How do forest management actions like timber harvest, forest thinning, controlled burning, and active reforestation affect birds, and how can they be made more compatible with conservation of sensitive bird populations? Those are the main questions motivating IBP’s studies of birds and forest management in the Sierra Nevada and beyond, and they are particularly critical as land managers face enormous pressure to increase the pace and scale of forest management activities that may help protect mountain towns from wildfire.

Much of IBP’s work in this area is conducted in partnership with the US Forest Service, the National Park Service and other Sierra Nevada land managers. Recent and going examples include surveys of birds and insect pollinators 20 years after the implementation of experimental forest thinning and prescribed fire treatments; occupancy and reproductive status surveys of Spotted Owls and Northern Goshawks to ensure they can be protected during forest thinning efforts; development of analytical tools to help forest managers incorporate Black-backed Woodpecker habitat needs into post-fire timber harvest planning; and a study of vulnerabilities in the mutualism between whitebark pine and Clark’s Nutcrackers.