5.4 Agriculture and Aquaculture
Grant 2005; Hedrick 1998; Cervino et al. 2012) . Water discharges and stock escapes from aquaculture are therefore important sources of exposure for diseases and pathogens to native popula- tions (Richards 2014) .
5.4.3 Silviculture—Anticipated Impacts Generally, silviculture is the science of managing forests or forest crops to meet diverse needs and values. For purposes of this section, the topic is focused on the management of tree plantations for wood fber, timber, Christmas trees, or production of nonnative spe- cies for other uses (Salafsky et al. 2008) . Natural forests are not included in this defnition (see Sections 5.5, 5.7, and 5.9 for discussions on management and alterations to natural forests). Silvicultural operations remove various amounts of planted forest materials for processing into wood and pulp products. Te mission of NC Forest Service is to protect, manage, and develop the forest resources of the state. Converting naturally diverse forests to monocultural tree farms reduces habitat diversity, which, in turn, is a major cause of wildlife species loss (Wilcove et al. 1998; Tompson et al. 2013; Roberts and Gilliam 1995; Martin-Queller et al. 2013). A t a minimum, the loss of canopy and under- story vegetation diminishes availability of cover and forage for wildlife, or, in the case of clearcuts, removes these wildlife resources entirely. Sites allowed to revegetate naturally through successional growth seeded from nearby natural communities could result in poor genetic diversity from the weedy or invasive species that tend to be early colonizers on disturbed sites. Particular forest structures and ranges of food sources may be more important than par- ticular tree species for certain wildlife (e.g., mammals) (von Haartman 1971; Cannell 1999) or there may be life history dependence on particular species (e.g., Red-cockaded Woodpecker). Te conversion of a mixed species forest to an even-aged monoculture, such as those associ- ated with pine plantations, changes the diversity of habitats, but management options are available to improve diversity of plantation landscapes (Cannell 1999) . Stand-level wildlife habitat elements such as snags, mast trees, down and coarse woody debris, den trees, and nest trees provide important perching, nesting, foraging, and displaying habitats for a wide variety of wildlife (Jones et al. 2009; Hodson et al. 2010) . In addition to the loss of vegetation, some timber operations create impacts that directly afect landscapes through changes to soil properties caused by mechanized clearing, cut- ting, and site preparation activities. Tese impacts include soil compaction, especially to organic soils, increased erosion from disturbance, nutrient loss, removal of seed resources, lost or diminished genetic diversity, changes to microtopography, and changes to hydro- geomorphic processes (FAO 1997; Carter and Grace 2012) .
685
2015 NC Wildlife Action Plan
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online