Forest Land Management and Aquatic Habitats in the New England Region

As the region of the US that was first settled by
Europeans, New England has a long and complex history of
land use change and forest management with important
implications for freshwater habitats and fisheries. 
Currently, much of the landscape is heavily forested and
dominated by small private holdings, but with a strong
gradient from north/interior (active forestry and larger
holdings) to south/coastal (little forestry and and strong
development pressure).  Most of the forest cover is in
young-mature forest, with low representation of both early-
successional and old-growth stands.  While the proportion
of land under active management continues to decline,
there is a great deal of interest and concern over
potential for biofuels harvests.  Our research focuses on
two broad areas ? legacies of past intensive forestry
(reduced large wood loads, dense forest road networks) and
current lack of management (reduction in early-
successional habitat). We find wood loads in New England
streams are some of the lowest recorded nationally the
result of both intrinsic limitations on maximum tree size
and past forest practices.  However, current practices
undertaken by National Forest managers appear to restore
wood levels to predicted old-growth conditions, and have
significant influence on aquatic habitat, suggesting an
important ecological role in some situations.  The high
density of forest roads fragments stream habitat to a
degree that our current research suggests threatens the
both viability of stream fish populations and maintenance
of ecosystem processes.  In contrast to other regions,
early-successional forest stands both in the riparian and
upslope in the watershed may not have clear deleterious
effects, and may in some cases increase fish and aquatic
invertebrate production.  Synthesizing these findings into
coherent large-scale management plans in this complex
ecological, cultural, and political setting is the
critical challenge for aquatic scientists in the New
England region.