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

Prescribed Burning
Fire has played an important role in creating and
maintaining habitat for Golden-winged Warbler
across many parts of its range. Over the past five
decades; however, fire suppression has resulted
in widespread forest succession and loss of earlysuccessional
habitats. In the absence of wildfires,
prescribed burns are the likely management tool
for both creating and maintaining Golden-winged
Warbler habitat today, particularly in upland
sites. For example, experimental burns
conducted in 2003 appear to have created and
maintained suitable habitat that has enabled a
population of Golden-winged Warblers to persist
Figure 3–22. Prescribed burn on a reclaimed mine site in
Tennessee. Photo by Kelly Caruso.
The frequency of burning required to maintain
Golden-winged Warbler habitat varies by
community type and location. Based on research
in the southern Appalachians, an initial burn cycle
of two to four years is necessary for restoring
herbaceous cover and suppressing woody
growth. Once the desired herbaceous cover is in
place, a less frequent burn cycle (five to ten
years) may be sufficient to maintain Goldenwinged
habitat (N. Klaus, GA DNR, pers. comm.).
In areas where woody growth and development
are slower, longer burn cycles may be used from
the onset. In Minnesota brushlands, Golden-
3–41
and expand in Georgia. The breeding population
increased from three territories in 2002 to 12
territories in 2003 (N. Klaus, GA DNR, pers.
comm.). Prescribed burning in Tennessee on
reclaimed surface mine sites demonstrated that
fire is an effective management tool for restoring
Golden-winged Warbler habitat on overgrown
mine sites, with breeding pairs increasing from 5
to 25 pairs with repeated burns over 5 years
(Figure 3–22 and 3–23, David Buehler, unpubl.
data).
Importance of Burns
Allowing natural disturbance or mimicking
the natural disturbance regime can increase
suitable ephemeral sites for a host of species.
For example, forested sites burned by
wildfires or prescribed burning have
attracted Kirtland’s Warbler (Setophaga
kirtlandii), Spruce Grouse (Falcipennis
Canadensis), Black-backed Woodpecker
(Picoides arcticus), and Golden-winged
Warbler. Fire-created structures such as
“stringers”, or lines of unburned live residual
trees, may be important for attracting
species dependent on residual trees in
regenerating forests such as Golden-winged
Warbler (Kashian et. al 2012). Fire-killed trees
will attract nesting and foraging
woodpeckers, most notably Black-backed
Woodpecker in the northern Great Lakes.
winged Warblers preferred to nest in unmanaged
areas than in zero to three-year-old burned
areas, thus longer burn cycles are likely needed in
this vegetation community and location
(Hanowski et al. 1999).
Burn intensity and timing will depend on whether
you need to promote or suppress woody
vegetation growth. Late-summer (late August-
September) or fall burns may be more intense
and most effective at suppressing woody growth,
thus prolonging suitability of Golden-winged
Warbler habitat, while having the least effect on