Final Report for W-162-R-9: The Forests and Woodlands Campaign of the Illinois Wildlife Action Plan - Segment 9

To better understand the response of wildlife populations to forest management activities under the wildlife action plan, Segment 9 of the Forest Campaign was devised to meet the following objectives (1 September 2018 through 31 August 2019): 1) Continue the implementation of monitoring protocols that measure the response of forest wildlife to various forest management tools including thinning, fire, re-forestation, and the removal of invasive exotic plant species; 2) Use a “before-after-treatment-control” monitoring framework (with replication) at 5 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) Use breeding bird point counts (~450 points), “camera traps” (~100 7-day deployments), and nocturnal bird surveys (at 3 of the study sites), all in conjunction with vegetation surveys (~225 points) to document how management activities affect forest structure and composition and in turn influence particular species; 4) Submit at least one manuscript for publication in a peer-reviewed journal and provide one popular article about this project to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources by the grant end date (popular article will be approximately 500 words in length with at least two pictures provided).