Can retention harvests help conserve wildlife? Evidence for vertebrates in the boreal forest

Retention harvesting, or the approach of leaving live mature trees behind during forest harvest, is used in natural disturbance-based management to mitigate the effects of logging on biodiversity. However, responses of many boreal vertebrates to variable retention harvesting are unknown. We investigated the influence of different retention levels in forest harvests on stand use by wildlife 15-18 yr post-harvest using a combination of surveys of wildlife signs (scats, middens) and camera trapping. Site-level measures of forest structure, including canopy cover, horizontal cover, tree height, tree diameter, basal area, cover of downed coarse woody material, and understory plant cover, were used to describe post-harvest differences in habitats used by common wildlife species in northwest Alberta's boreal forest. Stand use of six species (black bear, coyote, fisher, red squirrel, wolverine, woodland caribou) increased with level of retention, while stand use of two species (grouse, snowshoe hare) declined with retention level. Retention level did not significantly affect stand use of five species (American marten, Canada lynx, deer, gray wolf, moose). Higher levels of retention characterized by greater canopy cover, basal area, and abundance of deadwood were associated with use of forest habitats by late-seral species. Woodland caribou, a species of conservation concern, was detected only in harvested stands with at least 20% retention. Greater understory and horizontal cover characterized lower levels of retention being attractive for early-seral species. These findings demonstrate the value of retention harvesting for conservation of wildlife species in boreal forest, while highlighting the challenge of managing forests for multiple species with different habitat preferences.