Forest-clearing to create early-successional habitats: Questionable benefits, significant costs
“Forest-clearing to create early-successional habitats: Questionable benefits, significant costs”
Authors: Michael J. Kellett, Joan E. Maloof, Susan A. Masino, Lee E. Frelich, Edward K. Faison, Sunshine L. Brosi and David R. Foster.
January 2023. Forest Management
This article argues for that public land forest and wildlife management programs must be reevaluated to balance the prioritization and funding of early-successional habitat with strong and lasting protection for old growth and mature forests, and, going forward, must ensure far more robust, unbiased, and ongoing monitoring and evaluation. It calls into question efforts to clear established forests and expand early successional habitats—also called young forest, pre-forest, early seral, or open habitats—with the intention of benefitting specific species.