Target species Monitoring programme Forest spruce

Woodpeckers are an important indicator of old and dead wood content in forests. Targeted forest management should contribute to an improvement of their habitat.One of the main objectives of forest management is the creation of close-to-natural structures with high proportions of old and dead wood. Woodpeckers are an important indicator group in the forest due to their binding to dead wood and as cave growers. Therefore, in the context of the LIFE monitoring programme, the population and settlement density of whiteback and three-tone woodpeckers and all species of woodpeckers observed at the same time in 2005 2009 were recorded on selected sites (a total of 850 ha). This species monitoring should also accompany the forest conversion measures under the LIFE project and assess their efficiency.