Postfire woodpecker foraging in salvage-logged and unlogged forests of the Sierra Nevada

In forests, high-severity burn patches—whereinmost or all of the trees are killed by fire—often occur within amosaic of low- and moderate-severity effects. Although therehave been several studies of postfire salvage-logging effects onbird species, there have been few studies of effects on bird speciesassociated with high-severity patches in forests that haveotherwise burned at lower severities. From 2004 to 2006, we investigatedthe foraging presence or absence of three woodpeckerspecies, the Black-backed (Picoides arcticus), Hairy (P. villosus),and White-headed (P. albolarvatus) Woodpeckers, withinfour different forest habitat conditions in Sierra Nevada coniferforests: unburned; moderate-severity and unlogged; highseverityand unlogged; and high-severity and logged. We foundBlack-backed Woodpecker foraging was restricted to unloggedhigh-severity patches. Hairy Woodpeckers foraged most in unloggedhigh-severity patches, and White-headed Woodpeckersshowed no significant difference in presence among conditions.These results suggest that unlogged, high-severity forest is importanthabitat for the Black-backed and Hairy Woodpeckers.