The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Forest Ecology Working Group, National Conservation Training Center, and Migratory Bird Program have developed a 12-part monthly lecture series to address the 50-year decline of 3 billion birds through partnerships, conservation science and forest management. The series tells a compelling story about forest bird population declines, partnership opportunities, and forest management actions that can support bird population recovery and sustainability.

After engaging with the entire series, participants will be able to:

• Describe the decline of forest-dwelling birds in the U.S., identifying causes and risk factors
• Apply species vulnerability assessment tools to identify priority bird species
• Describe the importance of forest management planning from landscape to local scales, recognizing essential forest community composition and structure for bird conservation
• Identify forest conservation and habitat management alternatives

Disclaimer: This webinar series is for educational purposes only. The opinions, ideas or data presented in this webinar series do not represent USFWS policy or constitute endorsement by USFWS. Some of the materials and images may be protected by copyright or may have been licenses to us by a third party and are restricted in their use. Mention of any product names, companies, web links, textbooks, or other references does not imply Federal endorsement.

View the webinar series home page here. Click on the title below to view the video.

Stand-level Forest Management: Desired Forest Conditions for Wildlife

Date Recorded: August 17th, 2021

Presenters: Randy Wilson, Station Leader (Migratory Bird Field Station, Jackson, MS. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

Duration: 59 minutes

Details: Speaker Randy Wilson of the USFWS discussed how the ecosystem based approach to bird conservation shifted the conservation paradigm from a resource based, opportunistic approach, towards a science-based, strategic pursuit of sustainable landscapes. That approach however requires managing for population sustainability at multiple spatial scales and then translating bird habitat needs into forest management prescriptions. Desired forest conditions (DFCs) for wildlife are the mechanism the FWS has used to implement this approach.

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