Forest Management and Planning

Pete Bettinger, Kevin Boston, Jacek P. Siry, Donald L. Grebner

• Publisher: Academic Press
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9780128097069
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Ecology
• Index: Biological Sciences

Forest Management and Planning, Second Edition, addresses contemporary forest management planning issues, providing a concise, focused resource for those in forest management. The book is intermixed with chapters that concentrate on quantitative subjects, such as economics and linear programming, and qualitative chapters that provide discussions of important aspects of natural resource management, such as sustainability.

Expanded coverage includes a case study of a closed canopy, uneven-aged forest, new forest plans from South America and Oceania, and a new chapter on scenario planning and climate change adaptation.

• Helps students and early career forest managers understand the problems facing professionals in the field today
• Designed to support land managers as they make complex decisions on the ecological, economic, and social impacts of forest and natural resources
• Presents updated, real-life examples that are illustrated both mathematically and graphically
• Includes a new chapter on scenario planning and climate change adaptation
• Incorporates the newest research and forest certification standards
• Offers access to a companion website with updated solutions, geographic databases, and illustrations

Chapter 1

Management of Forests and Other Natural Resources

Abstract

Quantitative and qualitative methods are necessary for helping land managers and landowners understand the choices they must make from among many competing alternatives. The results of planning processes help guide the activities of land managers, and allow land managers and landowners to develop and evaluate how various alternatives may meet their objectives. This book concerns the theory, methods, applications, and issues related to forest management and planning, and presents to its readers numerous methods for both assessing the current and future state of the resources, and for determining the best management alternatives available. Some traditional quantitative planning methods, such as linear programming, are presented and continue to be used today by both public and private organizations with increasing frequencies. An overview of other more advanced methods are provided as well. This book also provides coverage of conventional and contemporary issues in natural resource management that influence planning processes, such as forest sustainability, forest certification, and wood supply chain management. In this introductory chapter, we present an overview of forest planning, one of the most extensively studied and most complex issues in natural resource management. In describing the forest planning environment, a brief summary of the various types of plans one might encounter—and the basic types of group decision-making processes—are presented along with a discussion of a few of the challenges facing forest management and planning.

Keywords

Management plans; sustainability; decision-making processes; planning process; planning hierarchy

Objectives

As we progress through the 21st century, and as the human population continues to expand, the management of natural resources is becoming one of maintaining the consumptive needs of society while also caring for the integrity and function of ecological systems. A large number of natural resource managers today continue to manage for wood production objectives, which in itself is a noble endeavor. A large number of natural resource managers also research and advise on the management of forests as it relates to wildlife, fisheries, recreational, and other environmental and social services. On many lands a balance must be struck between commodity production and ecosystem goals. This balance is explored through planning processes performed at the national, regional, and local levels. This introductory chapter covers issues related to forest management and planning and the decision-making environment within which we must operate. To be successful as land and resource managers, we must understand the system within which we work, as well as the social system within which we live and participate as professionals. Upon completion of this introductory chapter, you should be able to:

1. Understand the basic forms of decision-making processes as viewed by the management sciences.

2. Understand the steps in a general planning process, and how they might vary from one natural resource management organization to the next.

3. Understand the hierarchy of planning common to natural resource management organizations.

4. Understand the challenges related to natural resource planning.

5. Understand how information related to planning efforts flows within an organization.

I Introduction

The management of forested lands is an important endeavor. As a society, we expect that forest land managers will meet our current needs for forest-related services and sustain forest resources so that future generations of people will be able to enjoy the various outcomes from forests that we enjoy today. The ability to meet this expectation is often expressed through a plan, which might include statements that reflect our beliefs of what the management of the land may provide. For example, various actions involved in the management of forests may lead to the generation of revenue or supply of forest products. A plan might then describe how these actions maintain, improve, or otherwise affect aesthetic values, biodiversity, the water producing value of a forest, or the productive capacity of the land. Usually a plan describes desired forest conditions and illustrates land use allocations, along with a description of lands suitable for various management activities. A plan is informed by the management practices appropriate for the land, and the objectives and constraints of the landowner. Often, the goals of the landowner are addressed through actions, which may or may not be financially beneficial, yet which address their perspective on sustainability. These ideas are not new; the thoughts provided in this paragraph were drawn from both a recent United States Forest Service management plan (US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, 2014) and a proposed plan for forests in upstate New York that was developed over a century ago (Hosmer and Bruce, 1901). Both reflect what was noted in a review by Olson (2010), that the tension between use of the landscape and the need to prevent overuse of the landscape is the heart of the problem for landowners and land managers. For many reasons, the more recent of the two plans is more extensive in its evaluation of resources, yet the themes of the plans are essentially the same even though the perspectives on sustainability may differ.

The need for management and planning of forests perhaps becomes stronger every year as human populations continue to increase, as societal values evolve, and as immediate expression of thoughts and ideas are facilitated by the Internet. Often, forest planning situations are unique with regard to the problem setting, the character of forests, the risks involved, the long-term vision of the land manager or landowner, and the desires of the populace (Korjus, 2014). This book therefore presents concepts, new and old, that help landowners and land managers develop and evaluate plans of action for forests.

II Forest Management

Forest management involves the integration of silvicultural practices and business concepts (e.g., analyzing economic alternatives) in such a way as to best achieve a landowner’s objectives. Management of forests requires a plan (however developed), and an assessment of the activities necessary to meet the objectives. In addition, a recognition of the important ecological and social concerns associated with a forest may influence the character and depth of a plan. In a more general way, forest management can involve the collective application of silvicultural practices so that an entire forest remains healthy and vigorous by imposing treatments on the various stands (Heiligmann, 2002). The range of forest management activities (Table 1.1) can include those focused on the economics of forest businesses, or on the ecology of the ecosystem. Activities can include tree planting, herbaceous weed control, fertilization, precommercial thinning, commercial thinning, final harvests, harvests for habitat improvement, preservation, road construction, road obliteration, and prescribed fire, among others. Each may have a cost and a benefit, depending on the objectives of the landowner. Choosing the timing and placement of activities is the main task of forest planning.

Table 1.1

Types of Management Activities a Land Manager Might Consider

Activity	For Even-Aged Forests	For Uneven-Aged Forests
Site Preparation
Burn	✓
Chop	✓
Rake	✓
Plow	✓
Bed	✓
Herbicide application	✓
Tree Establishment
Plant	✓
Coppice		✓
Seed	✓	✓
Early Tending
Release	✓	✓
Weed	✓
Fuel reduction	✓	✓
Prune	✓
Prescribed burn	✓	✓
Fertilization	✓
Tree Cutting Activities
Precommercial thin	✓
Commercial thin	✓
Shelterwood	✓
Seed tree harvest	✓
Single tree selection harvest		✓
Variable retention harvest		✓
Group selection harvest		✓
Clearcut	✓

Source: Grebner, D.L., Bettinger, P., Siry, J.P., 2013. Introduction to Forestry and Natural Resources. Academic Press, New York, NY. 508 p.

From a forest manager’s perspective, activities implemented within a forest may affect the natural succession of forest growth. One way for a forest manager to view the development of a forest is to visualize the orderly change in character of a vegetative community over time, or the succession of vegetation. Forest succession is thus the sequential change in tree species, character, and structure of trees within a given area (Grebner et al., 2013), either naturally or through human intervention. Primary succession is one of two types of ecological succession of plant life, and in our case relates to a forest becoming established in a barren area with no substrate (soil), such as land surfaces wiped clean by landslides or overtaken by sand, rock or lava. When forests become established in areas where substrate is available (e.g., after fires, after harvests), and which supported vegetation previously, the process is called secondary succession. Tree planting activities are one form of establishment of forests through secondary succession. Afforestation, the planting of trees on former agricultural or developed lands, is another form of secondary succession that has been used widely in Europe, China, and elsewhere over the last century (Krawczyk, 2014). Natural succession on these types of lands can also occur through seed distributed by wind, water and animals. It should be no surprise that management activities vary in their use from one region to another, and vary depending on the tree species desired. For example, after a final harvest in the southern United States, a land manager may use various site preparation practices (i.e., raking, herbaceous weed control) to develop a site suitable for planting a loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) forest. However, if the desire of the land manager was to develop a deciduous forest on this site, they may consider other practices to assure that the desired trees become established through growth from coppice (stumps or roots) or seed. The management of uneven-aged or multiaged forests may require other approaches that match desired conditions with natural disturbance regimes (O’Hara, 2009) and other functions of forests (e.g., hunting opportunities) that are desired by landowners.

Later in this book we discuss concepts related to forest and natural resource sustainability. In Chapter 9, Forest and Natural Resource Sustainability, we discuss the sustainability of timber production, multiple uses, and ecological systems. The term sustainable forest management tends to favor the latter two approaches, because those who use it suggest that it involves management actions that are ecologically sound, economically viable, and socially acceptable. This approach to forest management is similar to, if not consistent with, ecosystem-based forest management approaches, where management plans are developed within a larger framework, take a big-picture perspective, and involve a number of values derived in and around the area being managed (Palmer, 2000). We attempt to stay neutral when it comes to favoring any approach, since each form of sustainability is used today, depending on the landowner and the landowner’s objectives. Thus our goal is to describe the approaches used in practice, and to provide some guidance for young professionals on the methods that might be used within each for developing a forest plan.

III The Need for Forest Managem...