Try this for what forest sustainability might look like... principles and implementation measures developed by Mokelumne Rivers Forest Watch several years ago. They address social and community sustainability as well as ecosystem sustainability.
Katherine Evatt, Foothill Conservancy, Pine Grove
+++++++++++++
Implementation Guidelines for Forest Principles
Healthy forest ecosystems are made up of many diverse components.
Implementation guidelines
• Promote natural abundance and diversity of the area’s native species, including plants, vertebrate and invertebrate wildlife, fungi, and microbes.
• Develop and maintain the complex habitat structures essential for native fish and wildlife, including large standing dead trees (snags), canopies of multiple heights and closures, complex spatial mosaics of vegetation, and large, down trees and woody debris on land and in streams.
• Enhance habitat for rare, threatened, and endangered species of plants and animals.
The natural forests that evolved in the Sierra and were nurtured by native people are more resilient and healthier than those resulting from modern forestry. (KKE note: this is a slight update from the MRFW version.)
Implementation guidelines
• Mimic and incorporate natural disturbance processes such as blow-down, fire, earth movement, plant disease, and pest infestation at near-natural scales, frequencies, and intensities.
• Ensure the forest contains a mosaic, shifting over time, of all forest types and age classes in an overall proportion within the historic range of natural variation.
• Harvest different species on a site at different rates to produce unique, high-quality old growth timber and the greatest variety of forest structure.
• Use natural regeneration to conserve a broad genetic base of locally adapted trees rather than planting trees that did not evolve on or near the site. Exception: Plant rust-resistant sugar pine to ensure representation of this tree in the forest, while conserving existing pines that appear to be resistant to adapting white pine blister rust fungus. Develop strategies for addressing the threat of white pine blister rust.
• Maintain and restore natural processes that promote soil fertility and productivity.
• Go beyond legal requirements to do what is best for forest ecosystems and watersheds.
Our understanding of natural systems is increasing over time.
Implementation guidelines
• Plan for and measure the effects of timber harvesting by relying on the best available scientific knowledge and analytical tools.
• Recognize that the state of knowledge about Sierra forests is incomplete, and manage forests accordingly.
Water is the most precious product of our forests.
Implementation guidelines
• Refrain from building new roads and instead repair existing substandard roads, bridges, and culverts. Remove and restore unused substandard roads and related structures.
• Refrain from using herbicides and pesticides with high toxicities and long-persistence in soils, vegetation, and water and avoid using any products that are potentially harmful to aquatic life and water quality.
• Maintain or improve soil stability to avoid mass wasting and minimize sedimentation in streams and rivers.
Fire plays an important role in Sierra forest ecosystems, but there is also a need to protect communities from wildfire and the forest from catastrophic fire.
Implementation guidelines
• Develop and use fuel management and fire strategies that recognize the role of fire in the forest ecosystem, promote forest health, and decrease the risk of high-intensity fire. Such strategies should include, but may not be limited to:
Retaining late-seral stage old forests and large, fire-resistant trees;
Reducing the density of small trees, brush, and ladder fuels in areas of higher risk;
Focusing fuel management efforts in areas of highest risk (along roads and near communities, and when appropriate, to protect habitat for rare species); and
Avoiding the creation of forest structures that promote rapid, lateral spread of intense fires, including large plantations.
• Encourage local residents to create defensible space around their homes.
• Discourage rural sprawl development in forested areas.
• Manage wildfire and home fuelwood burning to protect the health of residents and the economic benefits from ecotourism to local communities.
Human activity should benefit, not harm, others. We should work together for the common good while respecting individuals’ rights.
Implementation guidelines
• Ensure that forest practices in our area benefit, or do not harm, the environment, water quality, or other resource values elsewhere.
• Enhance or do not harm the area’s visual quality.
• Enhance or do not harm other landowners’ property values.
• Encourage collaboration among owners and managers of large forest areas and the full spectrum of community members to ensure that forest management is consistent with community values.
• Benefit this generation, but not at the expense of future generations.
• Emphasize long-term economic opportunities for community residents over short-term profits for absentee owners.
Our neighbors who work in the forest make a valuable social contribution and deserve respect.
Implementation guidelines
• Respect forest workers’ right to occupational safety, fair compensation, collective bargaining and other forms of organizing, and free speech.
• Promote and reward excellence by those who manage and work in our forests.
The social, cultural, historical, and economic significance of our forests goes beyond timber production.
Implementation guidelines
• Protect sites of archaeological, cultural, and historical significance.
• Enhance or do not harm or inhibit other forest-based economic and social activities such as tourism, extraction of non-timber forest products, and land and river-based recreation, including hunting, fishing, hiking, whitewater boating, camping, wildlife-watching, and backpacking.
• Encourage conservation easements on forest land to ensure that the land is not developed, but remains forest in perpetuity.
• Enhance or do not harm or inhibit traditional American Indian uses of forest lands, including ceremonial uses and gathering of plants.
• Acknowledge that forests are sources of spiritual and emotional sustenance for many and manage them accordingly.
Sustainability
Try this for what forest sustainability might look like... principles and implementation measures developed by Mokelumne Rivers Forest Watch several years ago. They address social and community sustainability as well as ecosystem sustainability.
Katherine Evatt, Foothill Conservancy, Pine Grove
+++++++++++++
Implementation Guidelines for Forest Principles
Healthy forest ecosystems are made up of many diverse components.
Implementation guidelines
• Promote natural abundance and diversity of the area’s native species, including plants, vertebrate and invertebrate wildlife, fungi, and microbes.
• Develop and maintain the complex habitat structures essential for native fish and wildlife, including large standing dead trees (snags), canopies of multiple heights and closures, complex spatial mosaics of vegetation, and large, down trees and woody debris on land and in streams.
• Enhance habitat for rare, threatened, and endangered species of plants and animals.
The natural forests that evolved in the Sierra and were nurtured by native people are more resilient and healthier than those resulting from modern forestry. (KKE note: this is a slight update from the MRFW version.)
Implementation guidelines
• Mimic and incorporate natural disturbance processes such as blow-down, fire, earth movement, plant disease, and pest infestation at near-natural scales, frequencies, and intensities.
• Ensure the forest contains a mosaic, shifting over time, of all forest types and age classes in an overall proportion within the historic range of natural variation.
• Harvest different species on a site at different rates to produce unique, high-quality old growth timber and the greatest variety of forest structure.
• Use natural regeneration to conserve a broad genetic base of locally adapted trees rather than planting trees that did not evolve on or near the site. Exception: Plant rust-resistant sugar pine to ensure representation of this tree in the forest, while conserving existing pines that appear to be resistant to adapting white pine blister rust fungus. Develop strategies for addressing the threat of white pine blister rust.
• Maintain and restore natural processes that promote soil fertility and productivity.
• Go beyond legal requirements to do what is best for forest ecosystems and watersheds.
Our understanding of natural systems is increasing over time.
Implementation guidelines
• Plan for and measure the effects of timber harvesting by relying on the best available scientific knowledge and analytical tools.
• Recognize that the state of knowledge about Sierra forests is incomplete, and manage forests accordingly.
Water is the most precious product of our forests.
Implementation guidelines
• Refrain from building new roads and instead repair existing substandard roads, bridges, and culverts. Remove and restore unused substandard roads and related structures.
• Refrain from using herbicides and pesticides with high toxicities and long-persistence in soils, vegetation, and water and avoid using any products that are potentially harmful to aquatic life and water quality.
• Maintain or improve soil stability to avoid mass wasting and minimize sedimentation in streams and rivers.
Fire plays an important role in Sierra forest ecosystems, but there is also a need to protect communities from wildfire and the forest from catastrophic fire.
Implementation guidelines
• Develop and use fuel management and fire strategies that recognize the role of fire in the forest ecosystem, promote forest health, and decrease the risk of high-intensity fire. Such strategies should include, but may not be limited to:
Retaining late-seral stage old forests and large, fire-resistant trees;
Reducing the density of small trees, brush, and ladder fuels in areas of higher risk;
Focusing fuel management efforts in areas of highest risk (along roads and near communities, and when appropriate, to protect habitat for rare species); and
Avoiding the creation of forest structures that promote rapid, lateral spread of intense fires, including large plantations.
• Encourage local residents to create defensible space around their homes.
• Discourage rural sprawl development in forested areas.
• Manage wildfire and home fuelwood burning to protect the health of residents and the economic benefits from ecotourism to local communities.
Human activity should benefit, not harm, others. We should work together for the common good while respecting individuals’ rights.
Implementation guidelines
• Ensure that forest practices in our area benefit, or do not harm, the environment, water quality, or other resource values elsewhere.
• Enhance or do not harm the area’s visual quality.
• Enhance or do not harm other landowners’ property values.
• Encourage collaboration among owners and managers of large forest areas and the full spectrum of community members to ensure that forest management is consistent with community values.
• Benefit this generation, but not at the expense of future generations.
• Emphasize long-term economic opportunities for community residents over short-term profits for absentee owners.
Our neighbors who work in the forest make a valuable social contribution and deserve respect.
Implementation guidelines
• Respect forest workers’ right to occupational safety, fair compensation, collective bargaining and other forms of organizing, and free speech.
• Promote and reward excellence by those who manage and work in our forests.
The social, cultural, historical, and economic significance of our forests goes beyond timber production.
Implementation guidelines
• Protect sites of archaeological, cultural, and historical significance.
• Enhance or do not harm or inhibit other forest-based economic and social activities such as tourism, extraction of non-timber forest products, and land and river-based recreation, including hunting, fishing, hiking, whitewater boating, camping, wildlife-watching, and backpacking.
• Encourage conservation easements on forest land to ensure that the land is not developed, but remains forest in perpetuity.
• Enhance or do not harm or inhibit traditional American Indian uses of forest lands, including ceremonial uses and gathering of plants.
• Acknowledge that forests are sources of spiritual and emotional sustenance for many and manage them accordingly.