Hello all, I am preparing to write a paper for forestry class on mast producing trees and how they effect whitetail deer.
I thought this forum would be a good place to find some really good sources. Does anyone know of any good articles, papers, or research that I could look at?
Thank you in advance!
Here is the cost side of the equation ,,,,,,,
Management and Conservation Article
Forestry Matters: Decline of Oaks Will Impact Wildlife in Hardwood Forests
WILLIAM J. MCSHEA,'
National Zoological Park, Conservation and Research Center,
1500 Remount Road, Front Royal, VA 22630, USA
WILLIAM M. HEALY, United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service (Retired),
P.O. Box 187, Smithville, WV 26178, USA
PATRICK DEVERS, Conservation Management Institute, 1900 Kraft Drive, Suite 250, Blacksburg, VA 24061,
USA
TODD FEARER, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University,
Cheatum Hall, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
FRANK H. KOCH, Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources, North Carolina State University,
3041 Comwallis Road, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA
DEAN STAUFFER, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University,
Cheatum Hall, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
JEFF WALDON, Conservation Management Institute, 1900 Kraft Drive, Suite 250, Blacksburg,VA 24061, USA
ABSTRACT
Acom production by oaks {Quercus spp.) is an important food resource for wildlife in many deciduous forests.
Its role as a hard mast crop that can be either stored or used to build fat reserves for winter survival cannot be replaced by most other potential foods. Changes in forest management, introduced pestsand pathogens,and increased deer populations have resulted insignificant changes in the demography of oaks in eastern North America, as evident in Forest Inventory and Analysis data.
Specifically, maples (Acer spp.) are replacing oaks in many forests through dominance ofthe younger age classes.
These changes are not yet obvious in mast production but will take decadesto reverse.
Effective forest management for mast nproduction is arguably one of the more important tasks facing wildlife professionals,
yet receives scant attention by both public and private land managers. Public forests need to explicitly include mast production in their
forest planning and reduce adversarial relationships over forest management. Market forces are driving commercial forests toward
forest certification. Private forests compose 80% of our oak forests and are the hardest group to influence.
States have not been able to effectively market forest plans and we recommend joining with advocacy groups
more adept at motivating the public. increased communication between
wildlife and forestry professionals is needed through agency restructuring and joint meetings of professional agencies at the state
level. Professional wildlife and forest managers are encouraged to make increased use of monitoring data
and form a mult-agency cooperative using a joint venture model, which has been
successful for other organizations.
(JOURNAL OF WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT 71(5):1717-1728; 2007) DOI: 10.2193/2006-169 ion ...\
