ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the key factors to consider when restoring wildlife diversity in the longleaf pine ecosystem: restoration targets, starting conditions, spatial scale and context, frequent fire, the importance of structural legacies, and the role of wildlife in engineering those structures. It discusses trade-offs that are inherent in the common strategies used in managing for rare and imperiled species throughout the range of longleaf pine. As an alternative to managing for individual species, the chapter presents a case study that demonstrates how a suite of wildlife species might be used to determine wildlife restoration actions. It describes the key research and conservation needs for wildlife management and restoration, and the programs that focus on restoring the wildlife diversity of longleaf pine ecosystems. However, empirical data on habitat use can provide structural metrics on appropriate conditions for wildlife that are more useful for managers than data that are limited to the presence or absence of species.
