Multiple-use Forest Management Research Articles

A dual approach to policy analysis in multiple-use forest management planning

A dual approach to policy analysis in multiple-use forest management planning

Forest disturbance, forest wildlife conservation and the conservative basis for forest management in the mountain ash forests of Victoria—Comment

A recent review by Attiwill outlined a range of aspects of disturbance regimes in forests and attempted to demonstrate their value in developing a basis for the “conservative management” of wood production areas. One of the key themes in these papers—that natural disturbance regimes should be a model for forest management, is a good one. However, there are major difficulties in determining the intensity, frequency and extent of timber harvesting operations that mimic “natural disturbance regimes“ and, in turn, form the basis of “conservative management” strategies which account for the full spectrum of forest values. This paper highlights a few of the many key considerations for truly integrated multiple-use forest management that were overlooked by Attiwill and which are an essential component of ecologically sustainable forest management. These relate to aspects of the conservation of forest wildlife that are sensitive to forest disturbances resulting from timber harvesting operations. Many of the examples of the response of wildlife to forest disturbance outlined by Attiwill were from the mountain ash ( Eucalyptus regnans) forests of Victoria, south-eastern Australia. Unlike the impression given by Attiwill, the results of the array of detailed long-term studies on forest fauna in mountain ash forests that have been completed to date clearly indicate that balancing the multiple values of mountain ash forests will be a complex task requiring some major modifications to present multiple forest-use management strategies. This is because of the potential for current forestry activities to both: (1) produce long-term modifications to key components of vegetation structure and thus habitat suitability for fauna (e.g. old growth elements such as trees with hollows) and (2) fragment remaining patches of suitable habitat and create sub-divided populations that may not be viable in the long-term. Moreover, because a given species has survived disturbance regimes in the past, it is premature to suggest that it will persist in the future when new and recent forms of forest perturbation such as clearfelling are intensively and extensively applied throughout large areas of the forest landscape. In mountain ash forests, a conservative basis for forest management will require much more than the creation of a series of ages of regrowth forest as implied by Attiwill, but also the establishment of more and larger areas of old growth forest and/or modifications of clearfelling regimes to better allow for the development of suitable habitat for wildlife that are sensitive to the impacts of timber harvesting, such as the endangered arboreal marsupial Leadbeater's possum ( Gymnobelideus leadbeateri). Until management strategies that are more sympathetic to wildlife conservation are embraced, there remains a high probability that Leadbeater's possum, and other species with similar habitat requirements, could be eliminated from some wood production areas, implying that current forestry practices are not ecologically sustainable in the long-term.

An Approach Towards Multiple-use Forest Management of Logged-over Forests in Sabah

An Approach Towards Multiple-use Forest Management of Logged-over Forests in Sabah

The aesthetics of forestry: What has empirical preference research taught us?

Multiple-use forest management has come to include an attention to scenic values, and methods are being developed to incorporate aesthetic considerations into decision making. A considerable body of scientific research has been conducted exploring public preferences for forest landscapes and intersubjective and contextual influences upon their perception. This research is surveyed. Findings regarding the perception of forest conditions, such as tree density and size, ground cover, species makeup and nonmanagement are considered. The scenic effects of forest treatments such as thinning, burning, and chemical application are outlined. Findings for harvest and regeneration practices such as clear-cutting, shelterwoods, selection cuts, and slash treatments are reported. Advances that consider the effects of time upon forest beauty and experiences are explored, along with a problem in multiple-use evaluation of scenic changes. Research on these topics and on observer intersubjective problems and general theory development is supported as a course of advancement in the field.

Integrating Wildlife into the Managed Forest

Integrating wildlife habitat concerns into multiple-use forest management requires four things: 1) the right attitude, 2) a process for systematic resource coordination, 3) models that relate forest conditions to wildlife outputs, and 4) the effective use of monitoring to support an adaptive management strategy. These four things reflect that resource managers must first want to make forestry-wildlife coordination work, that they need a mechanism for doing it, that they need habitat criteria for meeting wildlife goals, and that we only know enough at this time to get pointed in the right direction.Comprehensive goals for timber and wildlife are set early in successful forestry-wildlife integration. The goals provide for maintaining habitat and wildlife diversity while simultaneously producing consumable surpluses of timber and game in relation to demands for those products. Comprehensive inventories and vegetation growth and yield models are used to analyze the current management situation and show the need for actions to meet goals. The wildlife yield models are species-habitat relationships functions that relate habitat conditions to wildlife outputs by species. The management plan developed constitutes a coordinated set of resource objectives and the schedule of practices that will achieve them in an efficient way. Monitoring the effects of the practices is used to learn whether assumptions and models used in planning need to be revised, and whether the course of management needs to be adjusted to meet the goals. Key words: Forest management, Wildlife management, integration, Wildlife habitat, Multiple use planning.

Multiple-use hardwood forest management in the Otway Ranges

Summary Within the Otways Forest District of Victoria hardwood production forestry is practised over a land area of about 97 000 ha From this area 50 000 m3 of sawlogs are removed annually. Currently there is no pulpwood utilised. The hardwood production zones of the district are managed under a multiple use management policy. Forest prescriptions apply to all hardwood forest operations. Under these prescriptions provision is made for the exclusion of many areas from utilisation operations which together are referred to as excepted areas. These areas, which generally amount to at least 20% of the gross area of each coupe, are seen as successfully maintaining other forest values such as water production, flora and fauna and recreation. An attempt is made to determine the value, in terms of lost forest production, of these excepted areas. The silviculture of the forests is also discussed.

An interactive multiple-objective linear programming approach to a problem in forest management

In many situations it is under legislative mandate to manage publicly owned forest resources for multiple uses (e.g., timber production, hunting, grazing). The major obstacle that has been encountered in applying previously developed mathematical programming procedures to multiple-use forest management has been the difficulty in assessing the appropriate criterion weights required. To avoid the criterion weight estimation problem, an interactive multiple-objective linear programming approach, which does not require criterion weights of any kind, was developed in response to the needs of the multiple-use forest management problem. The procedure uses a combination of linear programming and vector-maximum techniques. At each iteration the cone generated by the gradients of the multiple objectives is contracted. On the last two iterations the most acceptable efficient extreme point is identified with the aid of a filtering device. As illustrated, the method has been applied to prepare preliminary management plans for a 10 000-acre subunit of a national forest.

An Interactive Multiple-Objective Linear Programming Approach to a Problem in Forest Management

In many situations it is under legislative mandate to manage publicly owned forest resources for multiple uses (e.g., timber production, hunting, grazing). The major obstacle that has been encountered in applying previously developed mathematical programming procedures to multiple-use forest management has been the difficulty in assessing the appropriate criterion weights required. To avoid the criterion weight estimation problem, an interactive multiple-objective linear programming approach, which does not require criterion weights of any kind, was developed in response to the needs of the multiple-use forest management problem. The procedure uses a combination of linear programming and vector-maximum techniques. At each iteration the cone generated by the gradients of the multiple objectives is contracted. On the last two iterations the most acceptable efficient extreme point is identified with the aid of a filtering device. As illustrated, the method has been applied to prepare preliminary management plans for a 10,000-acre sub-unit of a national forest.

Forage Use by Mule Deer Relative to Logging in Colorado

An area of lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) and spruce-fir (Picea erlgelmannii-Abies lasiocarpa) timber in Colorado was clear-cut in narrow strips alternating with uncut strips. Production of deer forage 15 years after logging was 47 percent greater on cut strips. Tame mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) used in grazing studies obtained 63.3 percent of their forage from cut strips, 27.4 percent from uncut strips, and 9.3 percent from logging roads. These sites comprised 44.2, 49.4, and 6.4 percent, respectively, of the study area. The deer grazed 72 species in cut strips, 44 species in uncut strips, and 32 species on roads. To meet the growing demand for both extractable products and recreational amenities, foresters must consider the effect of management practice on all resources. At Fraser Experimental Forest in central Colorado, an objective of research by the U. S. Forest Service is to acquire knowledge applicable to multiple-use forest management. This report concerns the results of an experiment in watershed and timber management as it affected wildlife habitat. Cutting the timber on Fool Creek watershed in a pattein of narrow strips alternating with uncut strips (Goodell l9S8) resulted in increased water yield ( Hoover 1968 ) . Silvicultural advantages and disadvantages from the experimental timber harvest were reported by Alexander ( l967, 1968) and Ronco (1970). As inferred from counts of fecal groups on sample plots, deer use decreased on Fool Creek for 2 years after logging ( Porter 1959). But 10 years later, there was approximately twice as much deer use on Fool Creek as on the adjacent control watershed, and cut strips received three times as much use as uncut strips (Wallmo 1969). Apparently deer habitat was improved by the alternate-strip logging. The present study was concemed with the forage element of habitat: What plants are deer forage, where do they occur in what amounts, and what is their importance to deer?