"Cutting down trees to help birds sounds heretical"................"And the science clearly shows that intact forests are critical for interior-nesting species like Worm-eat­ing and Cerulean Warblers, and Scarlet Tanagers"............"Ample research has docu­mented the hazards to these birds when the woods become fragmented, such as more pressure from so-called edge predators like raccoons and opossums"............."But early successional forests—those dense, tangled thickets of young sap­lings, fruit-bearing shrubs, and vines—represent some of the most-needed bird habitat today, and they are largely miss­ing from many landscapes"................"In presettle­ment times, young forests were spawned by natural sources of disturbance like windstorms, hurricanes, and fire that leveled standing trees and reset the suc­cessional clock".............."Then from the late 19th through the mid-20th centuries, after the waves of European settlement, land­scapes in the East and Midwest were full of old, abandoned farm fields and regen­erating clearcuts that provided millions of acres of early successional habitat for Chestnut-sided Warblers and box tur­tles, Field Sparrows and hognose snakes"..............."The Karner blue butterfly is just one of many shrubland butterflies that depend on early successional habitat".............."Today, the natural forces of fire and wind have been dampened by human intervention and the fragmented na­ture of the landscape, with a lot of land permanently cleared for farming and development"................"Much of the forest that remains is middle-aged with striking uniformity, and little of the structural complexity from layered understories, snags, and downed logs that promotes biodiversity"............"True “old-growth” forest that survived the 19th century logging boom accounts for a fraction of one per­cent of the landscape in the East"............"Crucial as young forests may be, though, biologists say they are only part of the equation"............."The best bird habitats contain a mix of forests both young and old".............."Variety—in this case, habitat vari­ety—is the spice of life for birds(and all wildife)"................ “If you don’t have a diversity of all forest age classes and structural con­ditions, whether for a Golden-winged Warbler, a Cerulean Warbler, Wood Thrush, you name it, you’re going to have less than optimal conditions for any of those species,” said Dr. Jeff Lar­kin, a wildlife ecologist at Indiana Uni­versity of Pennsylvania who has worked on forest management strategies for all three of those birds"............. “It’s the land­scape they evolved with, long before we mucked things up"

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Old-Growth Is Great, 

But Here’s Why We Need 

New-Growth Forests, Too

By Scott Weidensaul

8

March 28, 201

Landscapes with a mosaic of young and mature forest offer habitat for different birds at different stages. For example, Golden-winged Warblers nest in young forest but move their fledglings to older forest to feed on insects before their first migration. Meanwhile, Wood Thrushes nest in mature forest and move their fledglings to younger forest to feast on berries and fruits. Graphic by Bartels Science Illustrator Phillip Krzeminski.

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Wood Thrushes (left) and Chestnut-sided Warblers (right) are suffering steep population declines. Though the thrush nests in mature forest, and the warbler in early successional habitat,  both use the same mosaic of habitat throughout the breeding season and need a mix of young and old to successfully raise their young and prepare them for their first migration. Wood Thrush by Bill Canosa; Chestnut-sided Warbler by Ray Hennessy.

Tangles of young shrubs interspersed with older trees create good habitat for the Golden-winged Warbler. Photo by Justin Fritscher/Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Large patches of high density shrubs and young trees connected to other patches of suitable habitat create an ideal home for many species of wildlife. Photo courtesy of USFWS.

The Great Thicket National Wildlife Refuge could eventually encompass 15,000 acres in parcels covering 6 states from New York to Maine. Yellow shading indicates focus areas identified in a 2016 environmental assessment by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Tap or click for larger image.