Sean Fahey, Mackenzie Begley, Libby Bora, and David Hickey

Forest Management: Value of Forests

Environmental BenefitsAnimal habitatsWind controlHelp maintain soil,

air, and water quality

Pollution and carbon dioxide

reductionOxygen production

Economic Benefits

Recreational activities

Provide many wood products

The exploitation of forest resources has helped our society achieve the standard of living we enjoy today

Forestry Impacts on Soil-Healthy soils support forests and serve as a site for

decomposition and a reservoir for nutrients

This shows severe soil disturbance and erosion resulting from deforestation, which has led is soil degradation and erosion

Demand for

wood has led to deforestation

Deforestation has caused soil degradation, population declines, and species extinctions

Many people cut fuel for firewood for daily cooking and heating in poorer areas

The growth of the United States and Canada was fed by

deforestation

By the early 20th century, very little primary forest (natural forest uncut by people) was left in the US

Today the largest trees are second growth (trees that have sprouted and grown to partial maturity after old-grown timber has been cut

The growth of the United States and Canada was fed by deforestation

As the farming economy shifted to an industrial one, wood was used to stoke the furnaces of industry, which the need for increased deforestation

As logging operations continued to move south because of deforestation, these areas were converted to pine plantations

Timber from these forests built large cities, which expanded and moved the population

Deforestation is proceeding rapidly in

many developing nations

Uncut tropical forests still remain in many developing countries, these nations are in the position the US and Canada faced centuries ago

Developing nations are often so desperate for economic development that they impose few or not restrictions on logging

With today’s advanced technology these countries can exploit their resources and make deforestation more rapid

Fear of a “ti

mber famine” spurred the establishment of national forests

U.S. Forest Service est. in 1905To manage the forests “for the greatest good

of the greatest number in the long run”

U.S. National Forest SystemConsists of 191 million acres in the USCovers over 8% of the nation’s land areaTo sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of

the nation’s forests and grasslands and to meet the needs of present and future generations

Ti

mber is extracted from public and private lands

In US and Canada it is extracted by private timber companies

Public companies extracted 340 million feet of live timbers from national forests in 2001

This amount is considerably less that the amount cut from private companies

Plantation forestry has grown

Today's industry focuses on plantations with fast growing tree species

Even- aged standsCondition of timber plantations where all trees are

the same ageSome harvesting methods aim to maintain

uneven-aged stands, where a mix of all ages and trees species makes the stand more similar to a natural forest

Plantation forestry has grownSome harvesting

methods aim to maintain uneven-aged stands, where a mix of all ages and trees species makes the stand more similar to a natural forest

Source: textbook

HARVESTING TIMBER

First Step Process begins with a process called felling

Felling is the severing of a tree at the stump. Axes and saws were originally the tools used to complete this task. However, through advancements in technology, chainsaws and machines have become more prominent, for they make it more efficient. The chainsaw is used on slopped or steeper grounds, where the machines, known as a feller buncher, are used on flat grounds.

Different types of felling:Traditional FellingMotor-manual fellingMechanized felling

Second and Third StepNext step for harvesting timber is called extraction

The pulling of the tree(s) from the forest area to a landing area is called extraction.

The next process in harvesting timber is called processingAfter being extracted from the area, the tree must be

processed before it can be loaded onto the truck. Process begins by removing all of the limbs

(delimbing).Next step is topping the treeFinal step is cutting the stem into logs (bucking).

Steps Four and FiveOnce the trees have been processed into logs,

they must be loaded onto the truck. This process is called loading. A loader, a machine used to sort the stumps,

stacks the logs onto the truck.

After they are loaded, trucking is then the next step. Trucking is when a vehicle with a log bunk

transports or hauls the short logs to the place where they will be sold.

Harvesting Timbers 5 different Approaches:

5 different approaches: Clear-cutting approach: the felling and removal of all trees from

a given tract of forest. (A method in which all trees in an area are cut, leaving only stumps. Clear cutting is generally the most cost-efficient method in the short term, but it has the greatest impacts on forest ecosystems. Clear cutting is thought to mimic natural disturbance events such as fires, tornadoes, or windstorms that knock down trees across large areas).

Seed tree approach: The seed-tree approach is an approach that leaves some trees standing while cutting down others. In the seed-tree approach, small numbers of mature and vigorous seed-producing trees are left standing so that they can reseed the logged area.

Shelterwood approach: Removing trees on the harvest area in a series of two or more cuttings so new seedlings can grow from the seed of older trees. (Small numbers of mature trees are left in place to provide shelter for seedlings as they grow).

http://www.nrdc.org/land/forests/fcut.asp

The Five Approaches Continued

Selection system (high grading) approach: This method produces an even-aged forest.

Strip-cutting approach: A linear clear-cut created to encourage regeneration of trees along the edge of the cut.  The width of the cut is designed to allow seeds from the standing trees to blow into the cut and germinate.

The Conservation of Ecosystems:

National Forest Management Act Legislation passed by the U.S. Congress in 1976, mandating

that plans for renewable resource management be drawn up for every national forest. These plans were to be explicitly based on the concepts of multiple use and sustainable development and be subject to broad public participation.

Guidelines the plan must follow: Consider both economic and environmental factors. Provide for diversity of plant and animal communities and preserve the

regional diversity of tree species. Ensure research and monitoring of management practices. Permit increases in harvest levels only if sustainable. Ensure that timber is harvested only where soils and wetlands will not be

irreversibly damaged, lands can be restocked quickly, and economic return alone does not guide the choice of harvest method.

Ensure that logging is conducted only where impacts have been assessed; cuts are shaped to the terrain; maximum size limits are established; and “cuts are carried out in a manner consistent with the protection of soil, watershed, fish, wildlife, recreation, and aesthetic resources, and the regeneration of the timber resource.”

Public Forests and management

Multiple Use: Multiple use is a policy that has guided forest management for the past half century. Multiple use states that the national forests were to be managed for recreation, wildlife habitat, mineral extraction, and various other uses. In reality, however, timber production was most often the primary use.

New Forestry: New forestry is a set of ecosystem-based management approaches for harvesting timber that explicitly mimic natural disturbances. For instance, “sloppy clear-cuts” that leave a variety of trees standing mimic the changes a forest might experience if hit by a severe windstorm.

Forest Fires Forest fires are a natural phenomena to which many

plants are adapted and which help maintain many ecosystems. Some of the plants that are in the ecosystems where forest fires are prominent have seeds that will only germinate in response to fires.

Three different types of fires: Crown Fires: Crown fires occur when surface or ground fires ignite slash

piles and dead or living lower branches of standing trees, tree crowns becomes engulfed in flames, and the fire spreads to nearby trees. Crown fires occur in forests during periods of drought and low relative humidity, particularly in areas with heavy accumulations of understory material called ladderfuels (e.g., fallen trees, logging slash, and combustible understory vegetation).

Surface Fires: Surface fires burn the upper litter layer and small branches that lie on or near the ground. Surface fires usually move rapidly through an area, and do not consume all the organic layer.

Ground Fires: Ground fires normally smolder or creep slowly through the litter and humus layers, consuming all or most of the organic cover, and exposing mineral soil or underlying rock.

Forest Fires and the laws that come with it

o Healthy Forests Restoration Act: An act passed by Bush’s administration that stated that along with some prescribed burnings, his cabinet primarily physical removal of small trees, underbrush, and dead trees by timber companies. Though this may seem economically savvy, it proves to be harmful to the ecosystem, for the small branches and shrubs, after dying, are broken down by bugs which are eaten by other animals. o Salvage Logging: The removal of dead trees

following a natural disturbance.

Fire and its controversy: Fire has created controversy throughout history. Those

who believe in salvage logging disagree with many of the philosophies believed by environmentalists. Environmentalists believe that when forest fires strike, the trees that are knocked over and otherwise burned should be left to nature. The salvage loggers believe that the wood should be used to help benefit the economy: taken out of the forests and used to make money. The primary difference between these two groups is money. An OSU graduate Daniel Donato and 5 other OSU

researchers wanted to see whether of not salvage logging really does in fact reduce fire risk and help seedlings regenerate. After a Biscuit Fire, he and his team measured the growth of seedlings on property that had not been logged, finding that the conifer seedlings sprouted naturally in the burned areas at densities exceeding what foresters aim for when they replant sites manually.

Sustainable forestry is gaining ground:

International Organization for Standardization (ISO): The ISO is a governmental organization that provides requirements or gives guidance on good management practices when it comes to the environment. The organization also gives the requirements for quality management systems.

Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI): This initiative is significant because it signifies that as a consumer, you are buying wood and paper products from well-managed forests.

Forest Stewardship Council (FSC): FSC is an independent, non-governmental, not-for-profit organization established to promote the responsible management of the world’s forests.

Other ways to make paper

Rather than using trees for paper, there are other ways that prove to be just as effective:KenafHempGarbage Agricultural bi-products

Maximum and Optimum Sustainable Yield and its affects on the

environmentMaximum Sustainable Yield: the largest yield

that can be taken from a species' stock over an indefinite period without allowing the nutrient or species to replenish itself.

Optimum Sustainable Yield: is the largest economical yield of a renewable resource achievable over a long time period without decreasing the ability of the population or its environment to support the continuation of this level of yield.

Why have we created parks & reserves?

Ensure safety of endangered species and plant life

Aesthetic value

Economic reasons

Federal parks and reserves began in the

United StatesYellowstone became the world’s first national

park in 1872

Royal National Park in Sydney, Australia was established in 1879

Rocky Mountain National Park was established in Canada in 1885

Yellowstone National ParkFounded 1872 by the U.S. Congress

3,468 square miles

Visited by over 3 million people each year

National Parks ServiceCreated on August 25, 1916 by Congress

Agency of the US Dept. of the Interior

National Wildlife Refuge System

First created by President Theodore Roosevelt

Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge in 1903

Faces many problems

U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS)

Originated in 1871 as US Commission on Fish and Fisheries

Created by Congress to research and study the decline in fish

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge & Oil Drilling

National wildlife refuge locate in Northeastern Alaska

Largest refuge in the country

19,286,482 acres

Established in 1960

Area is used for drilling

National Wilderness Preservation System

Wilderness areas have been established on federal land

Wilderness Act of 1964

Created to preserve land areas of pristine condition

Encompasses over 170 million acres

Non federal entities also protect land

State The U.S. and the Canadian province both have agencies

that manage resources on state or provincial lands Ex. Adirondack State Park (NY)

park was created in a mountainous area whose streams converge to form the headwaters of the Hudson River, state saw the need for river water to power industries, keep canals filled, and provide drinking water

Private non-profit Land trusts

local or regional organizations that purchase land with the aim of preserving it in its natural condition

nearly 1,700 local and state land trusts in the United States own 1.7 million acres and have helped preserved an additional 10.2 million acres

Ex. The Nature Conservancy

Parks and reserves are increasing internationally

“paper parks”

World Heritage Sites

Transboundary park

“peace parks”

UNESCO biosphere reserves

“Paper Parks”Parks in developing countries do not always

receive the funding they need to manage resources, provide for recreation, and protect wildlife from poaching and timber from logging.

Therefore many of the world’s protected areas are only paper parks- protected on paper but not in reality

World Heritage Sites over 830 sites across 184 countries are listed

for their natural or cultural value

some types of protected areas fall under national sovereignty but are designated or partly managed internationally

Transboundary Park An area of protected land overlapping

national borders, account for 10% of protected areas worldwide, involving over 100 countries

Ex. Waterton-Glacier National Parks on the Canadian-U.S. border

“Peace Parks”Help ease tensions by acting as buffers between

nations that have quarreled over boundary disputes Ex. Peru and Ecuador, Costa Rica and Panama

UNESCO Biosphere Reserves

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

Tracts of land with exceptional biodiversity that couple preservation with sustainable development to benefit the local people

Each biosphere reserve consists of:a core area that preserves biodiversity a buffer zone that allows local activities and limited

development that do not hinder the core area’s function

an out transition zone in which agriculture, human settlement, and other land uses can be pursued in a sustainable way

The design of parks and reserves has consequences for biodiversity

Expanding agriculture, spreading cities, highways, logging, have chopped up large contiguous expanses of habitat into small disconnected ones; causes many species to suffer

SLOSS Dilemma“single large or several small”

large species that roam great distance (Siberian Tiger) benefit more from the “single large” approach

insects that live as larvae in small areas may do just fine in a number of small isolated reserves, “several small” approach, if they can disperse as adults by flying from one reserve to another

Wildlife Corridors Connections between fragments that provide

animals access to more habitat and help enable gene flow to maintain population in the long term

Multiple Use Lands v. Restricted Use Land

Multiple use lands- national forests are intended to managed for recreation, wildlife habitat, mineral extraction, along with various other uses

Restricted use lands- land that is protected or limited in use for conservation, ecological, resource management, or heritage purposes.