Audubon’s Healthy Forests Guide is Now Available!

Audubon Mid-Atlantic's newest resource for Pennsylvania is here, along with two updated companion publications. Designed for industry professionals, including consulting and public-lands foresters, Healthy Forests: A Bird-based Silvicultural Guide for Forestry Professionals, is chock full of silviculture guidance, management scenarios, and ideas for successful bird-friendly forestry.  

The guide weaves together effective, traditional forest management techniques with bird-friendly practices that support multiple objectives, including wildlife habitat enhancement/creation, timber production, forest regeneration, and recreation. Understanding that every forest property, client, and situation is unique, the guide includes sections like 'Selling Silviculture' with tips for engaging landowners. The ‘Silvicultural Options and Scenarios’ section describes effective management solutions for common forest conditions and issues found across the Mid-Atlantic region.

Available alongside the Healthy Forests Guide are two companion pieces: the Forest Birds Pocket Guide and the Healthy Forests Quick Start Guide.   

The Forest Birds Pocket Guide includes detailed descriptions of the habitat and forest conditions needed by 18 priority bird species in Pennsylvania. It’s an easy-to-use companion to the Healthy Forests Guide with supplemental material to help inform management decisions for priority birds.  

The Healthy Forests Quick Start Guide is the perfect tool for those of you who are already familiar with incorporating bird-friendly practices into forest management prescriptions. It’s concise, relevant, and easy to use, with everything you need on just a single page.     

Audubon’s Healthy Forests Guide benefitted from critical funding and partnerships with Natural Resources Conservation Service, Hamer Foundation, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Ruffed Grouse Society, PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Pennsylvania Game Commission, The Nature Conservancy, Penn State Extension, American Forest Foundation, U.S. Forest Service, and the Appalachian Mountains Joint Venture. Each was instrumental in helping to develop this guide so that it would be useful and relevant to foresters across the commonwealth.  

Learn more and download the guides here.