The Impact of Administrative Partitioning on the Regional Effectiveness of Forest Pest Management in Protected Area-Centered Ecosystems

Clare Aslan,Todd Chaudhry,Bri Tiffany,Richard W Hofstetter

doi:10.3390/f13030395

Clare Aslan, Todd Chaudhry + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/f13030395

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Journal: Forests	Publication Date: Feb 28, 2022
Citations: 1	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Northern Arizona University, National Park Service

Abstract

Research Highlights: Forest pest outbreaks that cross jurisdictional boundaries pose particular challenges, since both ecological and social factors influence the effectiveness of management responses. This study found that difficulties emerge from the misalignment of management objectives and policies that deter collaboration. The sharing of resources and collaborative responses to outbreaks may improve management outcomes. Background and Objectives: This study examines if and how boundaries influence the effectiveness of forest pest management within the protected area-centered ecosystems of Rocky Mountain National Park and Grand Canyon National Park, USA. Materials and Methods: Using semi-structured interviews and a survey distributed to forest managers, we explored how partitioning affects pest management effectiveness and identified barriers to and strategies for managing outbreaks that cross boundaries. Results: Cross-boundary outbreaks are uniquely challenging due to federally mandated policies, agency mission misalignment, a lack of formal collaboration, and a lack of public support for timber management programs. Strategies that may improve outcomes include reevaluating problematic policies; ensuring messaging is consistent across agencies; and developing a preventative cross-boundary forest insect outbreak management team. Conclusions: Measures to increase collaboration in multi-jurisdictional landscapes will help managers prepare for future forest pest outbreaks, which are expected to increase in frequency with climate change.

Highlights

Environmental change is driving emerging forest-management challenges [1–3].Faced with no-analogue conditions of drought, temperature, and non-native species invasions, managers from private and public entities alike report resource and knowledge limitations that make it increasingly difficult to achieve management objectives [4–6]
We focused on the Protected Area-Centered Ecosystems (PACEs) sensu [19] containing
Both case study PACEs are located at high elevations in arid, western US states (Figure 1)

Summary

Introduction

Environmental change is driving emerging forest-management challenges [1–3]. Faced with no-analogue conditions of drought, temperature, and non-native species invasions, managers from private and public entities alike report resource and knowledge limitations that make it increasingly difficult to achieve management objectives [4–6]. Global-change drivers operate at large spatial scales, resulting in landscape-scale conditions that exceed the land area of a given management unit. Conditions or events requiring management response, may require cross-boundary coordination among multiple managers. Examples include fuels management for wildfire prevention, active wildfire suppression, invasive species control, and forest pest outbreaks [7–11]. In multijurisdictional landscapes comprising multiple management units, termed management mosaics, the complexity of the social landscape further complicates responses to emerging ecological conditions [7]

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