Effects of harvesting timber stands on goshawk nesting in two European areas

We evaluated the effects of harvesting timber stands on goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) nesting in two European areas (central Italy and eastern France), by studying their occupancy and reproductive performance. We found no diff erence in the productivity of goshawk pairs reproducing in unlogged vs. log ged stands. When considering the same nesting stand, before and after timbe r harvesting, we noted no differences in the number of young per breeding p air nor a year effect. We observed that 87.5% of goshawk pairs nesting in l ogged stands moved away only when the original stand structure was altered by > 30%, and then only to the nearest neighbouring mature stand (maximum d istance ca. 1.5 km). The results of our study suggest that goshawks can tol erate some levels of timber harvesting within the nesting stand, as long as the cover reduction does not exceed the threshold of about 30%. (C) 2001 E lsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.