Management of Peatland Shrub- and Forest-Dominated Communities for Threatened and Endangered Species

Plant communities found on peatland soils include forests, basin shrublands, and seepage communities. The ecology and management of six communities are reviewed, with an emphasis on land uses associated with Department of Defense (DoD) installations. Peatland plant communities in the southeastern United States are important to landscape and regional biodiversity because they are often the only natural areas that have not been converted to urban or agricultural uses, and they support several threatened, endangered, and sensitive species (TES). Several of these plant communities are rare due to alterations in fire and hydrology over large expanses of the region. The discussion includes ecological descriptions for each community, information about occurrences on DoD installations throughout the southeast, the contribution of these communities to regional biodiversity, and known occurrences of plant TES associated with these communities. Also included in the discussion are outlines for determining community quality, indicators of quality, known and potential impacts to the integrity of TES habitat for these communities, and management of these impacts. Special consideration is given to the impacts and management of timber harvesting, alterations in hydrology (drainage), and changes in fire regime since they are most likely to affect peatland communities on DoD installations.