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Northern Hardwoods:
A Guide for Forest Owners and Managers

Audubon New York's mission is the protection of birds and other wildlife and the habitats that support them. Audubon New York undertook three years of research that supports this manual so as to help forest landowners appreciate what the effects of different harvest regimes are likely to be on wildlife communities on their properties.

This manual is a result of the efforts of a collaborative partnership of stakeholders interested in forest and wildlife issues in New York. It was chaired by Mr. Frank Dunstan (New York State Department of Environmental Conservation [NYS DEC]). Much of the information presented in this manual resulted from the research conducted by Audubon New York, which also spearheaded the partnership. A committee of academics and professionals chaired by Dr. Ross Whaley (SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry [SUNY-ESF] and now Chair of the Adirondack Park Agency [APA]) provided technical review of the research and data analysis.

Partner organizations included Audubon New York, Consulting in the Public Interest (CIPI), Cornell University, Empire State Forest Products Association, International Paper Company, New York Forest Owners Association, New York Institute of Consulting Foresters, NYS DEC, Northeastern Loggers Association, SUNY-ESF and others. The primary authors of this manual are Mitschka Hartley (formerly with Audubon New York, now with the US Fish and Wildlife Service), Kristi Sullivan (Cornell University), and Michael Burger (Audubon New York). Graham Cox (Audubon New York) played an important role by shepherding this project through its many phases.

Funding for this project, including the research, data analysis and manual creation components, was provided by the Park Foundation, the New York State Biodiversity Research Institute, the US Forest Service and Audubon New York. NYS DEC, New York State Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation, the Thomas Camp, Watson Homestead, Frost Valley YMCA Camp and SUNY-ESF (through the Adirondack Ecological Center in Newcomb) also supported this effort through donations of field vehicles, accommodations and/or meals. Additionally, International Paper provided the paper used to print the manuals. Finally, this manual would not have been possible without the cooperation of numerous private forest owners who provided access to their lands for research purposes, professional foresters who helped identify potential study sites, and field assistants who collected much of the data.

Click here to the link to the Forestry Manual. These pages are in Adobe Acrobat's Portable Document Format (PDF). In order to view these files, if you do not already have the Acrobat Reader installed, you will need Acrobat Reader, which is available for free from the Adobe website.