Todd S. Fredericksen

The wildland–urban interface (WUI) refers to areas where forests with little human influence and other vegetation types intersect with human development. Ecosystem management in the WUI presents special challenges. Human dwellings and other infrastructure can constrain management options, such as timber harvesting, prescribed burning, and managing wildlife. Humans can also negatively affect ecosystem functioning through the introduction of invasive plant and animal species, wildfire ignition, habitat fragmentation, and attracting nuisance wildlife species. Although there are WUIs throughout the world, this review will focus mostly on the eastern United States, where a high population density and maturing forests highlight exceptional challenges to forest management. Land ownership in the WUI in this region is dominated by non-industrial private forestlands with diverse ownership objectives and is often distributed in relatively small parcels, creating difficulties for coordinated forest management. Landowners and loggers often plan timber harvests without input from forest managers. On the frontlines of WUI management are extension agents, state and local agencies, non-government organizations, and consulting foresters. Public education, cost-share agreements, and local government engagement are needed to conserve and manage forests in the WUI.

Non-industrial private forestlands (NIPF) have often been subjected to logging practices that remove the highest quality trees of the highest value species, leaving behind less-desirable stems and species; a practice termed high-grading or selective harvesting. Timber stand improvement (TSI) can be used to correct high-grading practices by removing poorly-formed or low-value tree species in order to promote the growth of higher value trees and species. The felled trees may be removed for biomass fuel or left in place. At study sites in southwestern Virginia, we monitored tree growth across experimental TSI with biomass removal, TSI cut-and-leave felled stems, and control plots in mixed-pine hardwood forests from 2012–2025, measuring diameter at breast height (DBH) for multiple species. Scarlet Oak (Quercus coccinea) and Yellow Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) had the largest growth increments during the study period, while Black Gum (Nyssa sylvatica) and Hickory species (Carya spp.) showed consistently low growth. Larger trees tended to grow at faster rates, consistent with allometric expectations. The two TSI treatments had similar growth increments and were 60%–100% higher than control plots over the tree blocks of treatments in this study. Mortality at the longest-term measured block was more than twice as high as TSI plots. These results suggest that TSI can reduce competition for light and nutrients promoting diameter growth, whereas untreated plots may experience resource limitations that suppress growth and increase mortality. The study provides a baseline for understanding forest dynamics and highlights the importance of management interventions in maintaining productivity and structural diversity in selectively-logged forests.

Camera traps across from cages baited with either sardines or suet were installed in forests on the campus of Ferrum College in Virginia, USA, during the Fall and Spring seasons over two years. The objective of this study was to determine the vertebrate wildlife abundance and species composition in natural hardwood forests with mixed pine species compared to pine plantations. We found that the forest type and bait preference differed among the species by season. The relative abundance of natural foods and the need for winter thermal cover may explain the capture success in this study.

The effect of forest harvesting on the composition and structure of a temperate coniferous forest in Mexico was evaluated after three harvesting periods from 2007–2015. In this forest, we identified seven families and eight tree species. The dominant species is Pinus pseudostrobus Lindl. which is also the most important commercial species. Harvesting was oriented towards increasing the abundance of the dominant pine species, resulting in a decrease in forest diversity and favoring a transition to a monospecific forest. The tree canopy structure following harvesting showed a gradual recovery in the number of individuals in each diameter class, but the diameter increment may not necessarily guarantee a sustainable harvest because cutting cycles appear to be too short. The size of harvesting gaps and overall forest cover determine the presence and/or abundance of regeneration (small seedlings, seedlings, saplings, large saplings, and young trees). The establishment of Pinus pseudostrobus and Ilex discolor Hemsl. differed according to their ecological groups.

In addition to management for forest products, an increasing priority in the management of forests is the provision and maintenance of ecosystem services