Workshops Introduce "Focus Species" Forestry

GREENVILLE, Maine - October 3, 2005

Greenville Area Workshop to Review New Approach to Managing Forest Wildlife

GREENVILLE, Maine, October 3, 2005—At 7 p.m. on Thursday, October 20 in the meeting hall of the Greenville town office, the Friends of Wilson Pond Area and cosponsor Natural Resource Education Center will host a forestry workshop for anyone interested in integrating timber management and biodiversity.

Led by Robert Bryan, licensed forester and Maine Audubon forest ecologist, the workshop will review how landowners and foresters can improve or maintain wildlife habitat on their land while managing the land for recreation, timber or other personal goals.

“Managed forests can provide multiple benefits in developing communities, including clean water, clean air, wildlife habitat, wood for building homes and furniture, and places to enjoy nature and the outdoors,” said Bryan. “Focus species forestry is an integrated way to achieve those goals.”

EDITORS: If you’d like a digital image of a focus species, call (207) 781-2330, ext. 241.

The workshop is based on the new forestry management guide “Focus Species Forestry,” published by Maine Audubon in cooperation with the Maine Department of Conservation, the Professional Logging Contractors of Maine and the Small Woodland Owners Association of Maine. Workshop participants will receive a summary of the guide’s recommendations; copies of the guide will be available for purchase at the workshop.

Focus species forestry aims to help foresters and landowners develop management plans that support the goals of Beginning with Habitat, an award-winning collaborative program that helps communities plan growth to protect natural areas and, in so doing, prevent sprawl. Greenville received a Beginning with Habitat presentation in August 2004.

As the natural setting for most of Maine’s local communities, forests provide much of the state’s wildlife habitat and local recreational opportunities. Community forests have many owners, with parcels ranging from the back yard to large tracts of thousands of acres.

Useful for small woodlands as well as large tracts of timberland and designed to fit into forest management programs commonly used by Maine foresters and landowners, focus species forestry is based on the fact that many species inhabit similar forest types and have overlapping habitat requirements.

“On a typical woodlot, by focusing on the habitat requirements of a small number of species, landowners can provide habitat for a wide range of species with similar needs,” Bryan said.

For example, the American marten, red-breasted nuthatch, spruce grouse and black-backed woodpecker require different food and cover, but are all found in medium-age and mature spruce-fir and mixed spruce-fir-hardwood forests. The marten, because it has the largest home range of this group, is the focus species. By managing habitat for the marten, landowners and foresters will also create benefits for species with similar habitat needs and smaller territories.

The habitat needs of the wildlife species reviewed in the program can also be used by communities to help guide land-use planning decisions.

MAINE AUDUBON works to conserve Maine’s wildlife and wildlife habitat by engaging people of all ages in education, conservation and action.

With a 160-year history of connecting people with nature, Maine Audubon today is affiliated with Audubon’s national organization and has seven local chapters in the state. Support for Maine Audubon comes from 11,000 members and supporters.

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