For each LOI we calculate area-weighted mean northern hardwood stand DBH (termedHardwood_DBHin the remainder of the paper) and area-weighted mean northern hardwood stand BA (termedHardwood_BA).
We also calculate the range of DBH (termed Hardwood_DBH_Range) and BA (termed Hardwood_-BA_Range) for stands in each LOI containing more than one northern hardwood stand. We examine these variables to investigate the potential effects of local timber management
on winter deer density.
We calculate the spatial composition (proportion) of each LOI in the three forest cover classes that dominate the study area: northern hardwoods (termedHardwood_Proportion), lowland conifers (termedLC_Proportion), and aspen (termed Aspen_Proportion).
We define lowland conifer stands as those dominated by northern white cedar, black spruce and mixed swamp conifers (from the OI classification).
We also calculate the total number of stands with some area within each
LOI (termedNumber_of_Stands).
We examine these measures of local landscape composition as they reflect the literature on the requirements for winter deer habitat outlined above (i.e., deciduous forest cover for food and lowland conifer cover for shelter).