Abstract
Land managers in the western US are beginning to understand that early 20th century forests displayed complex patterns of composition and structure at several different spatial scales, that there was interplay between patterns and processes within and across scales, and that these conditions have been radically altered by management. Further, they know that restoring integrity (see Definition of Terms) of these conditions has broad implications for the future sustainability (see Definition of Terms) of native species, ecosystem services, and ecological processes. Many are looking for methods to restore (see Definition of Terms) more natural landscape patterns of habitats and more naturally functioning disturbance regimes; all in the context of a warming climate. Attention is turning to evaluating whole landscapes at local and regional scales, deciphering recent changes in trajectories, and formulating landscape prescriptions that can restore ecological functionality and improve landscape resilience (see Definition of Terms). The business of landscape evaluation and developing landscape prescriptions is inherently complex, but with the advent of decision support systems, software applications are now available to conduct and document these evaluations. Here, we review several published landscape evaluation and planning applications designed with the Ecosystem Management Decision Support (EMDS) software, and present an evaluation we developed in support of a landscape restoration project. We discuss the goals and design of the project, its methods and utilities, what worked well, what could be improved and related research opportunities. For readability and compactness, fine and broad-scale landscape evaluations that could be a part of multi-scale restoration planning, are not further developed here.
Highlights
In support of that emphasis, we developed a decision support tool that enables managers to evaluate a myriad of changes to vegetation patterns and associated processes, and use that information to develop landscape prescriptions that would begin the process of landscape restoration
Timber harvest and reforestation had favored ponderosa pine to a level that was inconsistent with historical conditions, but that is better adapted to warmer and drier conditions that are expected (Figure 4)
Some readers will be curious about the level of effort needed to fully implement decision-support applications for landscape analysis such as that presented in our example
Summary
Subsistence agriculture, hunting, and intentional burning activities dominated early Native. American management of the Holocene North American landscape. These activities enabled colonization of the continent and cultural development over thousands of years, but not without attendant landscape impacts [1,2,3,4,5]. Native American burning created new and expanded existing herblands, meadows, and open wooded expanses, enhancing harvest of edible plants, nuts, and berries. It increased sighting distances in the event of sneak-attacks by marauding tribes, and improved forage for wild ungulates, which enhanced hunting both near and away from encampments. Native Americans were the first fire managers, and their use of intentionally lighted fires greatly aided their culture and lifestyle
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