Review and download Chapter 3 - Golden-winged Warbler Working ...

Developing Habitat at Management Sites and Patches
Within appropriate landscape contexts, identify
management sites to create, maintain, or restore
Golden-winged Warbler habitat. The
management site (see sidebar to right) includes
the local area that is receiving active habitat
management and will ultimately provide primary
habitat for breeding territories and nest sites, and
the contextual habitat that will potentially
receive management action in the future.
Management sites can range in size from a few
acres or hectares to hundreds of acres or
hectares. In some cases, management sites might
be part of a larger habitat complex that is
collectively being managed for Golden-winged
Warbler and other associated species. In large,
heavily forested areas, try to maintain 15–20% of
forestland in early successional stages
appropriate for Golden-winged Warbler
breeding.
The management site can further be divided into
smaller, more logistically manageable units.
These units are often referred to as patches or
stands. In this plan, we use the term patch (see
sidebar to right) to refer to the smaller units
residing within a management site. If there is no
other suitable habitat within 1 mi (1.5 km) of the
proposed management site, then a minimum of
25 ac (10 ha) should be created as one or more
patches of breeding habitat. If other suitable
breeding habitat is adjacent (within
approximately 1000 ft (300 m)) to the proposed
area, then a patch of new habitat can be as small
as 5 ac (2 ha).
Appalachian Region
Most common habitat types used:
• Upland shrub communities (abandoned farmland, shrubby fields, lightly grazed pastures)
• Successional forest (regenerating young forest resulting from forest management or other
disturbance)
• Forest-shrub wetland (alder wetland, beaver wetland, hardwood swamp)
• Reclaimed surface mine
• Utility rights-of-way
3–15
Decreasing spatial scale
Habitat Configuration
Management site- area where
management prescriptions are
focused as defined by a management
plan.
Patch- an area of uniform habitat type
or successional stage and defined by a
habitat edge.
Habitat Edge- distinct boundary
between different habitat types or
the same habitat but in distinctly
different successional stages.
Clump- area of distinctly associated
vegetation at a fine scale and
separated from habitat patch by a
micro-edge.
Microedge- readily perceived change in
vegetation type or height, such as
where grasses change to sedge at the
border of a wet area or where an
herbaceous opening is bordered by
dogwood or Rubus shrubs. Note: Due to
scale not all microedges are shown.
Illustration by Ann-Kathrin Wirth.