Adirondack Mountains
(Area - 2,558,600 ha)
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Description - Most of the Adirondacks region consists of an
ancient dome of Precambrian rock, similar geologically to the Canadian Shield, but also includes
the Tug Hill Upland,which is more similar geologically to the Allegheny Plateau. Landforms
include high Appalachian peaks (roughly 90 peaks surpass 1000 m), as well as a broad zone of
lower mountains and foothills ranging down to 120 m in elevation. The area is dominated by a
combination of maple-beech-birch and red spruce-balsam fir forest, but also includes numerous
glacial lakes and bogs, as well as alpine communities. Roughly 2.2 million ha. are covered with
forest today, with nearly half of this area consisting of state-owned Forest Preserve and most of
the remainder in private industrial timberland. The most pervasive human influence on the
natural landscape has been through commercial timber harvest and production, resulting in early
removal of dominant white pine, hemlock, and old-growth spruce, and a gradual shift towards
greater dominance by northern hardwoods. Although total acreage and volume of the
Adirondack forests have increased steadily since 1900, harvest and removal of timber also has
increased by nearly 90% since 1968. Harvest today is primarily by means of selective cutting of
single trees; therefore age structure and species composition of the forest will continue to be
affected without creating additional areas of early successional vegetation. Today, human
population is low and limited in distribution, with roughly xxx ha devoted to pastureland or
residential development.
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Conservation recommendations and needs - Clearly, any successful landbird conservation plan in this region must reconcile the needs of long-term, sustainable timber production and the habitat needs of high-priority bird species. Loss of the economic sustainability of commercial forestry could result in conversion of forest habitats to urban development or other less bird-friendly landscapes. The primary goal of this bird conservation plan is to ensure the long-term maintenance of all important forest types in the future landscape mosaic. This must be achieved through careful forest planning on both private and public lands. Large portions of the Adirondack Mountain region are under the jurisdiction of the Adirondack Park Agency, thus simplifying the implementation of conservation planning. In addition, commitments by several large timber companies would ensure that conservation objectives are met over vast areas. Specific recommendations and needs include:
• apply GIS-based spatial monitoring protocol to survey and monitor high- elevation habitats for Bicknell's Thrush
• maintain a balance of forest-age structures, including adequate amounts of mid-successional as well as late-successional forest (both coniferous and northern hardwood)
• identify and designate Bird Conservation Areas (BCA), within which long-term sustainability of priority bird populations is a primary management objective
• determine specific habitat needs (and causes of declines) for Canada Warbler; why, for example, is Canada Warbler declining while Black-throated Blue Warbler is stable, if both require shrubby understory of mature forest?
• manage known Golden-winged Warbler breeding sites to maintain beaver activity or other disturbance level
• relate effects of woodcock (and other game) habitat management techniques to other priority, early-successional bird species
• implement New York DEC recovery plan objectives for Spruce Grouse
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