Eastside Forest Management Practices

People are demanding more of the goods, services, and amenities provided by the forests of the Pacific Northwest, but the finiteness of the supply has become clear. This issue involves complex questions of biology, economics, social values, community life, and federal intervention. Forests of the Pacific Northwest explains that economic and aesthetic benefits can be sustained through new approaches to management, proposes general goals for forest management, and discusses strategies for achieving them. Recommendations address restoration of damaged areas, management for multiple uses, dispute resolution, and federal authority. The volume explores the market role of Pacific Northwest wood products and looks at the implications if other regions should be expected to make up for reduced timber harvests. The book also reviews the health of the forested ecosystems of the region, evaluating the effects of past forest use patterns and management practices. It discusses the biological importance, social significance, and management of old-growth as well as late-succession forests. This volume will be of interest to public officials, policymakers, the forest products industry, environmental advocates, researchers, and concerned residents.

National Forests were directed to change to ecosystem management,Ó under which policy the Forest Service was directed to manage by applying a concept of ecosystem sustainability. This report identifies problems specific to eastside ecosystems. Contents: problems extend beyond management practices & beyond the eastside; derive management principles; use an ecosystems approach; consider info. a primary resource; develop communities of interest; manage across boundaries, for change, & as an experiment; define objective measures of ecosystem sustainability; build a new management system & decision process. Also includes a 16-page report, Disburbance Ecology & Forest Management: A Review of the LiteratureÓ (1996).