Use of monitoring and adaptive management to promote regeneration on the Allegheny National Forest

Forest regeneration in the Allegheny Plateau Region of Pennsylvania is a continual challenge due to an overabundance of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus Zimmerman) and the resulting density of interfering plants on the forest floor. Guidelines developed to establish regeneration on the Allegheny National Forest rely on the silvical characteristics of black cherry (Prunus serotina Ehrh.). Following these guidelines increased the regeneration success at the stand level, but led to less desirable outcomes at the Forest-level scale. Allegheny National Forest managers undertook a special inventory to verify this observation, based on early monitoring results, and then adopted an adaptive management strategy for each of the main forest types to change regeneration outcomes.