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Timber and Wildlife Ecology Research Update from the Jones
Center
Kevin McIntyreEducation Coordinator
&Steve Jack
Conservation Ecologist
Forest Landowner’s Association 2014 Southeast Regional Forest Resource Owner and Manager Conference
Valdosta, GA October 28, 2014
Joseph W. Jones Ecological Research Center at Ichauway
Supported by the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation
Ichauway, circa 1929
Robert Woodruff
Joseph W. Jones
Joseph W. Jones Ecological Research Center at Ichauway
Long-Term Research
Longleaf Pine Ecosystems1) Productivity and biodiversity patterns of a
longleaf pine ecosystem.2) Ecological forestry and restoration of longleaf
pine ecosystems.3) Ecological role of mesopredators, effects of
control, and habitat approaches.
Aquatic Ecology and Water Resources4) Hydrologic variation and human development in
the lower Flint River Basin5) Depressional wetlands on the coastal plain
landscape: maintenance of regional biodiversity
Joseph W. Jones Ecological Research Center at Ichauway
Conservation & Natural ResourceManagement
• Stewardship of Ichauway & its natural resources
• Management of forests, wildlife & wetlands, including prescribed fire
• Monitoring of key environmental variables, plant & animal populations
• New approaches for restoration & adaptive management
• Key role in participation with education & research programs
Education and Outreach
• Natural Resource Professionals
• Policymakers
• Land Owners/Managers
• Undergraduate University Classes
• Graduate Students
• Overall goal of doubling acreage of LLP
from 4m to 8m by 2025
• Supported by diverse coalition of
Federal, State, NGO and private sector
• Identified Significant Geographic Areas
for longleaf restoration focus
• Significantly increased funding for LLP
• Decline of LLP reversed from low of
3.84m to 4.28m as of 2010
• 157,000 acres LLP established in 2013
• 50% incentive funded
• 50% funded by private landowners
Regional Longleaf Pine Conservation
and Restoration
8
Forest Management Limitations
Timber
Forest Management Limitations Tradeoffs
Timber
Timber
Wildlife Research
Quail
Is Hard Mast a Limiting Factor?
Ichauway Turkey Track Count Data
Ichauway WTD Track Counts
Ichauway WTD Spotlight Data
Season of Burn & Wildlife Impacts
Growing-Season Fire Impacts
Nest Success:
• Growing-season fires had an effect (p-value=0.03)– 11% of nests burned
– Majority burned in April
– 80% of hens renested
Poult Survival:
• One newly hatched brood lost to fire
Poult Survival Data
Year Site n
Day 0-9
(%lost)
Day 10-16
(%lost)
Day 17-30
(%lost)
Day 30+
(%lost)
2011 JC 6 67 17 17 N/A
SL 3 33 0 33 0
Pooled 9 56 11 22 0
2012 JC 9 78 11
SL 5 40 0 20 40
Pooled 14 64 7 7 21
Both Years/Sites 23 61 17 26 22
• Average # of poults per hen at hatch: 8.6
• 5 of the 23 brood hens killed by predators
Management Implications
Predation much stronger driver of turkey population dynamics than season of burn
Use rotating small-scale growing-season burns
More to Wild Turkey Population Dynamics than Burns…
Manage for habitat quality and population vs. individual nests
Predator Exclusion Experiment
Do Exclosures Exclude?
Annual Coyote Diet
Indirect Effects?
Photo credit: Austin Baggarley
Deer use of predator exclosures
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Gestation Fawning Breeding
Wh
ite-
tail
ed d
eer
det
ecti
on
s
Control
Exclosure
22 fawns/year0.41 vs. 0.77 fawns/doe
Longleaf Management and Restoration Research
Timber Research
Timber
Conventional Wisdom
USDA Silvics Manual – Volume 1: Conifers (Agriculture Handbook 654, 1990)
Pinus palustris (Mill.)(from chapter by Boyer)
“Reaction to Competition-Longleaf pine is intolerant of competition, whether for light or for moisture and nutrients. The species will grow best in the complete absence of all competition, including that from other members of the species.”
Thus, general recommendation was to manage using even-aged systems (Boyer and Peterson, 1983, Agriculture Handbook 445)
Natural Stands – Multi-aged
Regeneration Dynamics Questions
• Below-canopy light environment
• Competition (both inter-and intra-specific)
• Role of fire
• Management implications
CompetitionPine Seedling Response
to Canopy Gap Size
Seedling growthT
ota
l b
iom
as
s (
g)
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Seedling survival
Overstory treatment
Uncut
Single
-tree
Small
group
Large g
roup
Me
an
su
rviv
al
(%)
60
65
70
75
80
85
a
ab
cbc
a
a a
b
Pecot et al. 2007. CJFR
Three Stage Model for
Seedling Survival and Growth
Canopy Gap Size & Advanced Regeneration
Think in terms of releasing advanced regeneration rather than creating opening to secure regeneration
Canopy Gap Size & Advanced Regeneration
O’Brien et al. 2008. Ambio
Diverse Ground Cover Community
Functionally important ground cover species
Hendricks et al. 2002
Days in Field
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
Ma
ss R
em
ain
ing
(%
)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Wiregrass (soil)
Wiregrass (elevated)
Longleaf pine (soil)
Longleaf pine (elevated)
Lower decomposition rate of elevated fine fuels(wiregrass & pine needles)
Legume Species
Fo
liar
Nd
fa (
%)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Wet-Mesic Site
Intermediate Site
Cassianictitans
Crotalariarotundifolia
Centrosemavirginiana
Lespedezavirginiana
Legumes
No. of species identified: 43
Average density: 115,000stems/ha
Potential N2-fixation by legumes
Functionally important species:
Hainds et al. 1999
Hiers et al. 2001
Cathey et al. 2010
How Do We Best Manage to Maintain and Restore This Forest Type While Utilizing Resources?
Financial Comparison
Harvest Scenario Low Medium High
20-year IRR w/ land value (%) 3.21 3.29 3.48
Total accumulated net cash flow ($) 1,796,027 3,732,401 4,986,258
Ending Total Value (Cash flow + ending value) ($) 6,703,877 7,445,119 8,104,815
Conversion Scenario Moderate Rapid
20-year IRR w/ land value (%) 4.21 5.77
Total accumulated net cash flow ($) 5,171,745 4,928,824
Ending Total Value (Cash flow + ending value) ($) 6,612,212 6,569,429
Managing Longleaf Forests
Using natural disturbance regime as guide to management uneven-aged approaches
Which Silvicultural System?
• Disturbance regime and regeneration dynamics point toward uneven-aged systems to meet objectives
• Group or individual tree selection are feasible approaches for restoring toward reference objective
Long-Term Management and Restoration Experiments
Fuels, Fire & Silviculture
Attentuation of Needle Cast with Distance from Gap Edge
Distance from Gap Edge
-2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
Needle
Cast
(gra
ms p
er
1/4
m2 t
rap)
0
10
20
30
40
grams of needles/ trap
Regeneration Dynamics
Ground Cover Recovery
Harvest Treatments
Uncut Control
Group Selection
Single-tree Selection
Group Selection
with Retention
Stem Maps
Skidder Traffic – Operational Example
* Also have “experimental” skidder treatments
Soil and Ground Cover Disturbance
4 Passes 8 Passes
1 Pass 2 Passes
Soil Compaction Operational Skid
Trails
Ground Cover ChangesWiregrass Dominated
Pre-harvest, 2009 Post-harvest, 2010
Ground Cover ChangesOld-Field Dominated
Pre-harvest, 2009 Post-harvest, 2010
Planted Seedling Biomass
Management Project Summary
• Still preliminary results, early in study
• Short-term weather patterns can affect results
• Few statistically significant results due to high variability, though are some evident trends
• Harvesting operations have impacts but do not appear severe, recovery occurs over long time span
Restoration Research
Restoration – timing and pathways
– Species conversion
– When to introduce ground cover
– Wildlife habitat and which species present at different stages of development
Plantations to “Natural” Stands
Plantation Species Conversion
Underplanting longleaf seedlings in gaps
Thinning planted slash pine with gap creation
Reintroduction of ground cover?- when and what species
Old Field Conversion
Ground Cover Restoration
Hardwood Encroachment in Uplands
Legacy of past management
How to reconnect the landscape?
Hardwood Encroachment in Uplands
• Silvicultural treatment is species conversion – removal followed by planting
• Focused on trees, other things not immediately restored
• Explicitly factor time into considerations –thinking of time as an ecological factor that cannot be purchased or replaced
• In restoration, make use results of time already “invested”
Summary
• Integration between research and operational management and between research subject areas
• Research is focused on long-term projects with operational scale
• Attempting to examine multiple resource responses to manipulations – trade-offs from maintaining all ecosystem characteristics