Conservation approaches for woody, early successional communities in the eastern United States

There is significant concern about the status of some early successional wi ldlife because of recent declines in populations and amount of habitat in t he eastern United States (U.S.). We review types of semi-wooded, early succ essional habitats in the eastern U.S. and information on their status, and discuss management and planning approaches for their conservation. These ha bitats are dominated by persistent shrubs, seedling-sapling-sized trees, gr asses, and forbs. The area of seedling-sapling forests and many natural shr ubland habitats have declined in most of the eastern U.S. Silviculture crea tes early successional habitats primarily by regenerating stands. The selec tion of a regeneration method, size and distribution of cuts, and rotation age or reentry period influence availability of these habitats. Multi-scale planning approaches can be used to address regional concerns for these hab itats and biological diversity while facilitating landscape and local plann ing. We suggest that management for early successional communities is an im portant issue that should be addressed in conservation and land-management planning. Professional land managers and planners and the public need to ad dress how many of these wildlife species we want and how we want them distr ibuted throughout the region. In many landscapes silviculture will play an important role in providing habitat for these species.