Young Forests Are Great Wildlife Habitat

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- Hi, Sanford Smith here from Penn State Extension.

Today we're going to talk about forests and wildlife.

And I know when most people think of those two things together, they think of a forest a little bit like the one I'm standing in with large trees, lots of shade, maybe some wildflowers and ferns.

But in fact, this type of forest, which is an older forest, about 100 years old, is not really the best habitat for some wildlife species, actually for many wildlife species.

So I invited my friend Justin Vreeland to answer a few questions for us today.

He's a regional wildlife biologist with the Pennsylvania Game Commission, and I posed three questions to him.

I said, Justin, what are young forests?

Why are they important?

And how do they come about?

And you'll see those questions on your screen as you're watching this video as we go along, and then you'll see him answer those, and then I'll come back in at the end of the video.

- A young forest at its simplest is just a collection of trees that are very early on in their life stage.

A young forest in California or Oregon might be 100 or 200 years old.

In Pennsylvania, a young forest is typically under 20 years of age, and it depends on the kind of trees.

More technically, a young forest is a collection of trees and shrubs, herbaceous plants, and other kinds of plants that all form a community, but is considered young.

So something between zero and five or zero and 20 years old.

So we're standing in a Central Pennsylvania young forest in Huntingdon County.

Behind me is a really good example of about a 10 year old forest.

It's very diverse.

There's young oaks of several species, birches, maples, sassafras.

I even see some locust and some other plants.

So this is a really good example of what a young forest can look like.

Young forests are really important wildlife habitat for a whole host of species, in particular birds and mammals.

Here in Central Pennsylvania, species that are in severe decline include things like neo-tropical migratory songbirds that spend winters in the southern United States, in Mexico, and in South America.

And they come back here during spring and summer to raise their young.

They're amongst some of the most sensitive species that are doing the poorest amongst North America wildlife.

In addition, some of our native species like grouse, bears, deer, and turkey that don't have the ability to migrate, rely heavily on these young forests for food, for shelter, for nesting, for rearing young, and other life functions.

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So young forests come about in a number of ways, some of which are natural.

There can be intense fires that kills all the trees and other vegetation.

Things like landslides, hurricanes, and tornadoes can do what's called regenerating a forest by killing the older forest that was there first.

And then humans can create young forests through the use of controlled fire or prescribed fire.

And we can also use good forestry techniques that remove older trees and create space for young trees to grow.

- Thank you, Justin.

Thank you for joining us and sharing your knowledge with us today.

And thank you folks for listening.

I hope you learned a lot about young forests and their importance to wildlife.