• Boreal forests represent the planet’s largest terrestrial carbon bank. Maximizing their extent in a late-successional stage and minimizing harvesting will promote resistance to climate change.

• Bird species in this group have undergone pervasive declines.

• Timber harvesting and climate change pose the two overarching threats to these forests.

• Natural forces like insect outbreaks can affect expansive areas and cause dramatic fluctuations in populations.

• Shorter harvesting rotations and even-aged management do not favor SGCN species like Spruce Grouse, Black-backed Woodpecker, Gray Jay, and Bay-breasted Warbler.

• The recent transfer to public ownership of a large expanse of forest in the Northeastern Highlands bodes well for management.

• Create and maintain mid- and late-successional stands, with management that promotes a matrix of intact natural communities across the landscape (the “shifting mosaic” model of balanced forest-age classes; Manomet 2011), and a broad array of ecosystem functions, such as disturbance-based silviculture, which emulates naturally occurring processes.

• Conserve large, intact forest blocks of 1,000-20,000 acres (Vermont WAP).

• Linking forest blocks via corridors to enhance the viability of boreal species with limited dispersal abilities (e.g., Spruce Grouse and Black-backed Woodpecker).

• Retain coarse woody debris and snags; maintain wooded buffers in riverine and wetland habitats.

• Limit human disturbance in especially sensitive habitats

• Provide technical assistance to private landowners and communities for habitat enhancement.

• For species of high conservation priority (e.g., Spruce Grouse, Rusty Blackbird), reintroductions and species-specific management may be warranted; research and monitoring are needed.

• Use forestry practices that require accounting for all anthropogenic impacts to boreal forest and peatland carbon.