There’s a lot to be said about good forest management practices and the end goal is going to differ greatly for the landholder. Clear cutting can be a great practice but also can result in a poor outcome. We have a smaller amount of mast trees in Ma year after year. We used to have massive Chestnuts. All gone. We do not have old growth forest in Ma except for the far reaches of Western Ma where the mountains inhibited the farming denizens from clear cut
@whacko. What we have in most of Ma is second growth or successional growth. You can clearcut forests, sure, but you may end up with non nut producing species like red maple and birch. You’ll also get beech in abundance but due to the disease it’s not so good now. Actually you may be guaranteed to get just that. And to be sure that is exactly what happened when Ma was clearcut in the 18th-19th century. It was mainly beech forests thereafter.
The most common mast trees now are the oaks, hickory, and beech. Beech is being decimated by beech bark disease and now rarely reaches nut producing status. Hickory are not nearly as common as Quercus and Fagaceae. If we have but one foreign pest or disease come and destroy the oaks that would seriously decimate the wildlife populations. Deer, turkey, squirrels, etc. greatly rely on mast. We’re one crisis away thanks to globalization.
I have 25 acres and will be doing a selective cut for multiple reasons in a management plan. I don’t bird hunt a lot so grouse and other migratory fowl are of a little less interest to me wrt to deer, turkey, etc. in my hunting. That doesn’t mean I don’t care for the health of that population as there are many angles to consider and what type of animal or plant you want to thrive.