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Managing Early Successional Habitats for Wildlife in Novel Places

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Part of the book series: Managing Forest Ecosystems ((MAFE,volume 21))

Abstract

Utility rights-of-way stretch for thousands of kilometers across the North American landscape. In deciduous forests of the Central Hardwood Region, rights-of-way provide opportunities for conserving early successional species, including a broad array of songbirds and butterflies. Although the millions of hectares managed by the utility industry to provide electricity, natural gas, and other services are not usually viewed by the public as beneficial for wildlife conservation, we suggest that rights-of-way can be valuable early succession habitats in addition to more “traditionally” created areas like clearcut harvests.

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Correspondence to J. Drew Lanham .

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Lanham, J.D., Whitehead, M.A. (2011). Managing Early Successional Habitats for Wildlife in Novel Places. In: Greenberg, C., Collins, B., Thompson III, F. (eds) Sustaining Young Forest Communities. Managing Forest Ecosystems, vol 21. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1620-9_12

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