Public education of pre-settlement condition should be a goal for future forest management. Management for a goshawk food web is an important step toward ecosystem management. National forests should be managed for a diversity of species and habitat types. Application of prescriptions developed on the North Kaibab elsewhere in the Southwest and generally in North America is risky at best and may be extremely deleterious to northern goshawks and their preferred nesting areas and prey. Prescriptions for habitat management to benefit northern goshawks must be ecosystem-specific with the realization that prescriptions may need to be tailored at the watershed level.
Northern goshawks use a variety of habitats during the nesting period.
Across the species distribution it is considered a forest and prey generalist. Goshawks are locally adaptive and considered specialized concerning nest-use sites, foraging habitats, and prey selection. Surveys of goshawks should be standardized and conducted in all southwestern forests to establish baseline data on population status and trend, and to monitor the status of goshawks. Management for a goshawk food web is an important step toward ecosystem management. National forests should be managed for a diversity of species and habitat types.