Chainsaws, Canebrakes, and Cotton Fields: Sober Thoughts on Silviculture for Songbirds in Bottomland Forests

Forested wetlands of the Mississippi Alluvial Valley (MAV) are the most productive of birds, including neotropical migratory birds, of all land uses there. Forest land uses are difficult to maintain in economic competition with annual crops. We compare perspectives of a bird biologist, a wildlife manager, a production forester, and an economic pragmatist to the issue: How can we manage bottomland forests for products, like birds, in addition to economically viable commodities? Our thesis assumes: (a) private lands are the major land ownership category, (b) economically successful timber production generally is prerequisite to existence of forest on private lands, and (c) traditional silvicultural tools can produce bird habitats. Principles for production of specific bird communities in bottomland hardwoods remain to be articulated. We assert that the future of neotropical migratory birds in bottomlands depends upon communication between avian biologists and silviculturists and the innovative capacity of land managers. 1 Research Wildlife Biologist, Research Forester, and Research Forester, USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station, Stoneville, MS; and Project Leader, USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station, Athens, GA, respectively. INTRODUCTION The forested wetlands and seasonally inundated bottomland hardwood forests of the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley (MAV), growing as they do on soils deposited as erosional products of the major portion of the North American continent, are very productive as bird habitats. The soils here are also productive for a number of warm-season agricultural crops, from cotton to catfish, and forest products including short-rotation fiber and long-rotation high-quality wood products. Land use in the region is a competitive result of potential for cash production, constrained by hydrological uncertainties. For a century, public policy at the Federal, State, and local level has emphasized control of water flow (Barry 1997) which has produced outstanding opportunities for agriculture, seriously reduced forestry activities, and eliminated many wildlife species, including some song and other birds. Still, however, MAV forests are the primary contributors of certain birds to the nation’s avifaunal estate (Hunter and others 1993). In this paper, we address the question: How can we afford to manage bottomland forests for products, like birds, in addition to economically viable commodities? To explore this question, we review current knowledge and practice of silviculture for forest birds in MAV forests, we illustrate the intensity of potential conflicts over land use with several different management viewpoints, and we provide case histories of consequences of past and of potential land management actions. Our role is to highlight the difficulties involved in attempting to produce commodities, like neotropical migratory birds (NTMB), that have low direct economic return, in an environment where the burgeoning population of the nation has created a very great demand for food and fiber. We conclude by pointing out the importance of cooperation among people with differing interests in land use to the future persistence of the current avifauna. We contend that only by collaboration among the variety of viewpoints represented among land owners, land managers, and interested citizens can this rich environment succeed in producing the desired economic, ecological, and aesthetic commodities of which it is capable.