Wildlife Corridors and the Mitigation of Logging Impacts on Fauna in Wood-Production Forests in South-Eastern Australia: a Review.

Abstract

Retained systems of linear habitat or wildlife corridors are used widely in Australian temperate wood-production forests as a strategy to mitigate the effects of logging on populations of animals. Investigations of corridors in Australian forests are limited and there are few data to determine whether such approaches will be effective for the long-term conservation of forest fauna. However, a review of the range of studies completed to date indicates that many factors have the potential to influence the use of corridors by wildlife. These include: (1) the biology, ecology and life history of species; (2) habitat suitability and attributes (width, length) of retained strips; (3) the location of sites in the landscape; (4) the type of logging operations and their intensity and pattern at a landscape scale; (5) the suitability of habitats for fauna in the areas surrounding retained strips; and (6) the value for fauna of reserves connected by corridors. This diverse array of factors means that it is important to identify explicitly both the species targeted for conservation and the principal objectives of establishing a network of wildlife corridors within a given area of wood-production forest. Such an analysis may reveal that, within the constraints that typically apply in timber-production forests, it may not be possible to design corridor systems that conserve all of those species that are vulnerable to the effects of timber harvesting. As a result of limited data, it is presently not possible to assess the adequacy of most prescriptions for wildlife corridors. Consequently, more investigations of wildlife corridors are required to provide data to guide their design. Until these studies are completed, a conservative approach to forest management is recommended.