service Biodiversity Advisory Committee.
2
The percent of landscape in intermediate stands is determined by the percent in other development stages.
Create a Diversity of Patch Sizes
In most natural forest systems, including those found in Maine, small-scale openings caused by
the death of individual or small groups of trees are much more common than large-scale standreplacing
disturbances (Seymour et al. 2002). This natural disturbance pattern, which is prevalent
in many forests, plus the fact that some species prefer a high level of interspersion in small
patches while others prefer large patches of comparatively uniform habitat as discussed above,
lead Hunter (1990) to propose the following rule of thumb:
A useful corollary is:
Harvest forest at a range of different scales and allocate approximately equal
areas to different points along the continuum from small scale to large.
Avoid uniformity of treatments, both within stands and across the property.
Focus Species Forestry 67