Rehabilitation and Restoration of Degraded Forests
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
Chapter 7 Sustainable Forest Management Alternatives for The
Sustainable forest management alternatives for the carpathian mountain region... 109 Chapter 7 Sustainable Forest Management Alternatives for the Carpathian Mountain Region: Providing a Broad Array of Ecosystem Services William S. Keeton and Sarah M. Crow1 Abstract. International criteria for sustainable forest management (SFM) in temperate and boreal forests share a number of themes in common, as evidenced by similarities between the Montreal and Helsinki Processes. But translating these into meaningful implementation practices that differ from past approaches has been challenging in the Carpathian Mountain region of Eastern Europe. In this paper we explore contemporary science, emerging models, and innovative practices that offer guidance on implementing SFM criteria, with a focus on three criteria: 1) conservation of biological diversity, 2) maintenance of water resources, and 3) contribution to global carbon cycles. Particular reference is made to SFM options for the Carpathian Mountain region of Ukraine. The contribution of SFM to biodiversity conservation depends first on the establishment of fully representative reserve systems. On managed forestlands surrounding reserves, shifting stand age class distributions closer to the historic range of variability and recently developed silvicultural practices, such as disturbance based forestry, will help maintain ecological connectivity, landscape heterogeneity, and stand structural complexity. Strategically placed restoration of native species composition in areas dominated by spruce plantations will both enhance forest health and play an important role in biodiversity conservation. Conservation of aquatic resources is also significant concern in the Carpathian Mountain region. Broader use of contemporary watershed management approaches is recommended, including delineation of riparian buffers, riparian forest restoration, and ecologically informed forest road management. -
The Role of Old-Growth Forests in Frequent-Fire Landscapes
Copyright © 2007 by the author(s). Published here under license by the Resilience Alliance. Binkley, D., T. Sisk, C. Chambers, J. Springer, and W. Block. 2007. The role of old-growth forests in frequent-fire landscapes. Ecology and Society 12(2): 18. [online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol12/ iss2/art18/ Synthesis, part of a Special Feature on The Conservation and Restoration of Old Growth in Frequent-fire Forests of the American West The Role of Old-growth Forests in Frequent-fire Landscapes Daniel Binkley 1, Tom Sisk 2,3, Carol Chambers 4, Judy Springer 5, and William Block 6 ABSTRACT. Classic ecological concepts and forestry language regarding old growth are not well suited to frequent-fire landscapes. In frequent-fire, old-growth landscapes, there is a symbiotic relationship between the trees, the understory graminoids, and fire that results in a healthy ecosystem. Patches of old growth interspersed with younger growth and open, grassy areas provide a wide variety of habitats for animals, and have a higher level of biodiversity. Fire suppression is detrimental to these forests, and eventually destroys all old growth. The reintroduction of fire into degraded frequent-fire, old-growth forests, accompanied by appropriate thinning, can restore a balance to these ecosystems. Several areas require further research and study: 1) the ability of the understory to respond to restoration treatments, 2) the rate of ecosystem recovery following wildfires whose level of severity is beyond the historic or natural range of variation, 3) the effects of climate change, and 4) the role of the microbial community. In addition, it is important to recognize that much of our knowledge about these old-growth systems comes from a few frequent-fire forest types. -
Threatened Species Status Assessment Manual
THREATENED SPECIES SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE Established under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 THREATENED SPECIES STATUS ASSESSMENT MANUAL A guide to undertaking status assessments, including the preparation and submission of a status report for threatened species. Knowledge of species and their status improves continuously. Due to the large numbers of both listed and non-listed species, government resources are not generally available to carry out regular and comprehensive assessments of all listed species that are threatened or assess all non-listed species to determine their listing status. A status assessment by a group of experts, with their extensive collection of knowledge of a particular taxon or group of species could help to ensure that advice is the most current and accurate available, and provide for collective expert discussion and decisions regarding any uncertainties. The development of a status report by such groups will therefore assist in maintaining the accuracy of the list of threatened species under the EPBC Act and ensure that protection through listing is afforded to the correct species. 1. What is a status assessment? A status assessment is a assessment of the conservation status of a specific group of taxa (e.g. birds, frogs, snakes) or multiple species in a region (e.g. Sydney Basin heathland flora) that occur within Australia. For each species or subspecies (referred to as a species in this paper) assessed in a status assessment the aim is to: provide an evidence-based assessment -
A Restoration Framework for Federal Forests in the Pacific Northwest
J. For. 110(8):429–439 PRACTICE OF FORESTRY http://dx.doi.org/10.5849/jof.10-006 Copyright © 2012 Society of American Foresters policy A Restoration Framework for Federal Forests in the Pacific Northwest Jerry F. Franklin and K. Norman Johnson We outline elements of a forest restoration strategy designed to produce ecological and economic benefits on rule (USDA 2012). Furthermore, activities federal forests in Oregon and Washington, along with some of their policy and management implications. to sustain habitat and restore ecosystem Implementation of this restoration strategy has begun on 11 projects (at scales from hundreds to thousands of health are emphasized in the new northern acres) on federal lands. On Moist Forest sites (MF), the strategy calls for reserving older forest stands, thinning spotted owl (NSO; Strix occidentalis cau- plantations to accelerate development of structural complexity, and implementing variable retention harvests in rina) recovery plan, which describes the res- younger forests to help provide diverse early seral ecosystems. On Dry Forest (DF) sites, the strategy calls for toration of ecosystem structures and pro- silvicultural treatments that retain and release older trees, reduce stand densities, shift composition toward fire- cesses as being good for NSO (USDI Fish and drought-tolerant tree species, and incorporate spatial heterogeneity at multiple spatial scales. Immediate and Wildlife Service 2011). In early 2012, goals of this restoration framework include increased ecological integrity and resilience in DFs, increased diversity the Secretary of Interior proposed expansion and complexity of successional stages in MFs, and provision of wood products to local communities. Over the of ecological forestry projects in western long run, we believe this program can provide an acceptable pathway to sustained yield on federal forestlands Oregon to provide sustainable timber and in the Pacific Northwest. -
The Use of Fire in Forest Restoration
The Seminal Importance of Fire in Ecosystem Management-Impetus for This Publication Stephen F. Arno Fire-Agent of Change conference entitled "The Use of Fire in Forest Restoration." We are publishing authors' synopses of their conference In September 1995, the Society for Ecological Restoration presentations in this volume because we believe they repre- (SER) held its Annual Meeting at the University of Wash- sent a unique contribution to the understanding of fire as a ington in Seattle. The meeting included two dozen confer- component of ecological restoration in forests of Western ences and several symposia and field trips dealing with North America. various aspects of applying ecological restoration on both site-specific and landscape scales. More than a thousand Perceptions of Fire scientists, educators, land managers, and others interested in issues relating to ecosystem-based management attended. During the last few years natural resource specialists The keynote speaker, Professor Daniel Botkin of George have begun to support the concept of reintroducing fire in Mason University, exhorted the assembly to think of the some form to fire-dependent ecosystems-those where fire natural landscape as an everchanging "motion picture" played a vital role in determining composition, structure, rather than as a single idyllic frame. Botkin (1990)and other and landscape patterns. But why did this sentiment take so prominent ecologists have warned that environmental con- long to develop? Interestingly, a century ago USDA Forest cerns oRen focus on preserving a particular successional Service founder Gifford Pinchot and naturalist John Muir state (single frame), such as an old growth forest, rather called fire "one of the great factors which govern the distri- than maintaining a dynamically functioning ecosystem or bution and character of forest growth" (Pinchot 1899). -
Nontimber Forest Products Gathering in Urban Environments
Portland State University PDXScholar Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations Institute for Sustainable Solutions 2018 Natural Resource Access Rights and Wrongs: Nontimber Forest Products Gathering in Urban Environments Susan Charnley USDA Forest Service Rebecca J. McLain Portland State University, [email protected] Melissa R. Poe University of Washington Follow this and additional works at: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/iss_pub Part of the Environmental Policy Commons, and the Environmental Studies Commons Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Citation Details Charnley, S., McLain, R. J., & Poe, M. R. (2018). Natural Resource Access Rights and Wrongs: Nontimber Forest Products Gathering in Urban Environments. Society & Natural Resources, 1-17. This Article is brought to you for free and open access. It has been accepted for inclusion in Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations by an authorized administrator of PDXScholar. Please contact us if we can make this document more accessible: [email protected]. Society & Natural Resources An International Journal ISSN: 0894-1920 (Print) 1521-0723 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/usnr20 Natural Resource Access Rights and Wrongs: Nontimber Forest Products Gathering in Urban Environments Susan Charnley, Rebecca J. McLain & Melissa R. Poe To cite this article: Susan Charnley, Rebecca J. McLain & Melissa R. Poe (2018) Natural Resource Access Rights and Wrongs: Nontimber Forest Products Gathering in Urban Environments, Society & Natural Resources, 31:6, 734-750, DOI: 10.1080/08941920.2017.1413696 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920.2017.1413696 Published online: 11 Jan 2018. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 74 View related articles View Crossmark data Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=usnr20 SOCIETY & NATURAL RESOURCES 2018, VOL. -
Natura 2000 and Forests
Technical Report - 2015 - 089 ©Peter Loeffler Natura 2000 and Forests Part III – Case studies Environment Europe Direct is a service to help you find answers to your questions about the European Union New freephone number: 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 A great deal of additional information on the European Union is available on the Internet. It can be accessed through the Europa server (http://ec.europa.eu). Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2015 ISBN 978-92-79-49397-3 doi: 10.2779/65827 © European Union, 2015 Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged. Disclaimer This document is for information purposes only. It in no way creates any obligation for the Member States or project developers. The definitive interpretation of Union law is the sole prerogative of the Court of Justice of the EU. Cover Photo: Peter Löffler This document was prepared by François Kremer and Joseph Van der Stegen (DG ENV, Nature Unit) and Maria Gafo Gomez-Zamalloa and Tamas Szedlak (DG AGRI, Environment, forestry and climate change Unit) with the assistance of an ad-hoc working group on Natura 2000 and Forests composed by representatives from national nature conservation and forest authorities, scientific institutes and stakeholder organisations and of the N2K GROUP under contract to the European Commission, in particular Concha Olmeda, Carlos Ibero and David García (Atecma S.L) and Kerstin Sundseth (Ecosystems LTD). Natura 2000 and Forests Part III – Case studies Good practice experiences and examples from different Member States in managing forests in Natura 2000 1. Setting conservation objectives for Natura 2000. -
Ramping up Reforestation in the United States: a Guide for Policymakers March 2021 Cover Photo: CDC Photography / American Forests
Ramping up Reforestation in the United States: A Guide for Policymakers March 2021 Cover photo: CDC Photography / American Forests Executive Summary Ramping Up Reforestation in the United States: A Guide for Policymakers is designed to support the development of reforestation policies and programs. The guide highlights key findings on the state of America’s tree nursery infrastructure and provides a range of strategies for encouraging and enabling nurseries to scale up seedling production. The guide builds on a nationwide reforestation assessment (Fargione et al., 2021) and follow-on assessments (Ramping Up Reforestation in the United States: Regional Summaries companion guide) of seven regions in the contiguous United States (Figure 1). Nursery professionals throughout the country informed our key findings and strategies through a set of structured interviews and a survey. Across the contiguous U.S., there are over 133 million acres of reforestation opportunity on lands that have historically been forested (Cook-Patton et al., 2020). This massive reforestation opportunity equals around 68 billion trees. The majority of opportunities occur on pastureland, including those with poor soils in the Eastern U.S. Additionally, substantial reforestation opportunities in the Western U.S. are driven by large, severe wildfires. Growing awareness of this potential has led governments and organizations to ramp up reforestation to meet ambitious climate and biodiversity goals. Yet, there are many questions about the ability of nurseries to meet the resulting increase in demand for tree seedlings. These include a lack of seed, workforce constraints, and insufficient nursery infrastructure. To meet half of the total reforestation opportunity by 2040 (i.e., 66 million acres) would require America’s nurseries to produce an additional 1.8 billion seedlings each year. -
Buglife Ditches Report Vol1
The ecological status of ditch systems An investigation into the current status of the aquatic invertebrate and plant communities of grazing marsh ditch systems in England and Wales Technical Report Volume 1 Summary of methods and major findings C.M. Drake N.F Stewart M.A. Palmer V.L. Kindemba September 2010 Buglife – The Invertebrate Conservation Trust 1 Little whirlpool ram’s-horn snail ( Anisus vorticulus ) © Roger Key This report should be cited as: Drake, C.M, Stewart, N.F., Palmer, M.A. & Kindemba, V. L. (2010) The ecological status of ditch systems: an investigation into the current status of the aquatic invertebrate and plant communities of grazing marsh ditch systems in England and Wales. Technical Report. Buglife – The Invertebrate Conservation Trust, Peterborough. ISBN: 1-904878-98-8 2 Contents Volume 1 Acknowledgements 5 Executive summary 6 1 Introduction 8 1.1 The national context 8 1.2 Previous relevant studies 8 1.3 The core project 9 1.4 Companion projects 10 2 Overview of methods 12 2.1 Site selection 12 2.2 Survey coverage 14 2.3 Field survey methods 17 2.4 Data storage 17 2.5 Classification and evaluation techniques 19 2.6 Repeat sampling of ditches in Somerset 19 2.7 Investigation of change over time 20 3 Botanical classification of ditches 21 3.1 Methods 21 3.2 Results 22 3.3 Explanatory environmental variables and vegetation characteristics 26 3.4 Comparison with previous ditch vegetation classifications 30 3.5 Affinities with the National Vegetation Classification 32 Botanical classification of ditches: key points -
Restoring the Sustainability of Frequent-Fire Forests of the Rocky Mountain West W
RESTORING THE SUSTAINABILITY OF FREQUENT-FIRE FORESTS OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN WEST W. Wallace Covington* & Diane Vosick** I. THE CONTEMPORARY CONTEXT FOR FIRE AND FOREST MANAGEMENT IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN WEST1 The ecological, social, and economic sustainability of the Rocky Mountain West is threatened by declining forest health that is manifested by unnaturally high tree densities and fuel loads, increases in invasive exotic plants, decreasing biological diversity (plants and animals), and increased insect and disease outbreaks (Box 1).2 These unnatural fuel loads lead to wildfires that have become unprecedented in their severity, acreage, and effects (Box 2).3 In this paper we discuss the causes of forest health decline and advocate for ecological restoration as an approach for restoring forest health. We also summarize recent policy changes with the stated purpose to accelerate restoration and provide economic validation for why restoration is the smartest approach for reducing the threat of catastrophic fire. * Regents’ Professor and Executive Director of the Ecological Restoration Institute at Northern Arizona University. ** Director of Policy and Partnerships at the Ecological Restoration Institute at Northern Arizona University. 1. This paper was revised and updated from an article entitled Restoring the Ecological and Economic Integrity of Forested Landscapes of the Rocky Mountain West that first appeared in the proceedings from the Pay Dirt Conference sponsored by Western Progress on October 3, 2007 in Missoula, Montana. 2. See Bruce R. Hartsough et al., The Economics of Alternative Fuel Reduction Treatments in Western United States Dry Forests: Financial and Policy Implications from the National Fire and Fire Surrogate Study, 10 FOREST POL’Y & ECON. -
Regional Strategy and Action Plan for Forest and Landscape Restoration in Asia-Pacific
Regional Strategy and Action Plan for Forest and Landscape Restoration in Asia-Pacific Promoting and accelerating forest and landscape restoration to enhance ecological functioning and human well-being in degraded and deforested landscapes of the Asia-Pacific region Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific Maliwan Mansion, 39 Phra Atit Road Bangkok 10200, Thailand Tel: (+66) 2 697 4000 Fax: (+66) 2 697 4445 Regional Strategy and Action Plan for Forest and Landscape Restoration in Asia-Pacific Promoting and accelerating forest and landscape restoration to enhance ecological functioning and human well-being in degraded and deforested landscapes of the Asia-Pacific region Published by The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and Asia-Pacific Network for Sustainable Forest Management and Rehabilitation (APFNet) Bangkok, 2018 The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), or of Asia-Pacific Network for Sustainable Forest Management and Rehabilitation (APFNet) concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The mention of specific companies or products of manufacturers, whether or not these have been patented, does not imply that these have been endorsed or recommended by FAO, or APFNet in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned. The views expressed in this information product are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of FAO, or APFNet. -
Forests Reborn a Workshop on Forest Restoration
WWF/IUCN International Workshop on Forest Restoration: July 3-5, Segovia, Spain Forests Reborn A workshop on forest restoration WWF and IUCN With representation from CIDA, DFID, the EU, USAID, the World Bank, WCMC and the University of Queensland “Develop and implement environmentally appropriate and socially beneficial programmes to restore deforested and degraded forest landscapes” Objective 3 of the IUCN/WWF Forests for Life strategy The workshop was organised by Stephanie Mansourian and Stewart Maginnis and facilitated by Tom Hammond and Rod Taylor, assisted by other participants as necessary. Nigel Dudley has prepared the minutes and a field trip to "Boca de Asno" and a WWF Spain tree nursery in Alto Tajo, Ayllón y Quejigares de Brihuega was organised by Luis Molina from WWF Spain. The Forest Reborn programme is funded by both the Maurice Laing Foundation and Lafarge and arises from work initiated by the IUCN/WWF Forest Innovations project, carried out in co-operation with GTZ and funded by the German ministry BMZ. 1 WWF/IUCN International Workshop on Forest Restoration: July 3-5, Segovia, Spain Executive summary The workshop took place in Segovia, Spain in July 2000 and was organized by WWF and IUCN under their joint Forests Reborn programme. It aimed to agree a framework and process, taking into account regional variations and priorities, for exploring and promoting innovative approaches to socially and ecologically appropriate forest restoration. A series of presentations provided background information and asked some questions then a series of working groups addressed the following issues: • Development of a definition and typology of restoration • A common agreement and understanding of the scope and context of forest restoration – broadly addressing the questions: - What is meant by restoration? - Why restoration? - Where should conservation organisations focus their efforts? • A broad work programme.