Environmental Issues in Pacific Northwest Forest Management

Environmental Issues in Pacific Northwest Forest Management

  • Publisher: National Academies Press
  • ISBN: 9780309053280
  • eISBN Pdf: 9780309568852
  • eISBN Epub: 9780309176156
  • Place of publication:  United States
  • Year of digital publication: 2000
  • Month: July
  • Pages: 280
  • Language: English

People are demanding more of the goods, services, and amenities provided by the forests of the Pacific Northwest, but the finiteness of the supply has become clear. This issue involves complex questions of biology, economics, social values, community life, and federal intervention.

Forests of the Pacific Northwest explains that economic and aesthetic benefits can be sustained through new approaches to management, proposes general goals for forest management, and discusses strategies for achieving them. Recommendations address restoration of damaged areas, management for multiple uses, dispute resolution, and federal authority.

The volume explores the market role of Pacific Northwest wood products and looks at the implications if other regions should be expected to make up for reduced timber harvests.

The book also reviews the health of the forested ecosystems of the region, evaluating the effects of past forest use patterns and management practices. It discusses the biological importance, social significance, and management of old-growth as well as late-succession forests.

This volume will be of interest to public officials, policymakers, the forest products industry, environmental advocates, researchers, and concerned residents.

  • ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES IN PACIFIC NORTHWEST FOREST MANAGEMENT
  • Copyright
  • PREFACE
  • Contents
  • EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
    • THE REGION
    • THE DYNAMICS OF PACIFIC NORTHWEST LANDSCAPES
    • THE BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY OF PACIFIC NORTHWEST FORESTS
    • OLD-GROWTH FORESTS
    • FOREST PRODUCTS SUBSTITUTION
    • FOREST MANAGEMENT AND HUMAN COMMUNITIES
    • FOREST MANAGEMENT FOR THE FUTURE
    • RESEARCH RECOMMENDATIONS
  • 1 THE PROMISED LAND: THE LAND OF PROMISE
    • INTRODUCTION
      • Loss of the Frontier
      • Changing Knowledge Base
      • Changing Social Values
    • THE STUDY AREA
    • OTHER MAJOR STUDIES AND REPORTS
    • THIS REPORT
  • 2 THE REGION AND ITS FORESTS
    • INTRODUCTION
    • A BRIEF HISTORY
    • DEMOGRAPHICS AND THE ECONOMY
      • Population Growth
      • Economic Implications of Population Growth
    • THE REGION'S FORESTS
      • Westside Forests
      • Eastside Forests
      • Northern Rocky Mountains
    • REGIONAL OWNERSHIP PATTERNS
    • SUMMARY
  • 3 OLD-GROWTH FORESTS
    • INTRODUCTION
    • WHAT IS VEGETATIVE SUCCESSION?
    • WHAT IS AN OLD-GROWTH FOREST?
      • Time Required for Old-Growth Development
      • Old-Growth Landscapes
      • Managed Forests and Old-Growth Characteristics
      • Stand Size
    • BIOLOGICAL FUNCTIONS OF OLD-GROWTH AND LATE-SUCCESSIONAL FORESTS
      • Species Diversity
      • Logs and Woody Debris
      • Susceptibility to Disturbance
    • AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
    • EXTENT AND STATUS OF OLD-GROWTH FORESTS
    • SUMMARY
  • 4 THE STATUS AND FUNCTIONING OF PACIFIC NORTHWEST FORESTS
    • INTRODUCTION
    • FOREST CONDITION
      • General Criteria of Condition
      • The Role of Biological Diversity
      • Resistance and Resilience
      • Landscape Change and Threats to Biodiversity
      • Diseases and Pests
      • Incidence of Pest and Disease Outbreaks
    • STATUS OF OTHER PLANT SPECIES
    • STATUS OF WILDLIFE
      • Salmon and Other Fisheries
      • Invertebrates
      • Fungi
    • VIABLE POPULATIONS AND THE CONSERVATION OF BIODIVERSITY
      • Demographic Factors
      • Genetic Factors
      • Population Viability Analysis
  • 5 FOREST SUCCESSION, FIRE, AND LANDSCAPE DYNAMICS
    • INTRODUCTION
    • CONCEPTS OF SUCCESSION AND LANDSCAPE DYNAMICS
    • FIRE AND LANDSCAPE DYNAMICS
      • Presettlement Fire Regimes and Successional Change
      • Human Alteration of Fire Regimes
    • NATURAL DISTURBANCE AND HUMAN MANAGEMENT: AN ECOLOGICAL COMPARISON
      • Landscape Considerations
      • Fuels
      • Nutrient Fluxes
      • Biological Diversity
  • 6 PRODUCTS FROM THE FORESTS
    • PACIFIC NORTHWEST WOOD PRODUCTS IN THE NATIONAL ECONOMY
    • PRODUCTS IN NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL MARKETS
    • EFFECTS OF CHANGES IN FEDERAL TIMBER HARVESTS IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
      • Increased Harvests at the Extensive Margin
      • Increased Harvests at the Intensive Margin
      • Increased Use of Hardwoods
      • Technology Changes
      • Materials Substitution
    • ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
    • IMPLICATIONS FOR OTHER REGIONS
    • EFFECTS ON REGIONAL AND NATIONAL INCOME
    • CHANGE AND INCENTIVES
    • NONWOOD PRODUCTS FROM FORESTS
      • Wildlife-Related Recreation
      • Other Forest-Related Recreation
      • Fisheries
      • Mushrooms
      • Water
      • Effects of Changes in Management of Pacific Northwest Forests on Nonwood Products
    • REGIONAL ECONOMIC EFFECTS
    • SUMMARY
  • 7 FOREST MANAGEMENT AND RURAL COMMUNITIES IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
    • RURAL ECONOMIC WELL BEING AND NATURAL-RESOURCE INDUSTRIES
    • TIMBER DEPENDENCY AND COMMUNITY WELL BEING
    • DIVERSIFICATION IN RURAL COMMUNITIES OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
    • IN-MIGRATION
    • POVERTY AND PLENTY—ANGER AND HOPE IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
    • SUMMARY
  • 8 A FRAMEWORK FOR SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT
    • INTRODUCTION
    • ELEMENTS OF FOREST MANAGEMENT
      • Land Allocation
      • Rationing Uses
      • Harvesting
      • Investment
      • Examples of forest investment
      • Positive and negative incentives to forest investment
    • MEETING THE GOALS OF SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT
    • A FRAMEWORK FOR SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT
      • Operational Goals
      • Managing in Context and Across Scales of Space and Time
    • APPROACHES TO MANAGING FOR DIVERSITY: GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS
      • Reserves
      • Logging to Improve Forest Health
      • Management for Complexity and Diversity
      • Variability and Change
      • Uncertainty and Surprise
      • Humans as Ecosystem Components
      • Making Management Adaptable
      • Resolving Conflicts
  • 9 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
    • FORESTRY PRACTICES IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
    • WHAT IS OLD-GROWTH?
    • OLD-GROWTH MANAGEMENT
    • FOREST PRODUCTS SUBSTITUTION
    • RESEARCH RECOMMENDATIONS
  • REFERENCES
  • GLOSSARY

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