Forest Management Policies Are Studied

U.S. scientists have determined the effects — both intended and unintended — forest management practices can have on various landscapes.

Pacific Northwest Research Station scientists and their colleagues said one of the challenges of managing forests is deciding among management practices, particularly when the landscape effects are not fully known.

The study, conducted in collaboration with Oregon State University and the Oregon Department of Forestry, is said to be one of the first and most integrated studies of forest management across ownerships anywhere in the world.

The project examined the ecological, economic and social consequences of forest policies in Oregon’s Coast Range, which spans eastward from the state’s coastline to the western edge of the Willamette Valley.

The study projects how such policies might impact federal, state and private forest lands in the area’s nearly 5 million acres.

Among other things, the scientists determined recent biodiversity policies have been developed in a largely uncoordinated manner, leading to less-than-efficient production of some forest values, such as timber and fish, in the region.

The complete results of the research were published recently in a series of six invited papers in the journal Ecological Applications.