Landscape Restoration Program Research Articles

Impacts of environmental and socioeconomic factors on gross ecosystem product of the Three Gorges reservoir area, China

AbstractEnvironmental and socioeconomic drivers would alter landscapes, bringing various effects with different directions and magnitudes. Demonstrating these driving effects is key to relieving the conflicts between territorial vegetation restoration and regional economic growth. However, the relationship between ecological protection and economic development due to landscape dynamics has not been systematically demonstrated as environment is difficult to quantify by the monetary value. In this article, we explored the changes in gross ecosystem product (GEP) in the Three Gorges (TG) reservoir area and constructed a conceptual framework to explicate its driving mechanism. Our results suggested that topographic, soil, and climatic factors positively impact on GEP through their important effects on vegetation structure, distribution, and succession. Additionally, reforestation policies promote the conversion of farmland and grassland to forestland in the TG reservoir region, which was the main contributor to enhancing GEP. Conversely, socioeconomic factors negatively impact GEP, of which effects were mainly manifested by changes in the proportion of ecological land. Therefore, it is essential to maintain a suitable land use proportion in this region to optimize GEP, and we proposed a landscape restoration program to enhance four ecosystem productions. This article provides a reference for land resource allocation for environmental protection and sustainable development in ecologically fragile areas.

PRELIMINARY MODEL OF POTENTIAL AREAS FOR RESTORATION FOR THE INTER-ANDEAN VALLEY OF CAUCA RIVER (COLOMBIA, SOUTH AMERICA) BASED ON HABITAT SUITABILITY MODELS

Tropical dry forests (TDF) are highly susceptible to land degradation. The inter-Andean Valley of the Cauca River (IVCR) has the most fragmented Colombian dry forests, and their restoration is essential. Here, potential areas for restoration were identified using a habitat suitability modeling (HSM) approach. TDF vascular plants and bioclimatic predictors were used. Species were selected based on threatened status, endemism, and priority level for conservation. Two sets of predictors were chosen using Variance Inflation Factor (VIF) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Then, with a maximum entropy algorithm, PCA and VIF models were projected for the selected species. These models were evaluated via true skill statistics (TSS) and area under the curve (AUC) statistical metrics. Models with good performance (TSS, AUC, standard deviation, variance) were ensembled, and a preliminary model where areas with suitable bioclimatic conditions for the selected species were generated. Results show that nearly 45 % of the IVCR has suitable conditions for the selected species. Although potential conflicts may arise in areas under permanent or semipermanent crops which represent more than 80 % of the IVCR, cropland mosaics, and natural and seminatural land covers might provide alternative solutions to reduce the land-use conflict. The potential areas for restoration identified in this study may provide a comprehensive framework for environmental impact and regional risk assessments related to the current land use and land cover change dynamics. Also, they may provide relevant information for designing landscape restoration programs as an adaptive strategy toward climate change.

Forest restoration treatments indirectly diversify pollination networks via floral- and temperature-mediated effects.

In North American conifer forests, a variety of federally initiated thinning programs are implemented to restore pre-European settlement forest structures, but these changes may impact ecosystem function via impacts on sensitive biotic communities. Across the wildland-urban interface of the Front Range region of Colorado, agencies associated with the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program (CFLRP) have implemented thinning treatments across thousands of hectares of ponderosa pine forest; here we leverage these treatments as an experimental framework to examine thinning effects on a pollinator community. We measured variation in forest structure and sampled bee community assemblages using multiple methods (trapping and netting) to compare bee biodiversity and patterns of floral visitation by bees (bee-flower networks) between mechanically thinned stands that were 3-10 years after treatment and nonthinned stands. Three key findings emerged: (1) Native bee abundance, richness, and diversity were 120%, 53%, and 37% greater, respectively, in thinned stands. In addition, nestedness, richness, and abundance of bee-flower interactions were all substantially higher in thinned stands, and there was increased functional redundancy in bee assemblages after thinning. (2) Structural equation modeling indicated that variation in temperature and floral abundance were mediated by canopy openness and correlated with bee richness and abundance, thereby indirectly driving variation in bee-flower interactions. (3) Four floral species (Penstemon virens, Cerastium arvense, Erysimum capitatum, and Geranium caespitosum) were identified as key connectors in bee-flower interaction networks, though these were not necessarily the most abundant flowering plants. Our analyses indicate that native bee α-diversity and bee-flower interactions positively responded to thinning treatments, and these effects were indirectly driven by canopy removal. We conclude that CFLRP treatments have conservation value for native bee communities. Further monitoring is warranted to evaluate the longevity of these effects.

Unequal Treatments: Federal Wildfire Fuels Projects and Socioeconomic Status of Nearby Communities

With wildfires becoming more severe and more damaging in the western United States, fuels management projects intended to reduce the severity of wildfire are becoming an increasingly important management tool. Yet the statutory requirements for federal agencies to incorporate public input in their siting decisions combined with the greater political efficacy of wealthier, more educated communities have the potential to lead to inequities in their distribution. In this paper, we show that the likelihood that a community receives a nearby fuels management project is greater for wealthier, whiter, and more educated communities, even after controlling for differences in risk from wildfire. We further investigate the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program (CFLRP), a cost-share program operated by the US Forest Service. Communities near CFLRP projects tend to have higher socioeconomic status. However, participation in cost-share programs does not appear to depend critically on wealth because we find no difference in the wealth of communities near CFLRP projects compared with all US Forest Service fuels projects, including those with no matching requirements. Rather, the racial makeup and educational attainment of communities are more strongly associated with nearby cost-share projects.

РЕКОМЕНДАЦИИ ДЛЯ ОЦЕНКИ ЭКОСИСТЕМНЫХ ПРОГРАММ ПО ВОССТАНОВЛЕНИЮ ЛЕСНЫХ ЛАНДШАФТОВ

The concept of forest landscape restoration is a world-renowned approach to harmonizing national programs for the development of a green economy and sustainable management of natural capital resources. Despite the benefits, one of the obstacles to the large-scale implementation of a forest landscape restoration program is the lack of a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis, which can be a powerful tool for policymakers and potential investors to increase interest in investing in forest landscape restoration programs. The main objective of the review is to describe a practical methodology for rapidly, realistically and reliably assessing the economic impacts of forest landscape restoration. The authors describe a methodological framework that helps stakeholders develop an individual tool for making investment decisions. The proposed structure consists of a simple four-step process. It provides guidance and tools for each stage. This methodology will raise awareness among investors and policymakers, as well as development professionals working in the field of forestry. Cost-benefit analysis as a decision-making tool is well studied, but the report should help to fully take into account the benefits of forest landscape restoration programs and convey them to a wider audience. The methodology is applicable for users with different needs and access to resources.

What Informs the Choice of Free Seeds and Seedlings taken by Farmers while Adopting Agroforestry in Makueni County?

Purpose: The main objective of this study was to evaluate what informs the choice of free seeds and seedlings taken by farmers while adopting agroforestry in Makueni County.
 Methodology: This study adopted a descriptive survey design. The study randomly selected 150 beneficiaries appearing in the list of 30,643 beneficiaries provided by Makueni County Long Rains Food Security Assessment Report (2013). This study used primary data which was collected through use of a questionnaire. After data had been collected through questionnaires, it was prepared in readiness for analysis by editing, handling blank responses, coding, categorizing and keying into Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) computer software for analysis.
 Findings: The study findings indicated that agroforestry is beneficial to farmers in several ways. They can access tree products such as fuel wood, herbs, fodder and vegetables among others within their farms rather than traveling to forests, making it cheaper and less time consuming. The time saved can be invested in productive activities and subsequently improve incomes and livelihoods. It is therefore important to underscore that agroforestry practices and scaling
 Conclusion: It can be concluded that the farmers were happy about the government initiative of distributing seeds. Free seed encourages planting of trees and woodlots by individual land users, institutions and community groups. Agroforestry can help in maintaining a viable system of green and open spaces for a functioning eco-system and work towards the achievement and maintenance of a tree cover of at least 10% of the land area of Kenya
 Recommendations: The study recommends for rigorous mobilization and sensitization of the community on need for active involvement in agroforestry. Agroforestry scaling can take advantage of the landscape restoration programs in Makueni County.

From afforestation to forest landscape restoration in DPRK: Gaps and challenges

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is currently in a state of severe deforestation and forest degradation, such that it was selected a beneficiary for Forest and Landscape Restoration (FLR) programs run by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). This study investigates the status and gaps in the implementation of FLR actions and analyzes the key challenges to FLR implementation. To accomplish this, I visited ministries relevant to forest and landscape restoration, selected and interviewed officials and professionals, and based our research on 10 years of experiences working in DPRK. Further, I proposed a roadmap for FLR implementation. Our results indicate that there is a need for a profound shift in attitudes towards the role of local people, recognizing that local people can be the main actors and partners in forest and landscape management. The reformation of the forestry sector and policies is needed to support the transformation of local livelihoods into a forest-friendly paradigm to exit the vicious cycle of “poverty and hunger–deforestation–environmental degradation–poverty and hunger.” Future FLR policies need to focus on the decentralization of forest management, clarification of forest tenure, and improvement of multi-sectoral cooperation and multi-level collaboration. The role of traditional knowledge and customary regulations should be highlighted, and forest management needs to be integrated into socio-economic development planning and programs.

Cultivating Collaborative Resilience to Social and Ecological Change: An Assessment of Adaptive Capacity, Actions, and Barriers Among Collaborative Forest Restoration Groups in the United States

Abstract Collaboration is increasingly emphasized as a tool to realize national-level policy goals in public lands management. Yet, collaborative governance regimes (CGRs) are nested within traditional bureaucracies and are affected by internal and external disruptions. The extent to which CGRs adapt and remain resilient to these disruptions remains under-explored. Here, we distill insights from an assessment of the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program (CFLRP) projects and other CGRs. We asked (1) how do CGRs adapt to disruptions? and (2) what barriers constrained CGR resilience? Our analysis is informed by a synthesis of the literature, case examples and exemplars from focus groups, and a national CFLRP survey. CGRs demonstrated the ability to mobilize social capital, learning, resources, and flexibility to respond to disruptions. Yet authority, accountability, and capacity complicated collaborative resilience. We conclude with policy and practice recommendations to cultivate collaborative resilience moving forward.

Biocultural restoration improves delivery of ecosystem services in social‐ecological landscapes

Increasing local people and indigenous communities' participation on restoration programs is widely recommended as a way to increase restoration long‐term benefits and local people's commitment with restored lands. Here, we demonstrate how traditional knowledge can provide crucial information on usefulness of plant species that increases direct value of forest and landscape restoration programs. Our study analyzed secondary data from 73 studies that assessed indigenous and local knowledge regarding plant's utility across the densely populated dry forest of the Brazilian Caatinga. Our results suggest that highly valued plants represent a relatively small number of useful species (52 out of 632 useful species) that account for more than half of the plant services (i.e. functional space represented by the uses people give to plants). Interestingly, these plants belonged to closely related lineages, suggesting that people must select plants based on phylogenetically conserved traits that provide utility. We propose that accounting for indigenous and local knowledge in early phases of restoration process such as species selection can both maximize classical restoration targets (e.g. species diversity) and increase delivery of ecosystem services to forest‐dependent people. Such an interdisciplinary integration moves us a step closer to ambitious targets set for global ecosystem restoration based on fair and inclusive participation of indigenous people and local communities.

Characterizing the Context and Demand for the US Forest Service’s Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program in 2020

AbstractThe US Forest Service’s Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program (CFLRP) was a major policy innovation for supporting collaborative, landscape-scale forest restoration. Twenty-three CFLRP projects were funded following requests for proposals in fiscal years (FY) 2010 and 2011. Congress appropriated the fully authorized amount of $40 million to the program in FY 2012. In 2018, Congress reauthorized the CFLRP, and soon thereafter the Forest Service issued a request for new CFLRP proposals. In this article, we provide background on the reauthorization of the CFLRP and the updated proposal process. We present findings from a document analysis of the final 22 CFLRP proposals submitted in FY 2020 to characterize current demand for CFLRP and the nature of the proposed projects. We discuss our findings in the context of the CFLRP Advisory Committee’s recommendations, funding uncertainty, and broader efforts to support cross-boundary, collaborative wildfire mitigation and forest restoration.

Effects of collaborative monitoring and adaptive management on restoration outcomes in dry conifer forests

In response to large, severe wildfires across the western US, federal initiatives have been enacted to increase the pace, scale, and quality of ecological restoration in fire dependent forests. To address uncertainty and controversy in agreement among specific restoration prescriptions on national forest land, several initiatives adopt a collaborative adaptive management (CAM) strategy wherein monitoring data can inform stakeholder input into future management actions. It is unclear, however, how such approaches may change restoration outcomes. Here we assess the extent to which CAM strategies impact restoration outcomes that were implemented as part of the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program (CFLRP) in ponderosa pine-dominated forests of the Colorado Front Range. We assessed stand-level desired conditions across 24 projects over a 7-year period to determine how restoration treatments contribute to desired conditions, and compared treatment outcomes over implementation time to assess whether the CAM processes contribute towards treatments better approximating restoration. We found that restoration treatments improve aspects of forest structure related to stand density. However, meeting objectives related to forest composition and horizontal structural complexity goals were not met. Additionally, CAM processes were effective at improving outcomes related to forest density over implementation time, but novel tools and approaches may be required so that outcomes related to forest composition and horizontal structural complexity are more congruent with restoration objectives. Evaluating the success and challenges of CAM provides insight to improve collaborative and large-scale restoration.

Farmers’ perceptions of herbicide usage in forest landscape restoration programs in Ghana

Although herbicides have extensively been used in forest landscape restoration, its effects and opportunity costs have rarely been studied in Ghana. This study evaluated types of herbicides used, assessed the perceptions of the effects of herbicide usage among farmers enrolled in a taungya (i.e. farm forestry programs) in the dry semi-deciduous ecological zone of Ghana. The study also analyzed the challenges associated with the application of herbicides and determined the impact of socio-economic factors that influence farmers decision to use herbicides on farms. Data were collected from 300 taungya farmers and 20 herbicide traders in Offinso North, Offinso South, and Techiman South Municipal. Data collection was completed in December 2016. Data were analyzed descriptively and quantitatively. Results indicate that 100% of farmers perceived herbicides as having deleterious effects on flora (seedlings, under-storey wild foods, medicines) and fauna (soil micro-organisms, fish in rivers) as well as water quality, soil structure and human health. Nevertheless, 93% of them use herbicides to reduce labour costs and to establish larger acreages. Based on their functional properties, 85% of herbicides traded are non-selective for bush clearing and 15% are selective for weeding. Farmers use them indiscriminately due to poor knowledge on recommended practices and intensity of invasiveness of weed species. Education, residential status and age of respondents significantly predicted usage. The study recommends a review of Ghana's pesticide deployment strategies and herbicides guide book for use in farm forestry. Capacity of frontline forestry professionals, traders and farmer-based organizations must be enhanced to effectively advice and monitor safe application. Plant based herbicides must be promoted for safety and enhancement of biodiversity.

“They’re Constantly Cycling Through”: Lessons about Turnover and Collaborative Forest Planning

AbstractWithin forest planning and management, collaboration has becoming increasingly widespread. Many collaborative projects take place over long time periods, and thus personnel turnover is inevitable within these groups. Scholars from the fields of business and organizational science have long studied strategies that organizations can use to prepare for and address turnover successfully. We draw from that literature and use it to examine the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program (CFLRP), a federal program aimed at bringing diverse stakeholders together to address the increasing costs, severity, and prevalence of wildfires in the United States. We conducted qualitative analysis of interviews, archival documents, and memos to explore what strategies are used within CFLRP groups to address turnover. We discuss our findings in light of the existing literature from business and organizational science and present insights about which strategies may be adaptable to collaborative natural resource management and which may require further research to assess their applicability to collaborative groups.

Dry conifer forest restoration benefits Colorado Front Range avian communities.

Fire suppression has increased stand density and risk of severe, stand-replacing wildfire in lower elevation dry conifer forests of western North America, threatening ecological function. The U.S. Forest Service's Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program (CFLRP) aims to mitigate impacts to ecological function, while mandating effectiveness monitoring to verify restoration success. Expected benefits include improved conditions for biodiversity, but relatively few empirical studies evaluate restoration effects on biodiversity. We applied the Integrated Monitoring in Bird Conservation Regions program to survey birds in relation to CFLRP treatments along the Colorado Front Range in 2015-2017. We employed hierarchical models to analyze species occupancy and richness at 1972 points nested within 141 1-km2 grid cells. Our objectives were to investigate (1) species occupancy relationships with treatments at local (point) and landscape (grid) spatial scales, (2) potential mechanisms for treatment relationships considering species and treatment relationships with forest structure and composition (i.e., habitat relationships), and (3) treatment and habitat relationships with species richness. The data supported positive and negative point-level treatment relationships, suggesting uneven species distributions between treated and untreated points. At the grid scale, however, we only found positive species relationships with percent area treated, and accordingly, grid-level species richness increased with treatment extent. Potential mechanisms for treatment relationships included treatments generating foraging opportunities for aerial insectivores by opening the canopy, improving conditions for ground-associated species by increasing herbaceous growth, and limiting opportunities for shrub-nesting species by reducing shrub cover. Landscape-scale patterns suggest CFLRP treatments can benefit avian communities by generating habitat for open-forest species without necessarily eliminating habitat for closed-forest species. Our results provide evidence for a commonly expected but rarely verified pattern of increased species richness with forest heterogeneity. We suggest restoration treatments will most benefit forest bird diversity by reducing canopy cover, encouraging herbaceous ground cover, limiting ladder fuel species, and encouraging shrub diversity in canopy openings, while maintaining some dense forest stands on the landscape.

Facilitating collaboration in forest management: Assessing the benefits of collaborative policy innovations

Collaborative governance and landscape approaches have become a more prevalent in public land management in the United States in the face of increasing ecological and societal complexity and decreasing government resources and capacity. In this era of devolution and social-ecological change, there is a growing need for policy approaches that facilitate partnerships and participatory approaches to land management. One unique policy that emphasizes collaboration and large-landscape restoration on US federal forestlands is the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program (CFLRP), established in 2009 to accelerate the pace and scale of forest restoration. The policy included novel characteristics such as a decade-long commitment to landscapes and formal requirements for collaboration. This program presented an opportunity to assess how this policy affected collaboration and the factors that led to differential policy implementation. We conducted 89 interviews across all 23 CFLRP projects with internal agency staff and external collaborators on each project. We found that the CFLRP generated a variety of benefits related to collaboration, including increased trust and stronger relationships, increased collaborative partner influence, decreased litigation and conflict, and increased capacity to accomplish work; however, there were also challenges associated with the program, including thetime-intensive nature of collaboration and the lack of industry or contractors. Various local factors affected collaborative outcomes under the policy, including staff turnover and capacity, local leadership, and collaborative history. Successful collaborative outcomes were widespread under the CFLRP, and from this, we draw implications for the broader environmental governance literature about the policy characteristics that facilitate collaboration and the other institutional variables that may require attention in this context.

The science and practice of ecological restoration: a mental models analysis of restoration practitioners

Ecological restoration seeks to modify current conditions to more closely approximate conditions deemed to be more desirable within a given landscape. While substantial resources have been dedicated to advance ecological restoration efforts, limited research has investigated how ecological restoration is conceptualized by restoration practitioners. These conceptualizations are important because they likely inform goal-setting and selected management approaches, while different conceptualizations may contribute to conflicts that inhibit restoration efforts. This paper reports results from a mental model analysis completed at three USDA Forest Service Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program (CFLRP) sites. We found that decision-makers across several disciplinary groups and organizations expressed a depth of knowledge of ecological principles related to restoration consistent with the body of ecological literature we reviewed. However, despite broad recognition of social and economic constraints, participant responses suggested limited consideration of how restoration may incorporate and achieve social and economic goals. There was also less emphasis placed on longer-term and more difficult to quantify management topics, such as monitoring and adaptive management. Literature and history both suggest that these components are critical for the long-term success of ecological restoration efforts, and so their lack of salience to participants point to these as potential areas of improvement. Our management and policy recommendations include taking steps to more effectively integrate social scientific input in restoration planning, which may be supported by incorporating decision-aiding tools such as Structured Decision Making to guide restoration-planning efforts.

Towards Forest Landscape Restoration Programs in the Philippines: Evidence from Logged Forests and Mixed-Species Plantations

With only 7.01 million hectares of remaining forested areas in the Philippines, there is an urgency to protect these areas, while also implementing restoration strategies to increase forest cover and improve forest functionality. In this study, we assess how the so called “rainforestation” approach, attempts to implement close-to-nature restoration strategies in humid tropic areas. One of the main objectives of the “rainforestation” approach as a form of a mixed-species plantation is the rehabilitation of structural and floristic integrity similar to natural conditions. We compared study areas located in the provinces of Leyte and Southern Leyte composed of logged forests (temporary plots), with logged forests on a permanent research plot and with mixed-species plantations. Basal area, carbon stocks, volume and biological diversity between study areas were calculated and compared, both for static and dynamic data. Results from the static data indicate that carbon stocks (89.30 t ha−1) and volume (262.56 m3 ha−1) of the mixed-species plantations (“rainforestation” approach) is significantly lower than that of the logged forests. However, when it comes to the capacity of the study areas for potential increments, the mixed-species plantations are not significantly different on basal area increment (0.99 m2 ha−1 yr−1), carbon stock increment (3.67 t ha−1 yr−1) and total volume increment (10.47 m3 ha−1 yr−1) as compared to the logged forests’ capacity (basal area—1.08 m2 ha−1 yr−1, carbon—4.06 t ha−1 yr−1 and total volume—11.98 m3 ha−1 yr−1). The species composition was only partly comparable to logged forests of the region, but overall tree species richness is high in comparison to classical plantation approaches. Previously logged forests are able to recover fast reaching surprisingly high values of carbon stocks and potential commercial timber volume. Our study indicates that “rainforestation” cannot fully replace the functionality of natural forests, but can provide a surprisingly multifunctional tool for landscape restoration, providing both timber and non-timber ecosystem services.

Spatial characteristics of degraded land and their implications to the design and implementation of landscape restoration programs: West China as an example

The spatial dimension of PES programs has not been well recognized. This study aims to reveal the spatial characteristics of degraded or deforested land, using west China as an example, and elucidate how best to design and implement restoration efforts in order to improve the ecosystem conditions and functions. Using satellite imagery and geospatial tools, we first showed, among other things, how the land tracts are tiny and fragmented and how variable the slope steepness and ownership pattern are in the Wugucheng watershed. Then, we addressed the questions of why landscape planning and implementation of restoration practices is needed and how landscape planning and implementation can go hand in hand with market-based mechanisms of restoration contracts bidding and local voluntary participation.

Defining Landscape-Scale Collaboration as Used to Restore Forests and Reduce Catastrophic Wildfires

In this article, I explore the distinctive characteristics of landscape-scale collaboration in the context of forest resource management in the United States. The United States (US) is experiencing a significant increase in acres burned by wildfire in the wildland-urban interface zone, exacting a heavy toll on human life, health, property, and livelihoods. The US Forest Service’s Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration (CFLR) Program demonstrates an effective approach to reducing risk of catastrophic wildfire through collaborative forest restoration work at the landscape scale. This is the first in a series of articles building toward a grounded theory to guide development of the capacities needed to collaborate at this scale. The study is based on thirteen interviews and nine focus groups with CFLR Program participants. This article addresses the research question: What is unique about collaborating at the landscape scale? Findings include five characteristics that together define this form of collaboration and insights on how participants framed their focal landscapes. I explain the catalyst for these collaboratives, scope of the study, and context for my involvement. I review pertinent literature and then describe the methods I employed in this study. Finally, I present and discuss my findings and offer suggestions for further research and management recommendations. Subsequent articles in this series will identify the capacities needed to collaborate in this context, present a theory informing strategies for cultivating these capacities, offer additional management and policy recommendations, and suggest curricular implications.

Risk assessment of forest landscape degradation using Bayesian network modeling in the Miyun Reservoir catchment (China) with emphasis on the Beijing–Tianjin sandstorm source control program

AbstractAs the local strategic surface water source for Beijing City, the Miyun Reservoir catchment is suffering from the challenges of forest landscape degradation (FLD) under various natural and anthropogenic disturbances. This study developed a cause–effect Bayesian network model, consisting of three tiers of nodes, site indicators, external disturbance, and the outcome of FLD, to perform a regional ecological risk assessment to better understand the FLD risks (1998–2013) in the catchment. The effects of the Beijing–Tianjin sandstorm source control (BTSSC) Phase I program, a typical forest landscape restoration program, on the FLD were further examined. Overall, the higher level of either current occurrence or risk probability for FLD suggests the urgency of the following restoration efforts. The dominance of soil erosion for FLD indicates that soil erosion control should be a priority in the following Phase II program. Meanwhile, the uneven spatial distribution of high‐risk areas suggests that the following efforts should be focused within the upstream Hebei Province. In addition, based on the comparison of site indicators between different risk areas, the study concluded that community livelihood activities and land degradation due to climate change have been the other two dominant driving forces contributing to FLD. Furthermore, the study found that the forest landscape has not been restored into the best state by the BTSSC program due to the multiple and complex challenges. Thus, the technical concept of nature‐based solutions, including close‐to‐nature forest management technology and a comprehensive community‐involvement governance model, was proposed for the following Phase II program.