James A. Martin

An understanding of black bear (Ursus americanus) population trends and cause-specific mortality is needed to direct management decisions in northern Georgia given an increasing human population. Therefore, we evaluated black bear population trends and mortality sources across 26 counties and 18 Wildlife Management Areas in northern Georgia from 1979-2014. We collected harvest data from 6,433 individuals during the study period. Using age-at-harvest data, population reconstruction illustrated an increasing trend in the bear population for both males (λ = 1.113) and females (λ = 1.108)....

Prescribed fire is a commonly used land management tool in pine (Pinus spp.) forests of the southeastern United States to control understory vegetation and enhance wildlife habitat for early successional species, but its effects on the nesting success of understory and ground-nesting songbirds are not well understood. We compared the effects of growing and dormant-season prescribed burns on the nesting success of six ground- or shrub-nesting bird species in mature pine stands at one and two years post-treatment at Fort Benning Military Reservation in Chattahoochee and Muscogee counties,...