| Abstract | In forests, high-severity burn patches—wherein
most or all of the trees are killed by fire—often occur within a
mosaic of low- and moderate-severity effects. Although there
have been several studies of postfire salvage-logging effects on
bird species, there have been few studies of effects on bird species
associated with high-severity patches in forests that have
otherwise burned at lower severities. From 2004 to 2006, we investigated
the foraging presence or absence of three woodpecker
species, the Black-backed (Picoides arcticus), Hairy (P. villosus),
and White-headed (P. albolarvatus) Woodpeckers, within
four different forest habitat conditions in Sierra Nevada conifer
forests: unburned; moderate-severity and unlogged; highseverity
and unlogged; and high-severity and logged. We found
Black-backed Woodpecker foraging was restricted to unlogged
high-severity patches. Hairy Woodpeckers foraged most in unlogged
high-severity patches, and White-headed Woodpeckers
showed no significant difference in presence among conditions.
These results suggest that unlogged, high-severity forest is important
habitat for the Black-backed and Hairy Woodpeckers.
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