Operational Green Tree Retention and Land Cover Patterns in Intensively Managed Pine Forest Landscapes of the Southeastern United States

摘要

Southern US landowners participating in forest certification programs sometimes use green tree retention in intensively managed pine (Pinus spp.) forests (IMPF) to promote structural diversity and to benefit wildlife species. However, the operational extent of green tree retention practices is poorly understood. Therefore, we classified land cover on 1187 South Central Plains IMPF management units ("MUs"; totaling 51245.7 ha), defined as contiguous, forested areas containing one or more IMPF patches, harvested and established as a cohort, plus associated green tree retention areas. For each MU, we calculated green tree retention levels and generated land cover pattern metrics describing MU composition and configuration. As expected given our sampling frame, MU land cover was dominated by regenerating clearcut (mean +/- sd: 80.5% +/- 14.3% of land cover) and green tree retention cover (mean 18.6% +/- 14.2% of land cover). Retention cover consisted mostly of streamside management zones (mean 14.0 % +/- 13.1% of land cover) buffering perennial and intermittent streams and stringers (mean 3.4% +/- 4.3% of land cover) buffering ephemeral streams. Green tree retention land cover represented a substantial proportion of the IMPF landscape in the region and potentially enhances habitat conditions for many wildlife species.