United States Department of The Role of Fire in Nongame Agriculture Forest Service Wildlife Management and Northeastern Community Restoration: Research Station Traditional Uses and General Technical Report NE-288 New Directions Proceedings of a Special Workshop Nashville, Tennessee September 15, 2000 All articles were received in digital format and were edited for uniform type and style; each author is responsible for the accuracy and content of his or her own paper. Statements of contributors from outside the U.S. Department of Agriculture may not necessarily reflect the policy of the Department. The use of trade, firm, or corporation names in this publication is for the information and convenience of the reader. Such use does not constitute an official endorsement or approval by the U.S. Department of Agriculture or the Forest Service of any product or service to the exclusion of others that may be suitable. This publication/database reports research involving pesticides. It does not contain recommendations for their use, nor does it imply that the uses discussed here have been registered. All uses of pesticides must be registered by appropriate State and/or Federal, agencies before they can be recommended. CAUTION: Pesticides can be injurious to humans, domestic animals, desirable plants, and fish or other wildlife—if they are not handled or applied properly. Use all pesticides selectively and carefully. Follow recommended practices for the disposal of surplus pesticides and pesticide containers. Published by: For additional copies: USDA FOREST SERVICE USDA Forest Service 11 CAMPUS BLVD SUITE 200 Publications Distribution NEWTOWN SQUARE PA 19073-3294 359 Main Road Delaware, OH 43015-8640 January 2002 Fax: (740)368-0152 Visit our homepage at: http://www.fs.fed.us/ne The Role of Fire in Nongame Wildlife Management and Community Restoration: Traditional Uses and New Directions Proceedings of a Special Workshop Nashville, TN September 15, 2000 Editors: W. Mark Ford, USDA Forest Service, Northeastern Research Station, Box 404, Parsons WV 26287 Kevin R. Russell, Willamette Industries Inc., Box 488, Dallas, OR 97338 Christopher E. Moorman, Department of Forestry, North Carolina State University, Box 8003, Raleigh, NC 27695 Sponsored by: Tall Timbers Research Station, Tallahassee, FL USDA Forest Service Northeastern Research Station, Newtown Square, PA Conducted by: The Wildlife Society, Bethesda, MD Published by: USDA Forest Service Northeastern Research Station Contents Preface W. Mark Ford, Kevin R. Russell, and Christopher E. Moorman ............................................................... 1 Fire in the Eastern United States: Influence on Wildlife Habitat D. H. Van Lear and R. F. Harlow ........................................................................................................ 2 The Historical Foundations of Prescribed Burning for Wildlife: a Southeastern Perspective A. Sydney Johnson and Philip E. Hale ................................................................................................ 11 Fire, Herbicide, and Chainsaw Felling Effects on Arthropods in Fire-Suppressed Longleaf Pine Sandhills at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida Louis Provencher, Krista E. M. Galley, Andrea R. Litt, Doria R. Gordon, Leonard A. Brennan, George W. Tanner, and Jeffrey L. Hardesty ........................................................... 24 Responses of Amphibians to Fire Disturbance in Pacific Northwest Forests: a Review R. Bruce Bury, Donald J. Major and David Pilliod .............................................................................. 34 The Effects of Burning and Grazing on Survival, Home Range, and Prey Dynamics of the Texas Horned Lizard in a Thornscrub Ecosystem Anna L. Burrow, Richard T. Kazmaier, Eric C. Hellgren, and Donald C. Ruthven, III ............................. 43 Fire and Bird Communities in the South James G. Dickson ............................................................................................................................. 52 Burning for Birds: Concepts and Applications R. Todd Engstrom and David J. Brownlie ............................................................................................ 58 Management Options for Songbirds Using the Oak Shelterwood-Burn Technique in Upland Forests of the Southeastern United States J. Drew Lanham, Patrick D. Keyser, Patrick H. Brose and David H. Van Lear ...................................... 65 Influence of Ecosystem Restoration for Red-cockaded Woodpeckers on Breeding Bird and Small Mammal Communities Ronald E. Masters, Christopher W. Wilson, Douglas S. Cram, George A. Bukenhofer and Robert L. Lochmiller................................................................................................................... 73 Fire, Habitat Structure and Herpetofauna in the Southeast Cathryn H. Greenberg ...................................................................................................................... 91 Numerical Response of Small Vertebrates to Prescribed Fire in California Oak Woodland Justin K. Vreeland and William D. Tietje ......................................................................................... 100 Fire Management and Research for Biodiversity in the Green Swamp Margit A. Bucher and Maura E. High ............................................................................................... 111 The Role of Non-industrial Private Forest Lands in the Conservation of Southern Fire-dependent Wildlife Christopher E. Moorman, Peter T. Bromley, Mark A. Megalos, and David Drake .................................. 11 6 Herbicides as an Alternative to Prescribed Burning for Achieving Wildlife Management Objectives T. Bently Wigley, Karl V. Miller, David S. deCalesta, and Mark W. Thomas ......................................... 124 Fire and Bats in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic: More Questions Than Answers? Timothy C. Carter, W. Mark Ford and Michael A. Menzel ................................................................. 139 Wildlife, Habitat, and Prescribed Fire in the Southeastern Coastal Plain: Past, Present, and Future Leonard A. Brennan ....................................................................................................................... 144 The Role of Fire in Riparian Zones of the Northern Rocky Mountains Elaine K. Sutherland and Kevin McKelvey ........................................................................................ 144 The Restoration of Oak-Hickory Forests in the Central Hardwoods: Results of a Landscape-scale Prescribed Burning Experiment in Ohio Elaine K. Sutherland and Todd F. Hutchinson ................................................................................... 145 Fire Ecology of Marshes and Canebrakes in the Southeastern United States Cecil Frost ..................................................................................................................................... 145 Preface W. Mark Ford, Kevin R. Russell, and Christopher E. Moorman Fire has a long history of regional use in the United States for forest, range and game management. Except for a few high-profile threatened, endangered, and sensitive species such as the pine barrens treefrog (Hyla andersonii), the red- cockaded woodpecker (Picoides borealis), and the Kirtland’s warbler (Dendroica kirtlandii), the use of prescribed burning for nongame management efforts has been rare. Moreover, in areas such as the central hardwood regions, the Appalachians and the Pacific Northwest, silvicultural uses of fire have been discouraged, which consequently have limited applications of fire for nongame management. However, new emphases on biodiversity and community restoration are leading to re-examination of fire as a management tool in regions with fire-dependent systems, such as the southeastern Coastal Plain and in areas where fire historically has been excluded. The timeliness and need of this symposium at the seventh annual meeting of The Wildlife Society was very apparent. As forest and land management on public lands continues to move from utilitarian or multiple-use approaches to more ecologically holistic management programs, prescribed burning is becoming an increasingly acceptable land management tool even where rarely used before. Conversely, on private lands, smoke management and liability issues and increased ownership fragmentation are having the opposite effect— decreasing the use of prescribed fire in land management activities. As natural resource scientists and land managers, not only must we gain a better understanding of the effects of natural and prescribed fire (or lack thereof) on nongame species, but also we need to promote its use when clearly indicated as a prescription for natural resource management. A critical component of this promotion is the education of the public by forestry and wildlife professionals about the historical role of fire and the importance of prescribed burning as a land management tool. This symposium attempted to synthesize the widely scattered information and disparate databases that exist regarding the role of fire for managing nongame wildlife and relictual communities. Accordingly, this symposium drew upon the expertise of regional and nationally recognized wildlife scientists, resource managers, and fire ecologists with papers presented on the historical background, current issues, ongoing management efforts, and research and management needs of prescribed burning for both eastern and western landscapes. The role of fire in