Understanding the Effects of Forest Management on Avian Species

We reiterate the general problems of small scale and lack of rigorous experimental design that reduce the ability of wildlife studies to offer concrete recommendations for forest management. We emphasize the need to increase our understanding of mechanisms during the translation of forest structure, composition, and function into avian population abundance, distribution, and viability. Mechanistic understanding increases the manager's likelihood of correctly predicting prescription outcomes and gives him increased flexibility to balance competing demands of resource production and wildlife conservation. Until detailed mechanistic relationships are determined, we will have to manage forests with incomplete knowledge. Managers and researchers should embrace these uncertainties and form partnerships to adaptively manage forests. This relationship will likely increase the scale and relevance of research but may carry costs of reduced statistical rigor (poor replication, low power) and suboptimal short-term management. The costs of large-scale research and management are great, but partitioning large projects into small, connected ones, forming funding and research cooperatives, and developing new funding sources will help offset the costs. Researchers and managers should clearly articulate priorities. We urge scientific societies to cooperate to develop conservation priorities, encourage data collection to support prioritization, and assess progress toward meeting conservation goals. The Wildlife Society is in a unique position to take the lead in such an effort and objectively guide wildlife conservation's future direction.