Initiating uneven-aged management in longleaf pine stands: impacts on red-cockaded woodpecker habitat

The United States Forest Service and other land management agencies ire introducing the widespread use of group selection, a form of uneven-aged management, into stands of longleaf (Pinus palustris) and other southern pines in the southeastern United States. I compared the results of applying 2 methods of group selection in longleaf stands on the Apalachicola National Forest to the guidelines contained in the United States Fish and Wildlife Service's draft revised red-cockaded woodpecker (Picoides borealis) recovery plan. The application of a group-selection method based on residual basil area and informal area regulation (BAAR) resulted in modified red-cockaded woodpecker habitat markedly superior to the habitat modified by a method based on residual basal area, an upper diameter limit, and a factor (q) used to establish the relationship between adjacent diameter classes (BDq). Restrictions imposed by the BDq method might result in failure to obtain pine regeneration. I recommend that concerned agencies initiate a long-term and broadly based research study to determine the relative merits of the several alternative methods now being used to manage the pine forests of the Southeast.