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Management Of Red Squirrel Feeding Damage To Lodgepole Pine By Stand Density Manipulation And Diversionary Food, Thomas P. Sullivan Jan 1998

Management Of Red Squirrel Feeding Damage To Lodgepole Pine By Stand Density Manipulation And Diversionary Food, Thomas P. Sullivan

Proceedings of the Eighteenth Vertebrate Pest Conference (1998)

The red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) feeds on the vascular tissues of sapling lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) during spring periods in forests of interior British Columbia and Alberta, Canada. This damage may lead to mortality and reduced growth of crop trees in managed stands. Manipulation of stand density by pre-commercial thinning to densities < 1,000 stems/ha is an effective method to lower squirrel populations and feeding damage. Lowering stand density enhances the growth of crop trees, and understory herbs and shrubs as wildlife habitat, while protecting trees from squirrel feeding. This approach has been successful in several forest ecological zones. An alternative management tool is provision of diversionary food (sunflower seed) for those stands susceptible to feeding damage, and where stand thinning has already been completed. Diversionary food can be applied aerially and is very cost effective for protecting managed stands. These techniques may be used to maintain or even enhance species diversity of small mammal communities in those forest stands requiring protection.


Logging In Alaska's Boreal Forest: Creation Of Grasslands Or Enhancement Of Moose Habitat, William B. Collins, Charles C. Schwartz Jan 1998

Logging In Alaska's Boreal Forest: Creation Of Grasslands Or Enhancement Of Moose Habitat, William B. Collins, Charles C. Schwartz

Aspen Bibliography

Timber harvest in Alaska’s boreal forest can greatly enhance or severely reduce moose (Alces alces) habitat quality, depending on forest management objectives, timing and methods of harvest, and post-logging site preparation. Overstory removal associated with timely exposure of mineral soil favors establishment of early successional hardwoods important as moose browse. A combination of clear-cutting and soil scarification on mesic sites mimics fire, windfall, and fluvial erosion, important natural forces that drive regeneration of the boreal forest. When cut during dormancy, aspen (Populus tremuloides) and balsam poplar (P. balsamifera) Regenerate prolifically by root and stump …