Forests

Historically the Mississippi Alluvial Valley (MAV) was predominantly bottomland hardwood forest and most birds of conservation concern depend on bottomland hardwood forest. Past conservation planning has focused on habitat objectives with presumption that bird population goals would be met by habitat provision.

Wildlife forestry is management of forest resources, within sites and across landscapes, to provide sustainable, desirable habitat conditions for all forest-dependent (silvicolous) fauna while concurrently yielding economically viable, quality timber products. In practice, however, management decisions associated with wildlife forestry often reflect a desire to provide suitable habitat for rare...

Current and increasing visitation to protected natural areas has the potential to negatively impact natural resources and threaten the quality of visitors’ experiences. In backcountry and wilderness settings land managers have often allowed visitors to select and create their own campsites, which surveys reveal are often close to water, formal trails, and other campsites. This research is focused...