A campaign is underway to clear established forests and expand early-successional habitats—also called young forest, pre-forest, early seral, or open habitats—with the intention of benefitting specific species. Coordinated by federal and state wildlife agencies, and funded with public money, public land managers work closely with hunting and forestry interests, conservation organizations, land trusts, and private landowners toward this goal. While forest-clearing has become a major focus in the Northeast and Upper Great Lakes regions of the U.S., far less attention is given to protecting and recovering old-forest ecosystems, the dominant land cover in these regions before European settlement. Herein we provide a discussion of early-successional habitat programs and policies in terms of their origins, in the context of historical baselines, with respect to species’ ranges and abundance, and as they relate to carbon accumulation and ecosystem integrity. Taken together, and in the face of urgent global crises in climate, biodiversity, and human health, we conclude that public land forest and wildlife management programs must be reevaluated to balance the prioritization and funding of early-successional habitat with strong and lasting protection for old-growth and mature forests, and, going forward, must ensure far more robust, unbiased, and ongoing monitoring and evaluation.

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Forest-clearing to create early-successional habitats: Questionable benefits, significant costs

There have been no confirmed detections of Spilogale putorius (Eastern Spotted Skunk) since 1967 in Maryland. We summarized historical records, as well as recent studies from other available mammal projects completed in Maryland. We conducted camera-trap surveys between 2015 and 2018 at 33 sites in western Maryland. We sought information from outdoor recreationists, mail-surveys sent to licensed wildlife damage control operators (n = 56), and an online questionnaire of natural resources professionals (n = 149). We compiled 13 historic records, including 7 catalogued specimens. No Eastern Spotted Skunks were detected with our camera traps. Our call for public information did not result in any confirmed sightings, and there were no personal observations or secondary evidence reported by responding wildlife damage control operators (n = 10) or natural resource professionals (n = 49). It appears the Eastern Spotted Skunk may no longer be a permanent resident in Maryland. However, the state still retains potential habitat and is in close proximity to known populations in West Virginia, from which Eastern Spotted Skunks could potentially disperse to Maryland in the future.

Status and Distribution of the Eastern Spotted Skunk in Maryland: A Historic Review and Recent Assessment

Baylisacaris procyonis is a roundworm that is tolerated by its primary host, raccoons (Procyon lotor). However, this roundworm can be fatal to intermediate mammalian hosts and may be a contributing factor to population declines of the endangered, Allegheny woodrat (Neotoma magister). We used fecal flotation to determine the prevalence of B. procyonis eggs in raccoon scat found in locations that overlap with where woodrats persist in the mid-Atlantic. We determined that B. procyonis was present at two extant woodrat colonies in Maryland and Pennsylvania. We expect woodrat populations at these sites to decline, if the roundworm and other factors (e.g., forest fragmentation) are not alleviated.

Daniel J. Feller

Papers

Status and Distribution of the Eastern Spotted Skunk in Maryland: A Historic Review and Recent Assessment

The Prevalence of the Raccoon Roundworm, Baylisascaris procyonis, in Allegheny Woodrat Habitat in the Mid-Atlantic Region, U.S.A.