Final Report for W-162-R-8: The Forests and Woodlands Campaign of the Illinois Wildlife Action Plan - Segment 8

To better understand the response of wildlife populations to forest management activities under the wildlife action plan, Segment 8 of the Forest Campaign was devised to meet the following objectives (1 September 2017 through 31 August 2018): 1) Continue the implementation of monitoring protocols that measure the response of forest wildlife to various forest management tools including, but not limited to, thinning, fire, timber harvest, and the removal of invasive exotic plant species; 2) Use a “before-after-treatment-control” monitoring framework (with replication) at 6 or more sites across Illinois (more than 450 established survey points each visited multiple times per year) to document the immediate and longer-term effects of forest management on populations of forest and woodland-dwelling birds and other wildlife; 3) Specifically, to use breeding bird point counts (~450 points distributed among 5 study sites each visited twice when possible during May-July), “camera traps” (~50 point subset of the 450 survey points each surveyed with a 7-day camera deployment), and nocturnal nightjar surveys (at least 10 survey points at each of 3 study sites, each point visited 2 times during late April and early June), all in conjunction with vegetation surveys (~225 point subset of the 450 survey points sampled during July-August and representing the various treatments and controls) to document how management activities affect forest structure and composition and in turn influence particular wildlife species. 4) One popular article about this project will be provided to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources by the grant end date. This article will be approximately 500 words in length with at least 2 pictures provided.