Final Report for W-162-R-10: The Forests and Woodlands Campaign of the Illinois Wildlife Action Plan - Segment 10.

To better understand the response of wildlife populations to forest management activities under the wildlife action plan, Segment 10 of the Forest Campaign was devised to meet the following objectives (1 September 2019 through 31 August 2020): 1. Continue the implementation of monitoring protocols that measure the response of forest wildlife to various forest management tools including thinning, fire, re-forestation, and the removal of invasive exotic plant species; 2. Monitor at 5 or more sites across Illinois (more than 500 established survey points) to document the immediate and longer-term effects of forest management on populations of forest and woodland-dwelling birds and other wildlife; 3. Use breeding bird point counts (~500 points), “camera traps” (~100 7-day deployments), and nocturnal bird surveys (at 10 points at each of 4 of the study sites), all in conjunction with vegetation surveys (~half of all points) to document how management activities affect forest structure and composition and in turn influence particular animal species. 4. Conduct fall acorn surveys and winter woodpecker surveys at 15 points within each of 4 sites to assess the effect of acorn abundance on over-winter woodpecker numbers. 5. Provide one popular article about this project to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources by the grant end date. This article will be approximately 500 words in length with at least 2 pictures provided.Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Division of WildlifeU.S. Fish and Wildlife Serviceunpublishednot peer reviewedOpe