The Stephen F. Austin Experimental Forest

On December 14, 1944, the Seventy-Eighth United States Congress passed a bill that authorized the transfer of 2,560 acres in Nacogdoches County, Texas, to the research branch of the United States Forest Service (USFS). This land became the Stephen F. Austin Experimental Forest (SFAEF) on September 19. 1945. One of eighty-one federal experimental forests and ranges nationally, it is the only one of its kind in Texas. Located seven miles west of Nacogdoches, three quarters of the Forest consists of bottomland hardwood forests along the Angelina River and the remainder of mixed pine and hardwood uplands

Deer Use of Riparian Zones and Adjacent Pine Plantations in Texas

The authors monitored white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) use of riparian zones (RZ’s) and adjacent pine plantations of 3 age classes (young, 1 to 3 years old; intermediate, 5 to 7 years old; and older, 9 to 13 years old) using radio telemetry for 2 years on a 1,300 ha study area near Alto, TX. Riparian zones comprised 22.0 percent of the area; young, intermediate, and older pine plantations comprised 19.1 percent, 45.7 percent, and 13.2 percent, respectively. Based on data from 4 to 9 deer the first year and 12 to 17 deer the second year, home ranges averaged 103, 71, 95, and 114 ha during spring, summer, fall, and winter, respectively, and were composed primarily of intermediate-age plantations and RZ’s. Deer showed significant preferences for intermediate-age pine plantations during all seasons and for RZ’s during fall and winter. Older plantations produced little forage due to canopy closure, and were generally avoided throughout the year. Young plantations, which provided the most forage but the least cover, received relatively light yearlong use and were a minor component of deer home ranges. For females and young males, this study demonstrates that, where available, RZ’s may comprise an important component of deer home ranges in intensively managed forests

PREDICTION MODELS FOR DEER AND ELK FORAGE PRODUCTION IN ARIZONA MIXED CONIFER FORESTS

The objective of this study was to develop empirical regression equations for describing forest overstory-understory relationships in Arizona mixed conifer forests, and for predicting responses of potential mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus crooki) and elk (Cervus canadensis nelsoni) forage resources following thinning and clearcutting. Data were collected in the White Mountains from unlogged stands, a 2-year-old thinned stand, a 4-year-old thinned stand, an 8-year-old clearcut, and a 16-year-old clearcut. A combination of high variability in understory production (due presumably to inherent structurally-complex overstory conditions) and substantial intercorrelation between independent variables yielded multiple regression equations of questionable value. However, average understory production levels can be predicted using stand basal area alone. Relationships between basal area and understory production components were generally best described using log or log-log functions. Despite considerable diversity in slope and aspect conditions, potential insolation was generally not correlated with understory production; nor was potential insolation per unit of basal area often a better predictor than basal area alone. On unlogged sites production of potential deer forage was positively correlated with presence of spruce and fir, but negatively correlated with combined pine and Douglas-fir composition, and not significantly correlated with aspen composition. Potential elk forage was positively correlated with spruce and combined pine and Douglas-fir composition, but inversely correlated with aspen and fir composition. Understory production was generally inversely related to periodic annual forest growth and thickness of the forest floor. Browse production was generally less related to overstory conditions than herbage components, but was correlated with slope gradient and soil rockiness. Although total browse production could be estimated from basal area data, production of browse potentially useful to deer and elk could not be. Total understory production under virgin mixed conifer stands ranged from about 150 pounds per acre at 50 square feet of basal area (BA) to about 40 pounds at BA 400. The portion of this biomass potentially valuable as deer forage declined from 30% at BA 50 to 8% at BA 400, while elk forage declined from 49 to 11%. Forbs were the dominant understory component for all stand densities higher than about BA75, but were out-produced by graminoids below this level. Browse was the least productive understory component and increased only slightly with decreasing stand density. Total understory production on the 4-year-old thinned site was higher, but not statistically different than on unlogged sites; however, from 65 to 74% of the biomass consisted of forage potentially valuable to deer and elk. Depending on stand density, understory production under the 2-year-old thinning was comparable to or less than that of unlogged sites. Overstory-understory regression curves were often statistically different between thinned and unlogged stands. Diversity of principal deer and elk forage species increased as stand density declined under both unlogged and thinned stands. Unlogged stands produced slightly more potential elk than deer forage at lower stand densities, but production of deer and elk forage after thinning was nearly identical over the entire range of stand densities sampled on both thinned sites. The 8- and 16-year-old clearcuts produced about 750 and 1160 pounds per acre of biomass, respectively, with about 34% consisting of potential deer and elk forage on the younger site, versus 56% in the older clearcut. The 8-year-old clearcut produced 30% more elk than deer forage, and the 16-year-old site 7% more. The duration of beneficial deer and elk forage responses following clearcutting appears substantially longer than 16 years where tree regeneration is unsuccessful

Forest Ecology and Management Small-mammal responses to pine regeneration treatments in the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas and Oklahoma, USA

We compared the initial effects of four forest regeneration treatments (single-tree selection, group selection, shelterwood, and clearcut), and unharvested controls (mature, second-growth forest) on relative abundance of small mammals and smallmammal habitat throughout the Ouachita Mountains of western Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma. We compared small-mammal capture rates in 20 forest stands (4 replicates of 5 treatments) for 2 years prior to harvest treatments, and 1.5, 3.5, and 5.5 years after treatment. We also examined relationships among small mammals, treatments, and habitat conditions. Before harvest, all stands where characterized by high basal areas (BA), little understory vegetation, and low small-mammal capture rates. Compared with pre-harvest numbers, the number of individuals captured increased nearly five-fold in treated stands 1.5 years after harvest. After harvest, capture rates for all taxa combined were significantly greater in harvested stands (regardless of treatment) than in unharvested controls. Fulvous harvest mice (Reithrodontomys fulvescens) capture rates were greatest in clearcuts. Fulvous harvest mice, cotton rats (Sigmondon hispidus), and pine voles (Microtus pinetorum) were associated with abundant herbaceous vegetation in the understory and low BA. Eastern woodrats (NeotomaJEoridana), golden mice (Ochrotomys nuttalli), and Peromyscus spp. were associated with moderate to dense woody vegetation in the understory and intermediate BA levels. No taxon of terrestrial small mammal was captured exclusively in unharvested stands; most taxa we captured appear to be either disturbance-adapted or tolerant to disturbances from timber harvest

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roost selection by adult red bat