Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: West Virginia
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

West Virginia Project


Cerulean Warbler and Associated Species Response to Silvicultural Prescriptions in the Central Appalachian Region

August 2012 - December 2018


Personnel

Participating Agencies

  • CRU
  • Penn Game Commission
  • WVDNR

Cerulean warblers benefit from forest management prac­tices that promote a heterogeneous canopy structure based on an experimental study that resulted in "Cerulean Warbler Management Guidelines for Enhancing Breeding Habitat in Appalachian Hardwood Forests". This project studied application of the Guidelines through operational silviculture under a broad set of conditions and harvest types. Four states in the central Appalachians conducted timber harvests that incorporated the recommendations of the guidelines and we quantified the response of cerulean warbler and associated avian species. Results suggest that the Guidelines are effective under broader topographic conditions and the study identified specific management targets for preferred tree species basal area to better guide management practices.

Research Publications Publication Date
Nareff, G.E., P.B. Wood, D.J. Brown, T. Fearer, J.L. Larkin, and W.M. Ford. Cerulean Warbler (Setophaga cerulea) response to operational silviculture in the central Appalachian region. Forest Ecology and Management 448:409-423, June 2019
Presentations Presentation Date
Wood, P.B. and G.E. Nareff. Cerulean Warbler and Associated Species Response to Operational Silviculture. 2019 Annual Conference of the Association of Field Ornithologists and the Wilson Ornithological Society. 27-30 Oct 2019. October 2019
Theses and Dissertations Publication Date
Nareff, G.E. 2019. Cerulean Warbler (Setophaga cerulea) and Associated Species Response to Operational Silviculture in the Central Appalachian Region. PhD Dissertation, West Virginia University, Morgantown. Sept 2019. September 2019