The relationship between forest health and biodiversity cannot be understated and significantly impacts ecosystems and communities. In this episode of “Forest Matters,” NativState wildlife biologist Kevin Wood discusses the importance of biodiversity, species diversity, and habitat protection in sustainable forest management:
- How healthy forests support biodiversity
- The role of indicator species in monitoring ecosystem health
- The interconnectedness of species
- Examples of human impact on biodiveristy
- Forest Stewardship Council’s (FSC) criteria for conservation
- How managing for biodiversity adds value to carbon credits
- How NativState helps landowners manage their forest for biodiversity and meet certification standards
Transcript
Forest Matters
Episode 4
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
biodiversity, species diversity, ecosystems, habitat protection, endangered species, forest management, sustainable forestry, FSC certification, carbon markets, landowners, wildlife biologist, indicator species, keystone species, water quality, habitat improvement
SPEAKERS
Michelle Stoll, Kevin Wood
Kevin Wood 00:00
If we’re managing for an endangered species, that’s only going to improve the habitat for other species as well, right.
Michelle Stoll 00:07
Got it. So you might not necessarily really care about the speckled pocketbook muscle, right? But you might care about the snow geese that come through, or getting that 10-point buck in hunting season, and that’s, those things are interrelated, is what I’m hearing.
Michelle Stoll 00:42
Well, welcome back to NativState’s Forest Matters podcast. We’ve got Kevin wood, our wildlife biologist, back with us. If you listen to our last episode, you got to hear all about High Conservation Value and what that means for threatened and endangered species and landowners and forest certification. So we’re going to go a little bit more deeply today, Kevin, into what is biodiversity, species diversity, ecosystems and habitat protection. So jump right in there, Kevin. Tell us a little bit about what are the differences in those things, biodiversity, species diversity, are those the same things?
Kevin Wood 01:27
Yeah, more or less.
Michelle Stoll 01:28
More or less, okay, tell us about that. Then what do we mean when we’re talking about biodiversity? I see that a lot. That’s like a buzzword. What does that mean?
Kevin Wood 01:34
Yeah, we’re just talking about all living things. And you know how, how many different types of living things you have in an area.
Michelle Stoll 01:42
So the more, the better. I’m guessing
Kevin Wood 01:43
For sure.
Michelle Stoll 01:44
Okay, so when we think about biodiversity in a forest setting, so think about some of the projects that you work with at NativState, what is the importance of biodiversity to say, a healthy forest, or is it the other way around? A healthy forest supports more biodiversity. How do those things work together?
Kevin Wood 02:04
Yeah, for sure. If, if you have a healthy forest, it’s going to support more biodiversity. So in ecology, there’s, there’s a lot of things we still don’t understand, you know? So with our with our landscapes being so different than they were, say, pre-European settlement, you know, we’ve, we’ve done a lot of things that that’s changed them over the years, and we still don’t fully understand what, what kind of ramifications all of that has had. But in general, we have less biodiversity than we did before Europeans settled in the Americas. So we’re looking at at some, you know, major species like elk and bison that are missing from the landscape and a lot of places, and down to insects and, you know, other invertebrates that we don’t notice or pay much attention to,
Michelle Stoll 03:05
Right, right. So that makes me think about when I look at the lists of threatened and endangered species. So many of those are going to be like little mussels or clams or insects, or my favorite one in Arkansas is the yellow cheeked darter. So this, you know, strange little yellow fish that only lives in a small area up in Northwest Arkansas, but most people may not know or really care about these little things, you know. You think about polar bears or, you know, big things. So connect the dots for me here. Why? Why is it important to protect these clams and mussels and fish?
Kevin Wood 03:50
So a lot of those species are, are aquatic species. So, you know, over the years, we’ve, we’ve dammed, dammed a bunch of the rivers that totally changes the ecology of those waterways. So you know, over the years, we’re finding that, hey, what we’ve done with these dams is not good for for that ecosystem. And you know, clams, mussels, mollusk, they’re filter feeders, so they filter the water, improve the water quality which downstream affects all sorts of things, sure, you know, even onto the land. So that that’s kind of an indicator of where we’re at in those ecosystems is these, these things that filter the water are declining because of changes in their habitat and and the water quality is so poor that they’re, they’re having a hard time.
Michelle Stoll 04:55
So you said they’re, they’re indicators. I’ve, I’ve heard of indicator species and keystone species. Can you just give me a short explanation of what those are and how they fit into this picture of biodiversity?
Kevin Wood 05:10
Yeah, that’s going to be a species that that helps us realize the quality of that ecosystem.
Michelle Stoll 05:19
So like your first warning system,
Kevin Wood 05:20
Exactly, the canary in the coal mine. It helps us say, hey, there may be something wrong here, because this species is declining. Those species are generally more specialized in their habitat.
it’s a good indication of change going on.
Michelle Stoll 05:42
And those keystone species, what does that mean?
Kevin Wood 05:45
More or less, the same thing.
Michelle Stoll 05:49
Okay, so let me see if I’ve got this right. So you have these smaller, maybe mollusks, things that are kind of at the bottom of the food chain, more or less, that are indicators. I would imagine that that then influences things like the things that eat those or rely on the water quality, things like waterfowl. We’re talking about water so the waterfowl, or, you know, those larger game animals, there’s a connection right between these little things that people might overlook, and these larger species that we all know about.
Kevin Wood 06:26
Yeah, it’s all interconnected. So once, once you start having a decline in in one species, it’s it’s going to have ramifications in in other species, and some of those things we don’t understand yet. A good example of that is out west in Yellowstone National Park. You know, wolves were were removed from the landscape for for many decades, which caused beaver to almost go extinct there in in the National Park, which doesn’t make sense. You would think, oh, wolves will eat a beaver and, well, what happens is the wolves were gone, which allowed the elk to come down further in the valley, eat up all the willow shoots, which is what The beaver relied on. And beaver were almost extirpated, so they reintroduced wolves that pushed the elk back up onto the mountainsides. The Willow were able to come back, and the beaver came back.
Michelle Stoll 07:35
So it’s a mysterious balance that we don’t completely understand.
Kevin Wood 07:36
Exactly.
Michelle Stoll 07:37
So in Arkansas, though, a lot of these projects are in the Mississippi flyway, and that brings in a lot of waterfowl, and that brings in people from across the country, right, who come in for these recreational opportunities, into the that area along the the Mississippi and the delta,
Kevin Wood 07:59
Sure. So if we’re, if we’re managing for an endangered species, that’s only going to improve the habitat for for other species as well. It’s, it’s all, it’s all related. So, yeah, having a having a buffer strip along, along the river, hey, that’s going to help the fish. Going to help the clams. But that can also, you know, improve habitat for for deer and waterfowl and turkeys and other things, right.
Michelle Stoll 08:30
Got it. So you might not necessarily really care about the speckled pocketbook muscle, right, but you might care about the snow geese that come through, or getting that 10-point buck in hunting season, and that’s those things are interrelated, is what I’m hearing.
Kevin Wood 08:47
Yeah. So not, not every management activity is going to positively affect every animal, but a lot of times, just maintaining the habitat the way that nature intended, it is going to help those game species as well.
Michelle Stoll 09:06
That makes sense. So then, in the context of forest management and specifically sustainable forest certification and the expectations of FSC certification, how does this fit into that? What part of the picture is biodiversity, habitat management? How does that all, how does that connect?
Kevin Wood 09:28
Yeah, so the FSC Forest Stewardship Council, they they have some criteria of how conservation is to be carried out on these properties. So, so there’s a checklist there of things we’ve we’ve got to make sure happen. And I kind of mentioned this last, last time. You know that that’s not meant to be a list of restrictions for a landowner. Tthat’s, hey, these, these are tools to help the landowner manage their property, correctly. That that’s good for the environment, good for these, these species.
Michelle Stoll 10:05
That makes sense. And I would imagine a lot of landowners are interested. You said you care about what you know about, and I would imagine you know, knowing about these species that are there, and the importance of them and protecting that habitat would matter to a lot of the landowners.
Kevin Wood 10:22
It does.
Michelle Stoll 10:23
Yeah. And I would also imagine then, as we talked about last time with FSC and forest forest certification, we didn’t really get into it, but that that adds value in the carbon market, right when, by participating in that and doing that checklist like you said, that that not only is good for the land and the species that live there, but it also makes those carbon credits have more value because of the co-benefits. Is that, am I getting that right?
Kevin Wood 10:50
Right. These carbon buyers have have a reputation to uphold. You know, they they don’t want to be associated with a with a project that that harms the environment or or harms an endangered species. You know, that’s, that’s not a good image. And so they’re, they’re looking for projects that that are certified, and they know for sure, hey, this, this property, is being managed correctly, and there’s no risk there of us harming an endangered species that would, that would harm our reputation. and they’re willing to pay, pay a little extra for that,
Michelle Stoll 11:32
Yeah, well, for sure. And it goes beyond not harming, right? So it’s not just that you’re not going to harm those species, but you’re really, it sounds like you’re really improving that habitat and making it a more attractive property, if you will.
Kevin Wood 11:48
Yeah, yeah, that’s, that’s the goal is, is to have net gains for for these species, not just do no harm.
Michelle Stoll 11:56
Yeah, that’s great. So what is the expectation for a landowner, then? Are there, are there other things that landowners need to do beyond good stewardship?
Kevin Wood 12:07
So most of of what what’s required for these species is going to be in their management plan. So, you know, just follow that management plan. And you know, our foresters and myself are here to here to help with that. We can help directly, get you in touch with with agencies that you know, State game agencies and things, or NRCS, Fish and Wildlife Service. We can, we can help facilitate all those relationships and help you manage for those species.
Michelle Stoll 12:39
That sounds great. That would be the that would be the struggle for me, just making all those connections and doing the paperwork. So sounds like NaitvState and and you in particular, really help them make those connections and just make the process that much easier,
Kevin Wood 12:54
Right.
Michelle Stoll 12:55
That’s great. Well, it’s really good to talk to you again about this, and I hope you’ll come back and talk to us some more when, when we have more research on some of the other projects you’re working on. I’ll just leave that as a teaser, but I hope you’ll come back again, and I appreciate you sharing your expertise with us. Kevin.
Kevin Wood 13:13
Yeah, thanks for having me.
Michelle Stoll 13:14
Okay, take care.