After tracking pileated woodpeckers over time in an areas affected by bark beetles and bud worms, researchers found that “Even where mortality was high among grand fir and Douglas-fir, as long as extensive logging and fuel reduction treatments had not occurred and an abundance of large live or dead trees and logs remained, the pileateds were still there,” Nielsen-Pincus said. LOOKING OUT FOR THE PILEATED WOODPECKER. Science Findings Issue 109. 2009.

http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/sciencef/scifi109.pdf Key findings include:  1) Pileated reproductive success appears to be closely tied to the amount of unharvested, closed-canopy stands, and reproductive failure appears tied to the amount of harvested stands. 2) High tree mortality is not detrimental to pileated woodpeckers if abundant large snags persist. — Management implications include: “Extensive tree harvesting rendered habitat unsuitable for nesting pileated woodpeckers [and] Retention of abundant large, dead trees and logs in mature and older stands with high tree mortality provided sustainable habitat for pileated woodpeckers.”

This study also showed that prescribed fire, especially when combined with fuel reduction logging, can have an adverse effect on pileated woodpecker by consuming dead wood. pileated woodpecker were most abundant in unthinned stands, but still twice as abundant in stands that were only thinned, compared to stands that were thinned and burned. Oregon Wild http://oregonwild.org