scholarly journals On the Interplay of Ownership Patterns, Biodiversity, and Conservation in Past and Present Temperate Forest Landscapes of Europe and North America

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Mölder ◽  
Malin Tiebel ◽  
Tobias Plieninger
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
North America ◽  
Ecosystem Management ◽  
Conservation Management ◽  
Time Shift ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Ownership Type ◽  
Private Forests ◽  
Biodiversity Patterns ◽  
Ownership Patterns

Abstract Purpose of Review Ownership patterns and the associated management characteristics are related to forest structures, biodiversity patterns, and their conservation worldwide. A literature review on this topic is missing so far. We fill this gap with an emphasis on the temperate forests of Europe and North America. Mixed-ownership landscapes are the special focus of the analysis. In a first step, historical effects of ownership patterns on forest structure and biodiversity are elucidated. Second, connections between present-time forest ownership patterns and both forest structural and biodiversity patterns are analyzed. Finally, implications for integrative conservation management are evaluated with a special focus on mixed-ownership forest landscapes. Recent Findings Close linkages between ownership type-specific forest management and particular forest structural and biodiversity patterns are identified for past and current forest landscapes. Both in Europe and North America, publicly and privately owned forests show comparable lines of historical development but with a time shift. Forest reserves and ancient woodland with long ecological continuity appear to be mainly connected with public ownership. A high diversity of management approaches and cultural landscape habitats is characteristic of non-industrial small private forests. In mixed-ownership landscapes, a more diverse mosaic of habitats has developed than in mono-ownership landscapes. Summary We conclude that cross-boundary ecosystem management is crucial for effective conservation in present-day mixed-ownership landscapes. Integrative forest management that considers biodiversity and social-ecological aspects across ownerships is indispensable. We present a framework of implications for conservation management in mixed-ownership forest landscapes that build on each other and may enhance cross-boundary ecosystem management.

Forest Management In Mongolia – A Review Of Challenges And Lessons Learned With Special Reference To Degradation And Deforestation

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 133-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Gradel ◽  
Gerelbaatar Sukhbaatar ◽  
Daniel Karthe ◽  
Hoduck Kang
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Land Management ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Forest Health ◽  
Hydrological Regime ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Ecosystem Functions ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Driven System ◽  
The Status

The natural conditions, climate change and socio-economic challenges related to the transformation from a socialistic society towards a market-driven system make the implementation of sustainable land management practices in Mongolia especially complicated. Forests play an important role in land management. In addition to providing resources and ecosystem functions, Mongolian forests protect against land degradation.We conducted a literature review of the status of forest management in Mongolia and lessons learned, with special consideration to halting deforestation and degradation. We grouped our review into seven challenges relevant to developing regionally adapted forest management systems that both safeguard forest health and consider socio-economic needs. In our review, we found that current forest management in Mongolia is not always sustainable, and that some practices lack scientific grounding. An overwhelming number of sources noticed a decrease in forest area and quality during the last decades, although afforestation initiatives are reported to have increased. We found that they have had, with few exceptions, only limited success. During our review, however, we found a number of case studies that presented or proposed promising approaches to (re-)establishing and managing forests. These studies are further supported by a body of literature that examines how forest administration, and local participation can be modified to better support sustainable forestry. Based on our review, we conclude that it is necessary to integrate capacity development and forest research into holistic initiatives. A special focus should be given to the linkages between vegetation cover and the hydrological regime.

scholarly journals Framing Forest Carbon for Policy in Temperate North America: Baby Steps toward National Carbon Goals

Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 1033
Author(s):  
Lloyd C. Irland ◽  
John Hagan
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
North America ◽  
North American ◽  
American Options ◽  
Forest Carbon ◽  
Special Issue

Why have a special issue on North American options for reducing national CO2 footprints through forest management [...]

scholarly journals The influence of common property rights on forest management policy: a case study in Sardinia region, Italy

2012 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Paletto ◽  
Isabella De Meo ◽  
Fabrizio Ferretti
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Property Rights ◽  
Common Property ◽  
Private Property ◽  
Local Development ◽  
Management Policy ◽  
Private Forests ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Common

Abstract The property rights and the type of ownership (private owners, public domain and commons) are two fundamental concepts in relationship to the local development and to the social and environmental sustainability. Common forests were established in Europe since the Middle Ages, but over the centuries the importance of commons changed in parallel with economic and social changes. In recent decades, the scientific debate focused on the forest management efficiency and sustainability of this type of ownership in comparison to the public and private property. In Italy common forests have a long tradition with substantial differences in the result of historical evolution in various regions. In Sardinia region the private forests are 377.297 ha, the public forests are 201.324 ha, while around 120.000 ha are commons. The respect of the common rights changed in the different historical periods. Today, the common lands are managed directly by municipalities or indirectly through third parties, in both cases the involvement of members of community is very low. The main objective of the paper is to analyse forest management differences in public institutions with and without common property rights. To achieve the objective of the research the forest management preferences of community members and managers were evaluated and compared. The analysis was realized through the use of the principal-agent model and it has been tested in a case study in Sardinia region (Arci-Grighine district). The analysis of the results showed that the categories of actors considered (members of community, municipalities and managers) have a marked productive profile, but municipalities manage forests perceiving a moderate multifunctionality. Moreover, the representatives of the municipalities pay more attention to the interests of the collectivity in comparison to the external managers. They also attribute high importance to environmental and social forest functions.

Is the END (emulation of natural disturbance) a new beginning? A critical analysis of the use of fire regimes as the basis of forest ecosystem management with examples from the Canadian western Cordillera

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 233-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Stockdale ◽  
Mike Flannigan ◽  
Ellen Macdonald
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Ecosystem Management ◽  
Forest Structure ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Natural Disturbance ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Disturbance Regime ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
High Severity ◽  
Management Actions

As our view of disturbances such as wildfire has shifted from prevention to recognizing their ecological necessity, so too forest management has evolved from timber-focused even-aged management to more holistic paradigms like ecosystem-based management. Emulation of natural disturbance (END) is a variant of ecosystem management that recognizes the importance of disturbance for maintaining ecological integrity. For END to be a successful model for forest management we need to describe disturbance regimes and implement management actions that emulate them, in turn achieving our objectives for forest structure and function. We review the different components of fire regimes (cause, frequency, extent, timing, and magnitude), we describe low-, mixed-, and high-severity fire regimes, and we discuss key issues related to describing these regimes. When characterizing fire regimes, different methods and spatial and temporal extents result in wide variation of estimates for different fire regime components. Comparing studies is difficult as few measure the same components; some methods are based on the assumption of a high-severity fire regime and are not suited to detecting mixed- or low-severity regimes, which are critical to END management, as this would affect retention in harvested areas. We outline some difficulties with using fire regimes as coarse filters for forest management, including (i) not fully understanding the interactions between fire and other disturbance agents, (ii) assuming that fire is strictly an exogenous disturbance agent that exerts top-down control of forest structure while ignoring numerous endogenous and bottom-up feedbacks on fire effects, and (iii) assuming by only replicating natural disturbance patterns we preserve ecological processes and vital ecosystem components. Even with a good understanding of a fire regime, we would still be challenged with choosing the temporal and spatial scope for the disturbance regime we are trying to emulate. We cannot yet define forest conditions that will arise from variations in disturbance regime; this then limits our ability to implement management actions that will achieve those conditions. We end by highlighting some important knowledge gaps about fire regimes and how the END model could be strengthened to achieve a more sustainable form of forest management.

Woodlot owner organizations in Québec adjusting to changes in primary products

1994 ◽  
Vol 70 (3) ◽  
pp. 265-267
Author(s):  
Victor Brunette
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Paper Industry ◽  
Forest Policy ◽  
Forest Harvesting ◽  
Private Forests ◽  
Growing Stock ◽  
Primary Products

In Quebec, where the resource based industry has prevailed for many decades, a good portion of history is based on forestry and agriculture. Farmers and woodlot owners have been involved with primary products marketing structures for more than 25 years. Forest policy development for non industrial private forests has evolved in different ways in neighbouring provinces but intrinsic problems related to forest management, forest harvesting and products marketing are quite similar for all woodlot owners.The area under small private ownership in Québec covers only 9 per cent of the productive forest land. These woodlots nonetheless supply each year about 18 per cent of the timber needed by the wood using industry. The revenue of wood sales, the financial value of forest management, the upkeep of 10,000 jobs and the purchase of goods and services contribute 400 million dollars to the provincial economy. The annual harvest on private woodlots yields a final processed value of more than 1.5 billion dollars of forest products.Private woodlots are located along major waterways, in the southern part of the province, where growing conditions are the most suitable to forest crops. The woodlot sector benefits from the availability of a qualified and motivated labour force, from a well-developed road network and other infrastructures. Forest cover is 60 per cent hardwoods and 40 per cent softwoods. Only 24 per cent of the growing stock is spruce, fir, and jack pine, species which have traditionally been in strong demand for the pulp and paper industry. (FPBQ, 1989).There are inherent disadvantages to private forestry in Quebec such as the great dispersion of the individual woodlots and the small area of each woodlot (107 hectares for active pulpwood producers; 60 hectares per owner). The development of these forests must also overcome other disadvantages including the great number of owners (120,000) and the fact that many of these owners sometimes lack information and incentive.

scholarly journals Forest ecosystem management in North America: From theory to practice

2013 ◽  
Vol 89 (04) ◽  
pp. 525-537 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia Patry ◽  
Daniel Kneeshaw ◽  
Stephen Wyatt ◽  
Frank Grenon ◽  
Christian Messier
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Ecosystem Management ◽  
Forest Ecosystem ◽  
Forest Dynamics ◽  
Woody Debris ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Natural Disturbance ◽  
Natural Forest ◽  
Conceptual Foundation ◽  
Forest Ecosystem Management

Forest ecosystem management (EM) in North America has evolved from a theoretical concept to operational practice over the last two decades, but its implementation varies greatly among regions. This paper attempts to evaluate (1) if and how emulation of natural disturbances (END) is being used as a conceptual bases for implementing EM, and more particularly, what strategies are used to define the natural forest of reference, and (2) what temporal and spatial scale strategies are being considered for seven important retention elements (downed woody debris, snags, green trees, corridors, riparian buffers, large patches and old forest)? To conduct this evaluation, five guides from four geographically well-distributed regions in North America are compared. Although END is the central conceptual foundation underlying four of the five guides, a natural forest of reference is not always clearly identified and none of the guides consider future impacts due to global change. The major weakness common to all five guides is the lack of consideration of long-term forest dynamics, particularly the lack of clear strategies for retention elements at a temporal scale longer than a single rotation. Generally, the spatial scales chosen for retention elements are not well-justified ecologically and targets for each retention element are not identified at different spatial scales. We stress that strong efforts have been made to develop forest management that incorporates some elements of natural variability and which considers societal needs, but further improvements are required. We conclude by presenting some suggestions to improve the approach. For example, creating more realistic guidelines in integrating current and future forest dynamics with pre-settlement information and planning rotation lengths that are inspired by the dominant natural disturbance.

scholarly journals Teaching and research in forest ecology at UNB, 1942 to present

2008 ◽  
Vol 84 (4) ◽  
pp. 492-497
Author(s):  
Mark R Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Ecosystem Management ◽  
Forest Ecosystem ◽  
Sustainable Forest Management ◽  
Forest Ecology ◽  
Tree Regeneration ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Herbaceous Layer ◽  
Silvicultural Treatments ◽  
Recent Developments

The purposes of this paper are to review the history of forest ecology courses at the University of New Brunswick (UNB) in relation to the social context, summarize recent developments in forest ecology research at UNB, and identify critical areas for future research. Based on the UNB Undergraduate Calendar (1942 to present), the first forest ecology course was offered in 1957. Until the 1980s, forest ecology courses were generally related to silviculture and forest production. Since then, courses reflected increasing public concern with biodiversity and sustainable forest management. Research in the Forest Ecology Laboratory at UNB has emphasized forest ecosystem response to disturbance, including tree regeneration and herbaceous-layer recovery following silvicultural treatments. From this work, a disturbance severity model was developed for characterizing any kind of disturbance. Future research is needed to test the model across additional disturbance types, particularly new silvicultural treatments that are being used in forest ecosystem management. Key words: teaching, forest ecology, research, disturbance, herbaceous layer, biodiversity, sustainable forest management, ecosystem management

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