Assessing Forest Wildlife Diversity in Pennsylvania

Forest managers require tools to rapidly assess the effects of management activities on wildlife habitat. Most wildlife habitat evaluations can be costly and time consuming, resulting in few practical assessments for nonindustrial private forest landowners. Using vegetation type, its structure, and the resulting wildlife habitat as indicators of wildlife diversity, this article presents the beginnings of a practical assessment. We have developed a habitat-basedprocedurefor deriving species richness of wildlife communities, at the stand level, by associating identified structural habitat characteristics with groups of wildlife species. Two formats are available: a manual format using a matrix and functional (species) groups that arc eliminated if their required structural features are not found in the stand, and a computer format that éliminâtes individual, not grouped, species. Both formats provide a list of potential species and can be used to predict species changes based on proposed activities. This provides a manager the opportunity to determine if uncommon or critical habitat features will be eliminated before conducting a proposed management activity, i.