The Young Forest Initiative offers stories and news about early successional habitat and young forest management from local and national publications and our partners.
Timely Timber Harvest to Help Wildlife Adding habitat diversity to a National Forest in New York A 700-acre project on Finger Lakes National Forest will improve forest diversity, restore native tree species, and create cover for wildlife, including important early successional habitat.
Rare Canada Lynx Sighted in Vermont Fifteen confirmed sightings of a dispersing lynx Biologist Brehan Furfey hopes Vermont's network of protected lands will help the young lynx reach the state's Northeast Kingdom "where it will find more young forest habitat and plenty of snowshoe hares to eat."
Butterflies Home In On Songbird Habitat Monarch butterflies use habitat created for at-risk bird species A wide range of insects, including butterflies, use habitat managed to help golden-winged warblers and other birds that rely on young forest and shrubland.
Listening for the Whip-Poor-Will in Spring As the whip-poor-will's chant wanes, our cultural loss deepens The population of whip-poor-wills, which breed and find insect prey in and near young forest and shrubland, decreased by nearly 70 percent between 1970 and 2014.
National Forest in North Carolina to Create Key Young Forest Habitat Healthier forests mean cleaner water and better habitat for everything from salamanders to bats Strategically harvesting trees and planting other native trees preferred by wildlife are part of an 800-acre management project planned for a national forest in North Carolina.
New England Cottontails Flourish on a Massachusetts Island It’s a Bunny Paradise Biologists released 13 rare New England cottontails on Noman’s Land Island in 2019. Now, around 400 of the rabbits roam the 600-acre island off the Massachusetts coast.
Controlled Burns for Private Lands? Study finds that landowners are open to prescribed burns Research by Penn State scientists suggests that owners of private lands are open to using prescribed burns to manage their forested acres.
New Addition to Great Thicket National Wildlife Refuge The land will help nurture at-risk and priority species Established in 2016, Great Thicket is something of an avant-garde refuge. Rather than protecting land in a single location, the Service aims to acquire up to 15,000 acres of shrubland and young forest habitat from willing landowners across focal areas in New York and New England.
