Strategies for conserving wildlife in commercially productive eucalypt forest

Summary The main problem in integrating wildlife conservation with commercial eucalypt production concerns the wildlife species which need old trees or mature forest as a habitat. This paper discusses possible strategies for resolving the problem. The three strategies of potential value are: 1. to leave sufficiently large numbers of old trees on individual coupes2. to manage forests on long rotations, and3. to retain selected areas of old forest with minimal harvesting or for management on very long rotations, managing the remainder for high wood production. Existing evidence indicates that the third strategy would generally be most effective from the standpoint of both wildlife conservation and wood production, and it has a proven record in south-eastern Australia. Considerations such as size, shape and distribution of coupes may affect wildlife habitat but for given levels of production they have little bearing on the main problem.