Ecological Forestry to Promote Healthy Forests
Dr. Marcella Windmuller-Campione Assistant Professor, Department of Forest Resources University of Minnesota [email protected] Outline
History
Definitions
Break for Questions
Natural Disturbance Regimes
Examples
** Could teach a whole semester course on this Key Thoughts
Ecological forestry (or one of the other terms we will cover) focus on using natural disturbance processes to inform and develop management strategies which increase complexity
Using the same silvicultural toolbox but with different desired future conditions Need multiple approaches
Foresters and silviculturists are increasingly managing for broad objectives including wildlife, water, and maintaining healthy forests Early Minnesota Forests
"The white pine of the Upper Mississippi was a magnificent tree. Sometimes it stood in the forest 200 feet high with a diameter of 5 feet." Agnes M. Larson, "History of the White Pine Industry in Minnesota"
1849 – Minnesota Territory 19th century began land clearing of southeast
*** Similar trends in forests across the US
Fires Fires often followed destructive logging
Hinckley Forest Fire – 1894 Extremely destructive Chief Fire Warden - 1895
www.listupon.com The Golden Era of Lumber
Average of 1.5 billion board feet removed yearly during the 1890s to 1910s
Peaked at 2.3 billion board feet in 1899 Most was white pine 600,000 two-story homes
http://www.dellslumberjackshow.com Beginning of the End Estimated that in 20 years all pine would be cut In 1929, the Virginia and Rainy Lake Lumber Company closed it’s door – considered one of the largest white pine lumber companies ~ 68 billion board feet of pine was harvested Lumber companies shift from saw logs to pulp, paper, and building material in 1930s
Push for restoration & sustainable forestry by Andrews First state nursery established in 1903 Cloquet Forest Experiment Station Established in 1909 Minnesota Forest Service Established 1911 Focus on fire protection & suppression Rebuilding the Forests Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) – 1933 -1942 166 CC camps in Minnesota Planted over 25 million tree Established more state forests
CCC construction of Fechner Dam, Cut Foot Sioux District, Chippewa National Forest http://foresthistory.org Sustained Yield - Production
1940’s Production for war goods Packing crates, bridges, railroad ties, ships, etc. Little forest recreation Sustained-Yield Forest Management Act of 1944
1950’s Post war housing boom Increased use of chain saw Production – need lumber for houses National forest research A New Century of Forest Planning
The Forest History Society
Now what is Ecological Forestry? Definitions
New Forestry (Franklin 1989) Definitions
New Forestry (Franklin 1989) “Uses ecological principles to create managed forests superior to those created under common current forestry practices.” Definitions
New Forestry (Franklin 1989)
Continuous Cover Forestry (CCF) (Mason et al. 1999; Pommerening & Murphy 2004) Definitions
New Forestry (Franklin 1989)
Continuous Cover Forestry (CCF) (Mason et al. 1999; Pommerening & Murphy 2004) “Continuous cover is defined as the use of silvicultural systems whereby the forest canopy is maintained at one or more levels without clear felling.” Definitions
New Forestry (Franklin 1989)
Continuous Cover Forestry (CCF) (Mason et al. 1999; Pommerening & Murphy 2004)
Emulating Natural Disturbance Regimes (ENDR) (Perera & Buse 2004; Long 2009) Definitions
New Forestry (Franklin 1989)
Continuous Cover Forestry (CCF) (Mason et al. 1999; Pommerening & Murphy 2004)
Emulating Natural Disturbance Regimes (ENDR) (Perera & Buse 2004; Long 2009) ‘‘management strategies and practices, at appropriate spatial and temporal scales, with the goal of producing forest ecosystems . . . structurally and functionally similar . . .to the ecosystems that would result from natural disturbances’’ Definitions
New Forestry (Franklin 1989)
Continuous Cover Forestry (CCF) (Mason et al. 1999; Pommerening & Murphy 2004)
Emulating Natural Disturbance Regimes (ENDR) (Perera & Buse 2004; 2004.Long 2009)
Ecological Forestry (Franklin et al. 2007) Definitions New Forestry (Franklin 1989) Continuous Cover Forestry (CCF) (Mason et al. 1999; Pommerening & Murphy 2004) Emulating Natural Disturbance Regimes (ENDR) (Perera & Buse 2004; 2004.Long 2009)
Ecological Forestry (Franklin et al. 2007) 1) understanding the importance of biological legacies created by a tree regenerating disturbance and incorporating legacy management into harvesting prescriptions; 2) recognizing the role of stand development processes, particularly individual tree mortality, in generating structural and compositional heterogeneity in stands and implementing thinning prescriptions that enhance this heterogeneity; and 3) appreciating the role of recovery periods between disturbance events in the development of stand complexity. Definitions
New Forestry (Franklin 1989)
Continuous Cover Forestry (CCF) (Mason et al. 1999; Pommerening & Murphy 2004)
Emulating Natural Disturbance Regimes (ENDR) (Perera & Buse 2004; 2004.Long 2009)
Ecological Forestry (Franklin et al. 2007)
Close-to-Nature Forestry (Pro Silvia 2012; O’Hara 2015) Definitions New Forestry (Franklin 1989) Continuous Cover Forestry (CCF) (Mason et al. 1999; Pommerening & Murphy 2004) Emulating Natural Disturbance Regimes (ENDR) (Perera & Buse 2004; 2004.Long 2009)
Ecological Forestry (Franklin et al. 2007) Close-to-Nature Forestry (Pro Silvia 2012; O’Hara 2015) ‘guaranteed continuity of naturalness’, ‘adopt a holistic approach involving continuous forest cover’, ‘adding value by selection felling and tending at all stages of development’ (i.e. selection systems), ‘working towards a balance on as small a scale as possible between increment and harvesting in each management unit’, ‘use of natural regeneration’, ‘restricting the use of exotics’ and many others (Pro Silva, 2012). Definitions New Forestry (Franklin 1989)
Continuous Cover Forestry (CCF) (Mason et al. 1999; Pommerening & Murphy 2004)
Emulating Natural Disturbance Regimes (ENDR) (Perera & Buse 2004; 2004.Long 2009)
Ecological Forestry (Franklin et al. 2007)
Close-to-Nature Forestry (Pro Silvia 2012; O’Hara 2015)
Alternative Silviculture (Puettman et al. 2015) Definitions New Forestry (Franklin 1989) Continuous Cover Forestry (CCF) (Mason et al. 1999; Pommerening & Murphy 2004) Emulating Natural Disturbance Regimes (ENDR) (Perera & Buse 2004; 2004.Long 2009)
Ecological Forestry (Franklin et al. 2007) Close-to-Nature Forestry (Pro Silvia 2012; O’Hara 2015) Alternative Silviculture (Puettman et al. 2015) “Are characterized by a set of fundamental principles, including avoidance of clearcutting, an emphasis on structural diversity and small-scale variability, deployment of mixed species with natural regeneration, and avoidance of intensive site-preparation methods” Pommerening & Murphy 2004 Puettmann et al. 2015 Pommerening & Murphy 2004 Just A Few Definitions – What do they have in common? Just A Few Definitions – What do they have in common?
“Natural”
Not conventional (move away from clearcut harvest system)
Disturbance regimes
Structural, compositional, and functional complexity Franklin et al. 2007
Pommerening & Murphy 2004 What is Natural? What is Natural?
Without human influence (Hunter 1996) Pre-European colonization
Shift in management where “…nature was controlled to approaches that attempt to integrate natural processes into management or to use natural processes to guide management.” (O’Hara 2016) One more definition
Silviculture- the art and science of controlling the establishment, growth, composition, health, and quality of forests and woodlands to meet the diverse needs and values of landowners and society on a sustainable basis (Helms 1998) *** really depending on needs and values
Break For Questions? Disturbance Regimes
Disturbance – any relatively discrete event in time that disrupts ecosystems, community, or population structure and changes resources, substrate availability, or the physical environment (Helms 1998)
Disturbance recovery regime – a natural pattern of periodic disturbances, such as fire or flooding, followed by a period of recovery from the disturbance (Helms 1998) Kuuluvainen, T., & Grenfell, R. (2012). Where does this info come from on natural disturbance regimes?
Old-growth stands What are the natural disturbance regimes?
Old-growth stands Directly observable Rare Not necessarily representative
Minnesota DNR What are the natural disturbance regimes?
Old-growth stands
Land survey records What are the natural disturbance regimes?
Old-growth stands
Land survey records Broad Low resolution, coarse-scale Major stand replacing disturbances Minnesota Historical Society What are the natural disturbance regimes?
Old-growth stands
Land survey records
Tree Cores (Dendrochronology) & Lake Cores (Palynology) What are the natural disturbance regimes? Old-growth stands
Land survey records
Tree Cores (Dendrochronology) & Lake Cores (Palynology) Tree cores – high resolution but limited decomposition and age of trees Lake cores – low resolution but broad landscape level
Archaeosoup Productions Sierra Nature Notes Should we only look to the past?
GLISA - University of Michigan Nagel et al. 2017 Increasing Complexity in Red Pine
http://hikingmn.com/the-pit-stops/2014/6/26/the-lost-40
What Can You Do?
1) Incorporate biological legacies into regeneration harvest prescriptions.
2) Incorporate natural stand development processes into intermediate treatments.
3) Allow appropriate recovery periods between regeneration harvests.
https://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/gtr/gtr_nc264.pdf
https://forestadaptation.org/ascc-mn How does this maintain healthy forests?
Concerns Drought Thinning increase resistance and resilience to drought (D'Amato et al. 2013) Insects & diseases Shoot blight is a concern in uneven-aged pine stands Shifting species composition jack and white pine can decrease risk Mountain pine beetle – could move east. Diversity at stand and landscape Market variability Greater species composition can give you greater flexibility Complex Early Successional Jack Pine Forests for Kirtland’s Warbler Corace, III et al. 2009 Lessons learned
Manage at landscape scale Different age classes of jack pine are important for different bird species
Fires leave legacies Fires were not complete, standing and down wood are important legacies
Range in variation in structure and composition Final Thoughts
Ecological forestry (or one of the other terms we covered) focus on using natural disturbance processes to inform and develop management strategies which increase complexity
Using the same silvicultural toolbox but with different desired future conditions Need multiple approaches
Foresters and silviculturists are increasingly managing for broad objectives including wildlife, water, and maintaining healthy forests Citations Corace, III, R. G., Goebel, P. C., Hix, D. M., Casselman, T., & Seefelt, N. E. (2009). Ecological forestry at National Wildlife Refuges: experiences from Seney National Wildlife Refuge and Kirtland’s Warbler Wildlife Management Area, USA. The Forestry Chronicle, 85(5), 695-701. D'Amato, A. W., Bradford, J. B., Fraver, S., & Palik, B. J. (2013). Effects of thinning on drought vulnerability and climate response in north temperate forest ecosystems. Ecological Applications, 23(8), 1735-1742. Franklin, J. F. (1989). The “new forestry.”. Journal of soil and water conservation, 44(6), 549. Franklin, J. F., Mitchell, R. J., & Palik, B. J. (2007). Natural disturbance and stand development principles for ecological forestry. Helms, J. A. (1998). The dictionary of forestry. Kerr, G., & Simpson, J. (1999). What is continuous cover forestry?. Forestry Commission. Kuuluvainen, T., & Grenfell, R. (2012). Natural disturbance emulation in boreal forest ecosystem management—theories, strategies, and a comparison with conventional even-aged management 1 1 This article is one of a selection of papers from the 7th International Conference on Disturbance Dynamics in Boreal Forests. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 42(7), 1185-1203. Long, J. N. (2009). Emulating natural disturbance regimes as a basis for forest management: a North American view. Forest Ecology and Management, 257(9), 1868-1873. Nagel, L. M., Palik, B. J., Battaglia, M. A., D'Amato, A. W., Guldin, J. M., Swanston, C. W., ... & Peterson, D. L. (2017). Adaptive Silviculture for Climate Change: A National Experiment in Manager-Scientist Partnerships to Apply an Adaptation Framework. Journal of Forestry, 115(3), 167-178. O'Hara, K. L. (2016). What is close-to-nature silviculture in a changing world?. Forestry: An International Journal of Forest Research, 89(1), 1-6. Perera, A. H., & Buse, L. J. (2004). Emulating natural disturbance in forest management: an overview. Emulating natural forest landscape disturbances, 3-7. Pommerening, A., & Murphy, S. T. (2004). A review of the history, definitions and methods of continuous cover forestry with special attention to afforestation and restocking. Forestry, 77(1), 27-44. Pro, Silva. 2012 Pro Silva Principles. Pro Silva - Association of European Foresters Practicing Management which follows Natural Processes . Puettmann, K. J., Wilson, S. M., Baker, S. C., Donoso, P. J., Drössler, L., Amente, G., ... & Putz, F. E. (2015). Silvicultural alternatives to conventional even-aged forest management-what limits global adoption?. Forest Ecosystems, 2(1), 8. Seymour, R. S., & White, A. S. (2002). Natural disturbance regimes in northeastern North America— evaluating silvicultural systems using natural scales and frequencies. Forest Ecology and Management, 155(1), 357-367. Questions