Assessing Forest Ecosystem Health in the Inland West

Inland West, their historical origins, assessments of available management tools, and analyses of the various choices available to policymakers. Its goal is to help people understand the Inland West forests so that public policies can reflect a constructive and realistic framework in which forests can be managed for sustained health.

This resource is the product of a scientific workshop where 35 participants, including scientists, resource managers, administrators, and environmentalists, addressed the forest health problem in the Inland West. Synthesis chapters integrate the diverse knowledge and experience which participants brought to the workshop. They identify and link together many of the ecological, social, and administrative conditions which have created the forest health problem in the West. The book is unique in that it reflects a process that fostered the use of academic research, field realities, and industrial knowledge to define an interdisciplinary problem, establish rational policy objectives, and set-up "do-able" management approaches.

The following topics are analyzed:

• Assessing forest ecosystem health in the Inland West
• Historical and anticipated changes in forest ecosystems in the Inland West
• Defining and measuring forest health
• Historical range of variability as a tool for evaluating ecosystem change
• Administrative barriers to implementing forest health problems
• Economic and social dimensions of the forest health problem
• Fire management
• Ecosystem and landscape management

Autorentext

Adams, David L.

Inhalt

ContentsForeword Preface Section I I. Overview Assessing Forest Ecosystem Health in the Inland West Section II Historical and Anticipated Changes in Forest Ecosystems of the Inland West of the United States Defining and Measuring Forest Health Historical Range of Variability: A Useful Tool for Evaluating Ecosystem Change Managing Ecosystems for Forest Health: An Approach and the Effects on Uses and Values Human Dimensions of Forest Health Choices Section III I. Ecological and Historical Perspectives Postsettlement Changes in Natural Fire Regimes and Forest Structure: Ecological Restoration of Old-Growth Ponderosa Pine Forests The Role of Succession in Forest Health The Role of Nutrition in the Health of Inland Western Forests Integrated Roles for Insects, Diseases, and Decomposers in Fire Dominated Forests of the Inland Western United States: Past, Present, and Future Forest Health Assessing Forest Health Conditions in Idaho with Forest Inventory Data Conceptual Origins of Catastrophic Forest Mortality in the Western United States II. Processes, Models, and Tools Landscape Characterization: A Framework for Ecological Assessment at Regional and Local Scales Emphasis Areas as an Alternative to Buffer Zones and Reserved Areas in the Conservation of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Processes A Process for Improving Wildlife Habitat Models for Assessing Forest Ecosystem Health An Ecological Framework for Planning for Forest Health III. Management and Policy Forest Health Management Policy: A Case Study in Southwestern Idaho Silviculture, Fire, and Ecosystem Management Maintaining and Creating Old Growth Structural Features in Previously Disturbed Stands Typical of the Eastern Washington Cascades Forest