Does aggregated retention provide suitable habitat for mammal conservation in old growth forests?
Traditional harvesting (clearfell, burn and sow) of wet old growth forests generally removes all remnants of the native uneven-aged stand, replacing them with even-aged stands of uniform structure. Old growth forests have complex forest structures such as tree hollows and coarse woody debris which are important habitats for many animals and are generally not created within the usual forestry operations. Forestry Tasmania is reducing the level of traditional clearfell harvesting in wet forests. To achieve this, they are phasing in aggregated retention, which maintains patches of forest (>1ha size) in operational coupes for at least one rotation (~80 years). The objective of this method is to retain old growth species and structures to provide wildlife habitat, refuge and seed banks for regeneration. Aggregated retention was developed to emulate natural disturbance regimes and allows old-growth influences to remain within an operational coupe. Retained aggregates may be “island aggregate
