Scott G. Somershoe James M. Guldin Daniel J. Twedt 2013 To promote desired forest conditions that enhance wildlife habitat in bottomland forests, managers prescribed and implemented variable-retention harvest, a.k.a. wildlife forestry, in four stands on Tensas River National Wildlife Refuge, LA. These treatments created canopy openings (gaps) within which managers sought to regenerate shade-intolerant trees. Six years after prescribed harvests, we assessed regeneration in 41 canopy gaps and 4 large (>0.5-ha) patch cut openings that resulted from treatments and in 21 natural canopy gaps on 2 unharvested control stands. Mean gap area of anthropogenic gaps (582 m²) was greater than that of natural gaps (262 m²). Sweetgum (<i>Liquidambar styraciflua</i>) and red oaks (<i>Quercus nigra, Q. nuttallii,</i> and <i>Q. phellos</i>) were common in anthropogenic gaps, whereas elms (<i>Ulmus</i> spp.) and sugarberry (<i>Celtis laevigata</i>) were numerous in natural gaps. We recommend harvest prescriptions include gaps with diameter >25 m, because the proportion of shade-intolerant regeneration increased with gap area up to 500 m². The proportion of shade-intolerant definitive gap fillers (individuals likely to occupy the canopy) increased with gap area: 35 percent in natural gaps, 54 percent in anthropogenic gaps, and 84 percent in patch cuts. Sweetgum, green ash (<i>Fraxinus pennsylvanica</i>), and red oaks were common definitive gap fillers. application/pdf en U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station Regeneration in bottomland forest canopy gaps six years after variable retention harvests to enhance wildlife habitat reports