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In 2021, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) adopted the Strategic Plan for Forest Management on Wildlife Management Areas, which addresses existing and future concerns for all forest types. An important element of the plan is to implement the Young Forest Initiative, which intends to increase the amount of young forest habitat present on state Wildlife Management Areas. This project assesses how climate impacts may affect young forest goals, and how creating young forests may reduce vulnerabilities of existing stands and improve future forest resilience.
Undesirable Norway spruce plantation planned to be cut with small aspen suckers that should respond well to an aggressive cut.
Completed seed tree harvest in northern hardwoods Stand F5.
Desirable aspen patch in Stand H5.
Prolific black birch competing with desired oak regeneration in Stand H5.
Completed shelterwood first cut in Stand E6.

Project Area

Map of timber harvests in Rattlesnake Hill WMA
Rattlesnake Hill Wildlife Management Area (WMA) is located in western New York, near the northern edge of the Allegheny Plateau. The property comprises 5,160 acres, of which 4,791 acres are forested. Multiple forest types are present, including oak, aspen, northern hardwoods, hemlock, conifer plantations, and young forest. A Habitat Management Plan (HMP) was produced for this WMA in 2016 which outlines goals and objectives for all habitat types, with a priority to increase the young forest component. This adaptation demonstration project assesses the young forest aspect of this HMP.

Management Goals

view of a young forest

The primary forest management goal for this WMA over the next 10 years is to increase the amount of young forest habitat available to benefit associated wildlife species, several of which are currently experiencing steep population declines. Planned young forest will be created primarily by regenerating over-mature oak stands and conifer plantations using even-aged forest management. Several oak stands on the property are over 100 years old, showing signs of decline, and contain understories that are primarily composed of shade-tolerant, non-oak species, such as American beech, red maple, and striped maple. Most conifer plantations on the property are approximately 70 to 90 years old, composed of red pine or Norway spruce, and overcrowded, with reduced live crowns and understories lacking in regeneration. Conducting timber harvests within these stands aims to regenerate new oak forests for the future and replace the plantations by regenerating diverse mixed conifer-hardwood stands.

Another important goal and critical action is to control non-native, invasive vegetation to maintain forest biodiversity and ensure desirable regeneration occurs after treatment. 

Specific objectives are to create 362 acres of young forest by establishing 191 acres of seedling/sapling oak stands and 171 acres of seedling/sapling mixed hardwood/conifer stands, and to reduce invasive vegetation presence in the project area to 5% or less.

Climate Change Impacts

For this project, the most important anticipated climate change impacts include:
Many invasive plants will increase in extent or abundance from increases in temperature, longer growing seasons, and more frequent disturbances.
Certain insect pests and pathogens will increase in occurrence or become more damaging due to increases in temperature, longer growing seasons, and more frequent disturbances.
Forest vegetation may face increased risk of physiological drought during the growing season. Warmer temperatures can result in decreased soil moisture even without an associated decrease in precipitation.
Warmer, drier summers may increase the occurrence and severity of drought, particularly on xeric sites.
Winter conditions may become milder, leading to less overall snowfall or less persistent snow cover, with recurring soil freezing and thawing.

Challenges and Opportunities

Climate change will present challenges and opportunities for accomplishing the management objectives of this project, including:

Challenges

Stands targeted for regeneration are currently vulnerable to climate impacts and if management is delayed it could become more difficult to achieve goals.
Conifer plantations have low species diversity and minimal understory.
Many oak stands are 70+ years old on dry sites, an increase in pests and moisture stress could increase susceptibility to oak decline.
There could be reduced establishment success of desirable seedlings following timber harvest because of competition with invasive plants or severe moisture stress.
Abundant deer herbivory could further stress seedling establishment or ability to compete with invasives.
Less snowpack could affect management access or increase deer browse damage. Repeated soil freeze/thaw could damage shallow-rooted seedlings (e.g., maples).
Existing conifer plantations are planned to be converted to natural mixed hardwood/conifer stands; however, native conifers currently on the WMA (i.e., hemlock, white pines) are expected to decrease in this subregion.

Opportunities

Vigor and productivity of seedling growth may improve due to increased temperatures and a longer growing season, which may help seedlings compete with invasive plants and grow above deer browse height.
Several dominant species on the WMA (e.g., red and white oaks, red maple, hickories) are expected to have stable or improved growing conditions under future projections.
Several less common species here (e.g., cucumbertree, chestnut oak) should see more favorable conditions in the future and could help maintain overall forest diversity.
Conifer species naturally occurring further south (e.g., pitch and Virginia pine) may provide an opportunity for assisted migration and direct planting, if natural regeneration of conifers is not successful.
Creating young forests to benefit wildlife while targeting stands with currently high climate vulnerability provides an opportunity to establish future forests with greater resilience.
An increase in extreme weather events could damage unmanaged forests on the WMA; if invasive plants are successfully controlled to reduce local seed source, this could naturally establish additional young forest acres to benefit associated wildlife.

Adaptation Actions

Project participants used the Adaptation Workbook to develop several adaptation actions for this project, including:

Area/Topic
Approach
Tactics
Creating young forest habitat and establishing future forests of improved adaptability
1.2. Maintain or restore hydrology.
1.4. Reduce competition for moisture, nutrients, and light.
Retain coarse woody debris to maintain moisture, soil quality, and nutrient cycling.
Harvest timber when the ground is frozen to avoid soil disturbance, compaction, and erosion.
1.2. Maintain or restore hydrology.
2.1. Maintain or improve the ability of forests to resist pests and pathogens.
Increase number of species in low diversity stands (conifer plantations) by regenerating a natural forest. Follow-up with planting of adaptable species if natural regeneration is not satisfactory.
Create a diverse mix of forest or community types, age classes, and stand structures. By establishing younger oak stands, they will be less susceptible to oak decline.
2.2. Prevent the introduction and establishment of invasive plant species and remove existing invasive species.
Increase monitoring for known or potential invasive plant species to ensure early detection.
Control existing populations before and after timber harvests to reduce seed sources.
2.3. Manage herbivory to promote regeneration of desired species.
Promote abundant regeneration of multiple species in order to supply more browse than deer are expected to consume.
Use tree tops from harvest to protect seedlings from browse.
5.1. Promote diverse age classes.
5.2. Maintain and restore diversity of native species.
Emulate aspects of natural disturbances through forest management techniques to encourage the development of multiple age cohorts.
Use silvicultural treatments to promote and enhance diverse regeneration of native species.
Transitioning plantations to more complex systems by underplanting or promoting regeneration of a variety of native species expected to do well under future conditions.
5.3. Retain biological legacies.
Retain the oldest and largest trees with good vigor during forest management activities.
Retain survivors of pest or disease outbreaks, droughts, windthrow events, or other disturbances.
Retain individual trees of a variety of uncommon species to maintain their presence on the landscape.
8.1. Use seeds, germplasm, and other genetic material from across a greater geographic range.
8.2. Favor existing genotypes that are better adapted to future conditions.
If natural regeneration is not satisfactory within a few years post-harvest, consider planting seeds or seedlings from further south in native species ranges, as they may be more adapted to warmer conditions.
During timber harvest marking, keep as seed sources tree species that are near the northern extent of their ranges.
9.3. Guide changes in species composition at early stages of stand development.
9.4. Protect future-adapted seedlings and saplings.
9.7. Introduce species that are expected to be adapted to future conditions.
Control invasive vegetation and interfering native vegetation before and after regeneration harvest.
Consider installing tree protectors for future-adapted seedlings if browse pressure is limiting their growth.
Perform follow-up timber stand improvement or crop tree release cuts to favor and promote growth of desirable growing stock.
Consider direct planting if natural regeneration is not significantly composed of tree species expected to do well under future conditions.

Monitoring

There are many challenges on this property that can influence regeneration and prevent achieving desired goals. Continued monitoring is intended to determine how and where young forest establishment will provide the greatest benefit. Specifically, project participants identified several monitoring items that could help inform future management, including:
Desirable regeneration in young forest: Is regeneration composed mostly of desirable species (from a habitat perspective)? Is regeneration adequate to ensure a fully stocked future stand?
Oak regeneration: Is the regenerating oak component enough to ensure a future oak-dominated stand?
Mixed hardwood/conifer regeneration: Is there a sufficient conifer seedling component to ensure a future mixed hardwood/conifer stand?
Adaptability of young forest: What percent of regeneration is species forecast to do well under future conditions? Is regeneration composed of diverse species to ensure future stand resilience?
Invasive species abundance: What is the abundance of invasive plants both before and after timber harvest?

Project Documents

Next Steps

Since writing the Habitat Management Plan for this property (2016), a few timber harvests have been completed and new data has been collected which have revealed some challenges for achieving the intended goals, including:

- A 105-acre seed tree cut in an old oak stand (Stand H5) was completed in 2015. The thick beech understory was was treated with herbicide. At the time of the cut, very little advance regeneration was present. Although the following growing season produced an abundance of red oak seedlings, the years since have allowed black birch to dominate the stand. A non-commercial tending cut is needed to release the oak saplings that are present.

- Two other seed tree cuts were completed in 2018 (Stands A2 & A4), totaling 25 acres, and have shown similar deficits for oak regeneration. Moving forward, plans for oak stands on the property will only utilize shelterwood harvests to try to establish more advance oak regeneration before the canopy is significantly removed and reduce challenges related to black birch competition.

- In 2023, the first stage of a shelterwood cut in an oak stand was completed on 60 acres (Stand E6). All other oak stands planned for treatment on this property will be placed on hold until it is evident that this shelterwood system is capable of successfully regenerating a sufficient amount of oak.

- Also in 2023, a 28-acre seed tree harvest was completed in a northern hardwoods stand that was experiencing significant ash mortality (Stand F5). So far, there has been positive regeneration of aspen post-harvest. Regeneration in this stand will be monitored to see if black birch outcompetes the desired black cherry and sugar maple regeneration.

- The planned conifer plantation harvests have all been marked and are expected to go out for bid late winter 2024. These were carefully marked to retain small patches of mature conifers while significantly reducing basal area to encourage aspen suckering. Aspen was scattered throughout most stands and most aspen will be cut. Scattered mature hardwoods (sugar maple and black cherry) will not be cut to retain structural diversity and a seed source. If regeneration of diverse mixed conifer/hardwoods follows these plantation cuts, then additional cuts in other conifer plantations will be planned on the property.

- It is yet to be seen what the impacts of beech leaf disease will have on understories throughout this property that have overly abundant beech. This disease is present on the property and is causing decline. This may provide conditions favorable for natural oak establishment, which prompt cutting overstory trees to provide space for young oaks to reach the canopy.

- Efforts to control invasive plants have been ongoing and have focused on reducing abundance within and adjacent to the conifer plantations planned for harvest. Stiltgrass was recently discovered on a skid trail within the 105-acre 2015 harvest area, which surely came in on logging equipment. Efforts to control this have begun but this has created hesitation to continue harvesting in higher-quality mature hardwood stands for fear of introducing new problems.

- The Habitat Management Plan for this WMA will be revised in 2026. It will incorporate lessons learned and will likely alter stands targeted for treatment in the 2016 plan.

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Keywords

Early-successional habitat
Wildlife habitat

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