Decades of fire suppression, logging, and overgrazing have resulted in increased densities of small trees in southwestern ponderosa pine forests. These changes in forest structure are associated with decreases in biodiversity, reduced habitat quality for many wildlife species, a reduction in forage for ungulates, and more frequent and severe wildfires, all of which has increased the need for projects designed to restore these systems. Furthermore, considerable resources are expended each year by state and federal agencies on vegetation treatments designed specifically to improve habitat quality for game species. However, because both wildfires and vegetation treatments can result in profound changes to habitat conditions for many wildlife species, forest restoration plans should be well-designed, based on the best scientific information, and include monitoring and research programs to document the short- and long-term responses of vegetation and wildlife to forest restoration treatments. Scientists with the USGS New Mexico Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit are leading research evaluating the responses of large mammals to landscape-scale forest restoration treatments and wildfires in the Southwest Jemez Mountains in New Mexico.