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Environmental Issues in Pacific Northwest Forest Management

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In response to a congressional request, the Board on Biology convened the
Committee on Environmental Issues in Pacific Northwest Forest Management in
1993 to review information concerning the status of resources of the Pacific
Northwest and the relationship of those to supply and demand for forest products
in other regions of the country. Committee members were selected for their
expertise in forestry practices, public lands issues, biology, vertebrate and
invertebrate ecology, rural sociology, and multiple-use land management.
The committee grappled with many contentious questions. What activities
ought to be included under the rubric of “forest management?” What was the
presettlement character of Pacific Northwest forest landscapes and how have
those forests and landscapes been altered by human activities? What are the
ecological and economic consequences of changes in forest management
practices? How are changes in forest management policy and practice in the
Pacific Northwest influencing forest management outside that region? The
definition and assessment of old-growth forests and their associated biodiversity
and the implications of changing modes of management for their future were a
particularly important part of the committee's deliberations. Nine meetings with
guest presentations were held, including meetings in Portland, Oregon; Seattle,
Washington; and Post Falls, Idaho. The public was invited to briefings in
Washington, D.C., and Portland, Oregon.
The original request for this study came from Congress in 1992, and
much has changed in between then and now. There is now little debate over the
value and importance of conserving important areas of old growth forest.

Conflict over forest-resource management continues, of course, but it is no longer
polarized along such simple axes as “owls versus jobs.” However, the basic
question of how we are to achieve sustainable management of Pacific Northwest
forests, as well as the forests of other regions in the context of increasing demand
for the goods and services forests provide remains. How such specific initiatives
as the Northwest Forest Plan fit into that objective is also unclear. It was clear
throughout our study that few institutions exist to resolve the increasingly
complex conflicts between the needs and aspirations of local communities and
regional visions for the health of forest ecosystems. Improvement in
communication, institutional learning, and institutional performance is badly
needed among government agencies, environmental groups, the business sector
and the academic world.

The problems presented in our charge are highly interdisciplinary, ranging
from such fundamental natural science problems as the presettlement dynamics
of forests and the implications of forest fragmentation for the management of
species populations to very human impacts of changes in forest management on
regional economies and rural communities. Furthermore, the committee was
constantly aware of the reality that forest management in all regions is being
undertaken with an increasingly diverse array of objectives across an increasingly
complex array of ownerships. When the committee began its work, FEMAT
(1993) had just been published and the President's Northwest Forest Plan just
released. Over these several years, a number of the management challenges and
our understanding of a number of particular issues have changed. We have
worked hard to incorporate those changes into this document. I am grateful to the
committee for their willingness, indeed eagerness, to work across traditional
disciplinary lines and perseverance in a process that became more drawn out than
any of us expected.

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Informasi Detail

Judul Seri

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No. Panggil

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Penerbit

Washington, D.C. : National Academies Press., 2000

Deskripsi Fisik

280 pages, 6 x 9, (2000)

Bahasa

English

ISBN/ISSN

0309568854

Klasifikasi

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Tipe Isi

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Tipe Media

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Tipe Pembawa

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Edisi

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Subjek

KEHUTANAN

Info Detail Spesifik

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Pernyataan Tanggungjawab

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