People, Forests, and Change: Lessons from the Pacific Northwest - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1610917677 ISBN 13: 9781610917674

Publisher: Island Press, 2017

Synopsis

We owe much of our economic prosperity to the vast forested landscapes that cover the earth. The timber we use to build our homes, the water we drink, and the oxygen in the air we breathe come from the complex forested ecosystem that many of us take for granted. As urban boundaries expand and rural landscapes are developed, forests are under more pressure than ever. It is time to forgo the thinking that forests can be managed outside of human influence, and shift instead to management strategies that consider humans to be part of the forest ecosystem. Only then can we realistically plan for coexisting and sustainable forests and human communities in the future.

In People, Forests, and Change: Lessons from the Pacific Northwest, editors Deanna H. Olson and Beatrice Van Horne have assembled an expert panel of social and forest scientists to consider the nature of forests in flux and how to best balance the needs of forests and the rural communities closely tied to them. The book considers the temperate moist-coniferous forests of the US Pacific Northwest, but many of the concepts apply broadly to challenges in forest management in other regions and countries. In the US northwest, forest ecosystem management has been underway for two decades, and key lessons are emerging. The text is divided into four parts that set the stage for forests and rural forest economies, describe dynamic forest systems at work, consider new science in forest ecology and management, and ponder the future for these coniferous forests under different scenarios.

People, Forests, and Change brings together ideas grounded in science for policy makers, forest and natural resource managers, students, and conservationists who wish to understand how to manage forests conscientiously to assure their long-term viability and that of human communities who depend on them.

About this title

About the Author

Deanna H. Olson is a research ecologist with the USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station in Corvallis, Oregon. Beatrice Van Horne is a research manager for the USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station in Corvallis. Previously she was a professor of biology at Colorado State University in Fort Collins.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

People, Forests, and Change

Lessons from the Pacific Northwest

By Deanna H. Olson, Beatrice Van Horne

ISLAND PRESS

Copyright © 2017 Island Press
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-61091-767-4

Contents

Preface, 
SECTION 1: FRAMEWORK FOR MOIST TEMPERATE FOREST MANAGEMENT, 
Chapter 1. Introduction: The Human-Forest Ecosystem Deanna H. Olson, Beatrice Van Horne, Bernard T. Bormann, Paul D. Anderson, and Richard W. Haynes, 
Chapter 2. Setting the Stage: Vegetation Ecology and Dynamics Jerry F. Franklin, Thomas A. Spies, and Frederick J. Swanson, 
Chapter 3. People and Forest Plants Susan Stevens Hummel and Jane E. Smith, 
Chapter 4. Wood-Products Markets, Communities, and Regional Economies Richard W. Haynes, Claire A. Montgomery, and Susan J. Alexander, 
Chapter 5. An Ecosystem Services Framework Dale J. Blahna, Stanley T. Asah, and Robert L. Deal, 
SECTION 2: DYNAMIC SYSTEMS AS A NEW PARADIGM, 
Chapter 6. Ecosystem Services with Diverse Forest Landowners Robert L. Deal, Paul E. Hennon, David V. D'Amore, Raymond J. Davis, Jane E. Smith, and Eini C. Lowell, 
Chapter 7. Patterns of Change across the Forested Landscape Raymond J. Davis, Andrew N. Gray, John B. Kim, and Warren B. Cohen, 
Chapter 8. Learning to Learn: The Best Available Science of Adaptive Management Bernard T. Bormann, Byron K. Williams, and Teodora Minkova, 
Chapter 9. The Emergence of Watershed and Forest Collaboratives Rebecca L. Flitcroft, Lee K. Cerveny, Bernard T. Bormann, Jane E. Smith, Stanley T. Asah, and A. Paige Fischer, 
SECTION 3: SCIENCE-BASED MANAGEMENT: HOW HAS NEW SCIENCE SHAPED OUR THINKING?, 
Chapter 10. Silviculture for Diverse Objectives Paul D. Anderson and Klaus J. Puettmann, 
Chapter 11. Long-Term Forest Productivity Bernard T. Bormann, Steven S. Perakis, Robyn L. Darbyshire, and Jeff Hatten, 
Chapter 12. Managing Carbon in the Forest Sector Mark E. Harmon and John L. Campbell, 
Chapter 13. Biodiversity Deanna H. Olson, Brooke E. Penaluna, Bruce G. Marcot, Martin G. Raphael, and Keith B. Aubry, 
Chapter 14. Aquatic-Riparian Systems Deanna H. Olson, Sherri L. Johnson, Paul D. Anderson, Brooke E. Penaluna, and Jason B. Dunham, 
Chapter 15. Watersheds and Landscapes Gordon H. Reeves and Thomas A. Spies, 
SECTION 4: ALTERNATIVE FUTURES FOR CONIFEROUS FORESTS, 
Chapter 16. Climate-Smart Approaches to Managing Forests John B. Kim, Bruce G. Marcot, Deanna H. Olson, Beatrice Van Horne, Julie A. Vano, Michael S. Hand, Leo A. Salas, Michael J. Case, Paul E. Hennon, and David V. D'Amore, 
Chapter 17. Next-Generation Products and Greenhouse Gas Implications Eini C. Lowell, Vikram Yadama, Laurence R. Schimleck, and Kenneth E. Skog, 
Chapter 18. Enhancing Public Trust in Federal Forest Management Michael Paul Nelson, Hannah Gosnell, Dana R. Warren, Chelsea Batavia, Matthew G. Betts, Julia I. Burton, Emily Jane Davis, Mark Schulze, Catalina Segura, Cheryl Ann Friesen, and Steven S. Perakis, 
Chapter 19. The Future of Human-Forest Ecosystem Sustainability Deanna H. Olson, Beatrice Van Horne, Bernard T. Bormann, Robert L. Deal, and Thomas H. DeLuca, 
Chapter 20. Visions: 20 Years Hence Beatrice Van Horne, Deanna H. Olson, and Thomas Maness, 
Appendix: Common and Scientific Names of Species, 
About the Editors, 
Contributors, 
Index, 

CHAPTER 1

Introduction: The Human-Forest Ecosystem

Deanna H. Olson, Beatrice Van Horne, Bernard T. Bormann, Paul D. Anderson, and Richard W. Haynes

Close your eyes while standing in a mature forest along the North Pacific coast of North America in spring and you will smell the wet moss and feel its softness beneath your feet. You might detect the scent of a nearby cedar or hear the long and trembling song of a wren. You would sense the presence of tall and stately conifers nearby, and perhaps the wind lifting and bouncing their rain-heavy branches. Coniferous forests of the North Pacific coast of North America have an air of permanence where they remain intact, although this book will explore their heterogeneity and the uncertainties in their future. Aesthetically they are unparalleled in grandeur, being graced with long days during the growing season, mild winter and summer temperatures, and abundant rainfall. An active geology has been favorable as well: as the Juan de Fuca plate dives under the North American plate, the products of mountain uplift and volcanoes often mix with rocks ground by glaciers to provide young, nutrient-rich substrates. This setting supports forests of extraordinary productivity and biodiversity from northwestern California to Southeast Alaska (fig. 1.1; plate 1; chap. 2) that are greatly valued by their human inhabitants. Abundant moist temperate plants and animals have nurtured some of the wealthiest nonagricultural Native cultures ever known from North America. Visions of this productive landscape drove many of the Europeans migrating along the Oregon Trail early in the nineteenth century, and the forests provided a strong economic engine for the growing region through the twentieth century.

These forests not only exert a strong influence on the local culture and sense of place in the Pacific Northwest, but continue to provide wood, water, and other forest products that support local communities and broader economies. People intimately tied to these forests include Native tribes, those employed in wood industries, anglers, recreationists, and anyone who values Northwest forests as a public commons. As old-growth forests diminish globally, their value for ecosystem services is increasingly recognized. Water, wood, rare species, and carbon are dominant flash points in debates about forest management for commodities and services, human stewardship of natural communities, and contributions to stabilizing the greenhouse gases that are affecting world climates. These topics are not restricted to forests and cultures in the Northwest; worldwide there is a new focus on providing forest resources for social and economic sustainability while maintaining ecological integrity.

Debates about forest management are made more challenging by the constant change forests undergo as a result of human activities and natural processes. Active forest management affects the mosaic of forest conditions and its trajectory through time and is itself changing rapidly in response to heightened socioeconomic considerations, altered forest conditions, scientific advances in understanding forest complexity and dynamics, and integration of adaptive management into decision making. Recognition of an accelerated pace of change from human factors as well as altered climate, fire, and pest and pathogen outbreaks triggers new understanding of the importance of human stewardship for retaining a balance among forest types, developmental stages, and resources.

The more we learn about the dynamics of these forests, the more complex and nuanced management guidance has become. Indeed, we are experiencing a paradigm shift in our understanding of the interrelationship of forests and people — people and their values and objectives are now recognized as an intimate component of these systems, the human-forest ecosystem. It is time to assess what new perspectives have emerged over the last few decades and how they can contribute to the long-term value of these forests. This book builds on past and current forest ecological, social, and economic contexts and their interplay to derive insights into the development of a new future for moist coniferous forests and their component human communities. Forest sustainability concepts are changing as landscape conditions and socioeconomic conditions change. Lessons learned from the Pacific Northwest of North America bear on processes unfolding in other ecosystems, especially where conflicts among human values and priorities are acute.

Retrospective to Prospective Insights

Northwest forests have a relatively long history of forest uses that mirror cultural phases of development in North America.

How Did the Pacific Northwest Forest Landscape Reach Its Current State?

Several phases of human interactions with Northwest forests can be identified. Native Americans managed forests for multiple resources (chap. 3). A more singular focus on commodity-driven forest management emerged along with the industrialization of softwood lumber manufacturing in the latter half of the nineteenth century, however, along with the development of a railroad-based distribution system for sawn wood. By the early 1900s, forest ownership and management patterns were well established in the Northwest. Private lands consolidated by forest industries have been among the most productive in the world. These timberlands have provided the wood-fiber resource base for a number of forest industrial firms that produce a wide variety of products. Forest industries are dynamic, with changing ownerships, harvest practices, and products. Industrial forest management reflects a heightened responsiveness to the economics of wood markets and to changing social priorities.

Federal lands in the US Northwest have followed a different trajectory. Federal land policy initially revolved around the transfer of land from the public domain into private ownership, and in some cases, from private to public domains. In the late 1800s, much of the land remaining in the public domain was placed in the National Forest System to be managed on behalf of the US public. Nearly half of US Northwest timberland is federally managed. Harvest from federal lands is influenced by sociopolitical factors, which vary over time. For example, during World War I, a special division of the US Army, the Spruce Production Division, worked to supply Sitka spruce to support the war effort. Between World War I and World War II, federal timber harvest was relatively small owing to efforts by the forest industry to maintain stumpage prices high enough to support active management of private timberlands as well as to the relative inaccessibility of the national forests. After World War II, affordable housing for a growing middle class became a priority in a country recovering from war (chap. 4). Federal timber harvest was accelerated to keep wood prices low in support of that goal. With growing prosperity and leisure in the last decades of the twentieth century, however, came a growing awareness of nontimber forest values.

In Search of Sustainability for US Pacific Northwest Forests

Throughout this history there have been advocates for sustainable forest management across multiowner forested landscapes. Regional attempts to promote sustainable forest-management practices and limit harvest on public timberlands started in the 1930s, with the three goals of (1) stabilizing stumpage prices to provide an incentive for forest-management practices on both public and private timberlands; (2) developing sustained-yield calculations as an alternative to earlier cut-and-run practices; and (3) for public timberlands, establishing trust arrangements in which timber revenues substituted for property tax and other revenues. This was also the period in which state regulation of forest practices on private land first began, along with the establishment of the first state forests.

More recently, advocates for sustainability have focused on regulations to balance competing interests for timberlands. With conflicting natural resource priorities at the forefront of debates on forest sustainability goals, the importance of information from scientific research has become elevated as a foundation and rationale for management decisions (box 1.1, 1.2). Researchers, managers, policy makers, and the public have long debated how to integrate science into forest management, and a breakthrough in bridging science and management occurred in the development of the US federal Northwest Forest Plan (FEMAT 1993; USDA and USDI 1994). The Plan was adopted in 1994 as a reaction to judicial injunctions on the sale of federal timber due to threatened species concerns and was seen as a way to manage federal forestlands to meet joint ecological and socioeconomic goals. The approach was implemented by allocating management responsibility to federal agencies (US Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, and Department of Defense), with different regulations and guidelines depending on the agency and what was on the land, such as streams and adjacent riparian zones, old-growth forest, or logged forest stands. In this context, conservation biology principles guided Plan development for ecosystem management through the designation of large protected areas to anchor ecological system components, functions, and processes. The Plan became a series of policies and guidelines governing federal land use across a vast landscape of ~10 million ha (24 million ac) from northwestern California to northwestern Washington. It was originally conceived with the intent of protecting critical habitat for the northern spotted owl, yet as it developed, the Plan came to include many more species and much broader habitat-protection goals. Because much of this landscape was previously clearcut, and new goals were established for recovery of species listed under the US Endangered Species Act, a new focus on forest restoration (box 1.1) developed as part of this Plan. The Plan amounted to a reset of the strategy for achieving socioeconomic sustainability from the federal forest landscape. Several interacting factors were also at play, however, affecting US Northwest timber socioeconomics. The reduction in wood production from federal lands that had begun before the Plan's implementation from earlier court rulings continued. These reductions targeted larger logs from older stands, which had been a dominant segment of pre-Plan markets. Reductions in federal wood sales were exacerbated by a steep decline in the log-export market (a result of economic struggles in Japan and other Asian countries). These joint factors led to mill closures and job losses in timber-dependent communities, although industrial forests partially compensated by ramping up harvest schedules on private lands. Other major factors driving job losses included mechanized harvest techniques, increased mill efficiency, and other changes in timber markets (chap. 4).

Today's moist coniferous forest landscape, after a couple of decades of Plan implementation, has been profoundly influenced by decisions of diverse owners with different management objectives and concerns. The fixed boundaries within federal ownership and among all landowners, developed or acknowledged in the Plan, were an attempt to simplify management by designating portions of the landscape for different uses and thus simultaneously meeting diverse objectives. But if forest landscapes are dynamic systems with a shifting mosaic of stand conditions created by frequent and irregularly bounded patterns of disturbance, then fixed boundaries become an obstacle to wise management. Such fixed boundaries may produce conflicts among landowners as resource patterns change with time, or as the valuation of critical forest resources changes. Public and private mature forests may be too small and disconnected to manage effectively for a wide array of "old-growth" benefits on each parcel or ownership. Our thinking on boundaries and how to manage resources across them is undergoing rapid evolution. In this light, we explore the emergence of collaborative groups in this volume (chaps. 9, 18). Some of our insights into regional forest management result from large-scale studies (e.g., Poage and Anderson 2007), in addition to the numerous studies at Experimental Forests and Research Natural Areas.

Forest management has been simplified by establishing uniform regulations attached to each type of ownership. Such an approach fails to acknowledge how much forest type, conditions, and context vary across a landscape, with differences in soil type, moisture availability, latitude, and topography. For example, the same forest treatment at two different places in a similar forest type may produce very different results, but broad regulations are not likely to acknowledge such differences. Perhaps one of the most gradually and painfully learned lessons from the practice of forestry is the requirement that management be tailored to site characteristics. Geographically broad, unchanging standards and guides, or golden rules, adopted as a compromise with the argument that we can only track simple things such as a fixed maximum age or the diameter of Douglas-fir that can be thinned from a stand, surely are a violation of this lesson. Equally problematic are the dramatic differences in stream and riparian management objectives as streams cross ownerships.

Is there a more effective way to manage these forests to meet multiple objectives while adapting to, rather than working against, the dynamic nature of the forests through time and space? To inspire new conversations to address that question, we offer this book as a compendium of what the authors view as key lessons learned about landscape dynamics in moist coniferous forests, focusing on the two-plus decades since the Plan took effect in 1994. Of course, there is much that we still do not know about the complexity of interactions that influence people and their landscapes. It is important that we admit what we do not know and acknowledge that our knowledge base will continue to develop. Rather than assuming the results of management activities or regulations, scientists can work with managers to learn about what happens before and after management activities take place or regulatory policies are adopted. In this way, both can learn and adapt. Adaptive management is a baseline premise of dynamic system approaches, and insights from a variety of field trials will contribute to learning (chap. 8).

(Continues...)

Excerpted from People, Forests, and Change by Deanna H. Olson, Beatrice Van Horne. Copyright © 2017 Island Press. Excerpted by permission of ISLAND PRESS.
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Edition details

• Publisher: Island Press
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1610917677
• ISBN 13: 9781610917674
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 344
• Editor: Olson Deanna H., Horne Beatrice Van