Sustainability Language in Forest Management Plans: A Comparative Analysis for Public Forests of the US and Turkey

Abstract

Forest management plans often suggest that economic, ecological, and/or social sustainability will be achieved if the proposed management actions are followed. Using forest plans developed by the US Department of Agriculture Forest Service and the Republic of Turkey, the purposes of this study were to (i) extract those statements that suggest sustainability will be achieved and (ii) assess whether there exist statistical differences between the two countries’ plans and the emphases of the findings. A content analysis and non-parametric statistical tests were employed to measure the frequency of a set of terms related to sustainability and to estimate significant differences in the use of sustainability terms in the plans sampled. Results suggest that ecological aspects are dominant in forest plans from both countries. While silviculture, sustained yield, and multiple use were the most frequently used terms in Turkish plans, the occurrences of conservation and recreation were significantly higher in US plans (p < 0.001). These findings suggest that the differences in the plans’ emphases could be attributable to the importance of Turkey’s forests for the wood production-related needs of Turkish society, whereas US national forests might no longer be seen as an important wood supply base but instead have been given a more “passive” forest use.