Is green the new black? Black-backed Woodpecker vital rates do not differ between unburned and burned forests within a pyrodiverse landscape

Woodpeckers can reflect rapid changes to forest health and often serve as indicator species to help guide forest management decisions. The Black-backed Woodpecker (Picoides arcticus) is known for its strong association with recently burned forests and is a species of conservation concern due to habitat loss stemming from post-fire management of burned forest. Recently, several studies have found the Black-backed Woodpecker occupying extensive areas of unburned (i.e., green) forests in the western part of its range during the breeding season, raising questions about whether green forests can support viable nesting populations in this region. We studied breeding Black-backed Woodpeckers in southern Oregon, USA to evaluate whether two vital rates critical to population recruitment – nest survival and post-fledging survival – differed between green and burned forests. During 2018, 2019, and 2021, we monitored 91 Black-backed Woodpecker nests (n = 34 in green forest, n = 57 in burned forest)..., Study Area
We studied Black-backed Woodpeckers during the 2018, 2019, and 2021 breeding seasons (May–August) within a ca. 165,000 ha study area in the Klamath Basin of southern Oregon covering public lands that included the Klamath, Coquille, and Chemult Ranger Districts of the Fremont-Winema National Forest, the Diamond Lake Ranger District on the Umpqua National Forest, and the Sun Pass State Forest. Our study sites ranged from 1280–1950 meters above sea level (m.a.s.l.) in forests comprised of lodgepole pine, ponderosa pine, mixed conifer, and mixed pine. We defined mixed conifer stands as those containing white fir (Abies concolor), red fir (Abies magnifica), grand fir (Abies grandis), Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii), and/or mountain hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana), and mixed pine stands as those containing lodgepole pine, ponderosa pine, western white pine (Pinus monticola), and/or sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana). Lower elevation sites were typi..., R statistical environment. See the methods above for packages and usage.