350 Silvicultural impacts and the FORESTCHECK project in jarrah forest Silvicultural impacts in jarrah forest of Western Australia: synthesis, evaluation, and policy implications of the FORESTCHECK monitoring project of 2001–2006 Ian Abbott1,2 and Matthew R. Williams1 1Science Division, Department of Environment and Conservation, Locked Bag 104, Bentley Delivery Centre, WA 6983, Australia 2Email:
[email protected] Revised manuscript received 27 September 2011 Summary Introduction This paper, the final in a series of ten papers that report the impact Disturbance is a term ultimately derived from Latin turba, crowd, of silvicultural treatments (harvesting and associated burning) in connoting uproar, turmoil and confusion. By implication, in an jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata) forest, reviews these papers and ecological context, disturbance signifies any process that reduces explores similarities and disparities. More than 2500 species the abundance of populations of one or more species by killing or were processed, dominated by macro-invertebrates, vascular removing individuals. The concept is of fundamental importance flora and macrofungi. Few significant impacts were evident, and to the maintenance of biodiversity, and comprises both natural and most species groups were resilient to the disturbances imposed. anthropogenic processes (Attiwill 1994a,b). Natural disturbance Regeneration stocking did not meet specified standards on two occurs without any human intervention, and in south-west Western gap release and seven shelterwood grids subjected to silvicultural Australia (WA) includes lightning-caused fire, windstorm, flood treatment in the period 1988–2002. Six treated grids had a retained and drought. Anthropogenic factors include human-ignited fire, basal area of more than18 m2 ha–1, which obviated the need for timber harvesting, deforestation (for mining, farming, settlement), further regeneration.