Prescribed fire and canopy reduction are accepted forest management practices used to increase forage and cover for white‐tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) in pine systems throughout the southeastern United States. However, use of prescribed fire to improve conditions for deer and turkeys has not been evaluated in upland hardwood forests of the Coastal Plain, and some land managers remain skeptical of the utility of fire in this ecoregion. We designed a manipulative experiment to measure deer and turkey habitat components following canopy reduction and prescribed fire in 4 upland hardwood stands in the Coastal Plain of Alabama, USA, during 2018 and 2019. Specifically, we used herbicide to kill trees with low value to deer and turkeys and retained oaks (Quercus spp.) and other species considered important as part of a forest stand improvement (FSI) operation to reduce canopy coverage. We then applied low‐intensity prescribed fire to half of each treatment unit. One unit in each replicate served as a control. We measured total understory plant coverage, biomass of deer forage, and turkey brooding cover for 2 years following canopy reduction and one year after fire. Coverage of herbaceous plants increased by 134% in FSI/Burn, and coverage of woody and semiwoody plants increased by 33% and 97%, respectively, following FSI only. Deer forage biomass was greater in both FSI and FSI/Burn compared to control, but there was no difference in deer forage biomass between FSI and FSI/Burn. FSI/Burn provided better turkey brooding cover than FSI or control. No overstory trees were killed by fire. We detected minor cambium damage to 13% of water oaks (Quercus nigra) in the FSI/Burn units; other species only showed light bark charring or no sign of burning. We recommend FSI and low‐intensity prescribed fire in Coastal Plain hardwoods to improve brooding cover for turkeys and understory forage for deer while retaining acorn production. © 2020 The Wildlife Society.

中文翻译：

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通过减少冠层和防火来改善鹿和火鸡的沿海平原硬木

规定的减少火势和减少冠层是公认的森林管理惯例，用于增加白尾鹿（Odocoileus virginianus）和野火鸡（Meleagris gallopavo）的草料和遮盖物）在美国东南部的松树系统中。但是，尚未在沿海平原的山地硬木林中使用规定的火种改善鹿和火鸡的条件，一些土地管理者仍对该地区的火源持怀疑态度。我们设计了一个操纵实验，以测量在2018年和2019年美国阿拉巴马州沿海平原的4个山地硬木林冠减少并开火后的鹿和火鸡栖息地组成。特别是，我们使用除草剂杀死了低价值的鹿树和火鸡以及留着橡木（Quercusspp。）和其他重要物种，它们是改善林分（FSI）以减少树冠覆盖的一部分。然后，我们对每个处理单元的一半应用了低强度处方火。每个重复中一个单位作为对照。我们测量了冠层减少后2年和火灾后1年的林下植物总覆盖率，鹿饲料的生物量和火鸡育雏率。仅FSI后，FSI / Burn中草本植物的覆盖率增加了134％，木本植物和半木本植物的覆盖率分别增加了33％和97％。FSI和FSI / Burn的鹿饲料生物量均比对照大，但FSI和FSI / Burn之间的鹿饲料生物量没有差异。与FSI或对照相比，FSI / Burn提供了更好的火鸡育雏罩。没有烧毁过高的树木。FSI / Burn单位中的Quercus nigra）；其他物种仅表现出轻微的树皮焦炭或没有燃烧的迹象。我们建议在沿海平原硬木中使用FSI和低强度的明火，以改善火鸡的育雏遮盖力和鹿的下层草料，同时保持橡子的产量。©2020野生动物协会。