SILVICULTURE AND ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT

Transcription

1 SILVICULTURE AND ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT Ralph D. Nyland Distinguished Service Professor - Silviculture Department of Forest and Natural Resources Management SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry Syracuse, NY Nyland All rights reserved Use of all or parts of this document prohibited without express consent of Ralph D. Nyland SILVICULTURE INVOLVES MAKING CHOICES And foresters can cause different kinds of ecologically acceptable responses by using alternative treatments at different times by arranging them in different sequences by applying them with different intensities 1

2 even with objectives beyond timber Silviculturists render their judgments as a prescription: - to balance ecologic, economic, and administrative concerns - to outline how to capitalize on and sustain basic values of interest 2

3 and protect against losses of ecologic and economic consequence You have examined one possible problem solving process: 1. Determine the landowner s objectives 2. Evaluate existing stand conditions 3. Identify the options 4. Quantify the likely outcome of each one 5. Drop unsuitable options 6. Explain the viable alternatives 7. Help the landowner decide 8. Implement the prescription 9. Evaluate the results Notation 1-1 3

4 and start over if necessary for a better outcome to better serve a landowner s interests What factors influence the activities that you undertake on land that you own or manage? These simplify into four groups: - ownership objectives - economic / financial factors - politics and law - bio-physical constraints and opportunities After Koten (1994) 4

5 And we have changed our view of these through time But how? Within the forestry community we have broadened from: Dominant-use management (1940 s & 1950 s) To multiple-use management (1960 s) To ecosystem management (1990 s) To sustainable forestry (late 1990 s into present) without rejecting ecosystem management? to whatever 5

6 with a continuing concern for the economic benefits landowners can realize when creating, maintaining, and restoring desired ecologic conditions One current definition Ecosystem management: the science and practice of integrating land uses into dynamic natural systems USFS 2007, Science Findings 22 6

7 Yet with ecosystem management we progress away from emphasizing USES to maintaining healthy and stable ecosystems... serving human needs as an inevitable outcome (outcomes that also sustain desired outputs) After Kessler et al So might we modify the USFS definition as follows: Ecosystem management: the science and practice of sustaining dynamic natural systems and providing the values of interest to people by insuring an appropriate ecosystem composition, structure, and function Nyland 2009, after USFS 2007, Science Findings 22, Helms

8 Recognizing that ecologically viable stands also serve human needs So use becomes an inevitable outcome... of access to sustainable and diverse forested systems 8

9 Ponsse Oy including access to commodities that serve the needs of society Look at one rendition of the process for planning and implementing an ecosystem management program 9

10 1. 1. The objectives Boise Cascade after Kauffman et al The process Develop ecologic/economic/social situational analysis Identify ecologic/economic/social goals and constraints 1 Develop ecologic/economic/social objectives and criteria Develop management scenarios and range of possible actions 2 Develop alternative management plans Assess impacts of the alternatives 3 Evaluate and select a preferred alternative Implement the plan 4 Monitor the results 10

11 Some basic tenets to guide the planning: 1. Account for the objectives and values of interest 2. Insure minimum necessary integrity, resilience, and diversity 3. Consider the effects at a landscape scale and ecosystem level 4. Assess the implications on an ecologic time scale 5. Avoid actions that unnecessarily constrain future management and use, and/or cause irreversible ecologic changes 6. Keep the treatments and ameliorative practices financially viable (After Brooks and Grant 1992) Always thinking at multiple scales Landscape Watershed Forest Stand Gap Tree AREA Source unknown 11

12 even at small scales and thinking broadly about the ecologic implications 12

13 Recognizing Structure Composition Interacting at multiple scales Function After Meffe et al And considering the cumulative effects from altering multiple stands across a large area 13

14 So does this broaden the definition of SILVICULTURE? SILVICULTURE The process of manipulating vegetation to create, maintain, and restore plant community conditions that serve a landowner in an ecologically viable manner Nyland 2002 Possible landscape conditions to consider for insuring adequate sustained benefits and values: - Interspersion of contrasting and similar condition classes - Interconnection of stands / areas having essential characteristics.and particularly critical ones -The minimum size for stands / units of land in each important condition class -The longevity of desired conditions once created in any single unit of land 14

15 considering both similarities and differences Possible landscape conditions to consider for insuring adequate sustained benefits and values: - Interspersion of contrasting and similar condition classes - Interconnection of stands / areas having essential characteristics and particularly critical ones -The minimum size for stands / units of land in each important condition class -The longevity of desired conditions once created in any single unit of land 15

16 through connecting corridors and with proximity among essential habitats Possible landscape conditions to consider for insuring adequate sustained benefits and values: - Interspersion of contrasting and similar condition classes - Interconnection of stands / areas having essential characteristics and particularly critical ones -The minimum size for stands / units of land in each important condition class -The longevity of desired conditions once created in any single unit of land 16

17 not sacrificing the minimum critical mass for adequate ecologic functions Possible landscape conditions to consider for insuring adequate sustained benefits and values: - Interspersion of contrasting and similar condition classes - Interconnection of stands / areas having essential characteristics and particularly critical ones -The minimum size for stands / units of land in each important condition class -The longevity of desired conditions once created in any single unit of land 17

18 Anticipating how long desired conditions normally persist and what might trigger unplanned changes US Forest Service For most of these features we look beyond stand boundaries recognizing that conditions in stands change with time and the mix of current conditions determines the landscape character 18

19 Now consider the future by looking back to the multiple-use concept Dominant-use management (1940 s & 1950 s) To multiple-use use management (1960 s) To ecosystem management (1990 s) To sustainable forestry (late 1990 s into present) without rejecting ecosystem management? to whatever 19

20 diversifying conditions to facilitate many kinds of uses within a forest Perhaps like this Different age classes nicely interspersed all even-aged Douglas-fir 20

21 But it often takes more than just creating variety and interspersion of age classes more than just one kind of silviculture so how approach it today Consider this suggestion... Seymour and Hunter

22 Ecological reserve Ecosystem silviculture And interspersed through time at a landscape scale High-yield plantation Dispersed across space in some meaningful fashion Seymour and Hunter

23 Adaptation by Nyland 1993 A triad of these forest conditions dispersed across time and space... finding the right mix for each working landscape 23

24 With thoughtful allocation of where and when to implement the stand-level treatments Remembering that Stone (1974) had this advice Domesticated forest After Stone 1975 prescribe the most intense inputs for the best sites Skill, deliberation, imagination, and courage these create the vortex of creative thinking 24

25 Background reading: Chapter 1, in Nyland, R.D Silviculture: Concepts and Applications. Waveland Press., Long Grove, IL. 2ed. Sources cited: Boise Cascade, after Kauffman, M.R., R.T. Graham, D.A. Boyce, Jr., W.H. Moir, L. Perry, R.T. Reynolds, R.L. Bassett, P. Mehlhop, C.B. Edminster, W.M. Block, and P.S. Corn An ecological basis for ecosystem management. US For. Serv. Gen. Tech. Rpt. RM-246. Brooks, D.J. and G.E. Grant New Approaches to forest management. Part 2. J. For. 90(2): Harris, L.D The Fragmented Forest, Island Biogeography Theory, and the Preservation of Biotic Diversity. Univ. Chicago Press. Chicago. Kessler, W.B., H Salwasser, C.W. Cartwright, and J.A. Caplan New perspectives for sustainable natural resources management. Ecol. Appl. 2(3): Koten, D.E Lecture notes. Faculty of Forestry, SUNY Coll. Environ. Sci., and For., Syracuse, NY. Meffe, G.K., L..A. Nielsen., R.L. Knight, and D.S. Schenborn Ecosystem Management: Adaptive Community-based Conservation. Island Press. Wash., DC. Seymour, R.S., and M.L. Hunter, Jr New Forestry in eastern spruce-fir forests: Principled and applications in Maine. Univ. Me., Me. Agric. Exp. Stn. Misc. Publ Stone, EL Soil and man s use of forest land. In pp. 1-9, Forest Soils and Forest Land Management. B. Bewrnier and C.H. Winget (Eds.). Laval Univ. Press. Ste-Foy, QU. US For. Serv Science Findings 22. Apr US For. Serv., Pacific Northw. Res. Stn., Portland, OR 25