Robert L. Deal

The effects of partial cutting on stand structure and growth of western hemlock-Sitka spruce stands in southeast Alaska

Abstract The effects of partial cutting on species composition, new and residual-tree cohorts, tree size distribution, and tree growth was evaluated on 73 plots in 18 stands throughout southeast Alaska. These partially cut stands were harvested 12–96 years ago, when 16–96% of the former stand basal area was removed. Partial cutting maintained stand structures similar to uncut old-growth stands, and the cutting had no significant effects on tree species composition. The establishment of new-tree cohorts was positively related to the proportion of basal-area cut. The current stand basal area, tree species composition, and stand growth were significantly related to trees left after harvest ( p Concerns about changing tree species composition, lack of spruce regeneration, and greatly reduced stand growth and vigor with partial cuts were largely unsubstantiated. Silvicultural systems based on partial cutting can provide rapidly growing trees for timber production while maintaining complex stand structures with mixtures of spruce and hemlock trees similar to old-growth stands.

Managing young upland forests in southeast Alaska for wood products, wildlife, aquatic resources, and fishes: problem analysis and study plan.

Wipfli, Mark S.; Deal, Robert L.; Hennon, Paul E.; Johnson, Adelaide C.; De Santo, Toni L.; Hanley, Thomas A.; Schultz, Mark E.; Bryant, Mason D.; Edwards, Richard T.; Orlikowska, Ewa H.; Gomi, Takashi. 2002. Managing young upland forests in southeast Alaska for wood products, wildlife, aquatic resources, and fishes: problem analysis and study plan. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-558. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 64 p. Red alder (Alnus rubra Bong.) appears to influence the productivity of young-growth conifer forests and affect the major resources (timber, wildlife, and fisheries) of forested ecosystems in southeast Alaska. We propose an integrated approach to understanding how alder influences trophic links and processes in young-growth ecosystems. The presence of red alder is expected to increase understory biomass, and aquatic, riparian, and terrestrial invertebrate abundance, providing more food for herbivores, fish, and birds. We predict that most red alder trees will die standing, and woody debris will be small and mobile in streams. Nitrogen fixation by red alder in mixed stands may result in larger, more commercially valuable conifers. Inclusion of red alder in the regenerating stand may therefore mitigate some negative impacts of clearcutting, and may increase total wood production from the landscape.

Compatible Management of Red Alder-Conifer Ecosystems in Southeastern Alaska

Forest clearcutting has been the primary timber management practice in forests of southeastern Alaska since commercial timber harvesting began in the 1950s, and the dense, even-aged conifer stands that subsequently developed have broad and undesirable consequences for some nontimber resources-most notably, fish and wildlife. Because a few earlier reports suggested that red alder (Alnus rubra Bong.) helps mitigate some negative effects of timber harvesting (Deal 1997, Wipfli 1997, Hanley and Barnard 1998), we studied the influence of red alder on a broad set of nontimber resources in young conifer forests (40-year-old; equivalent to early third stage of Appendix 1, Chapter 1) in southeastern Alaska (Figure 1). It is unclear what the ecological functions of red alder are in young forested ecosystems in southeastern Alaska. Key questions include: Does red alder affect forest understory development, tree growth, and timber production? How does red alder influence food and habitat for fish and wildlife? How does red alder function in stream and riparian habitats? Does red alder influence forest ecosystem diversity and productivity? Open image in new window

A Working Definition of Sustainable Forestry and Means of Achieving It at Different Spatial Scales

Summary Sustainable forestry can be a useful concept when it includes both spatial equity and the sustainable development concept of intergenerational equity. Using this definition and criteria such as those developed by the Montreal Process, each country can examine itself in a matrix to determine if it is overly protecting or exploiting its ecosystems according to the different criteria. Then, each country can examine the ecosystems within its country to determine if all are being equitably treated. For example, the United States appears sustainable when viewed as a whole; however, there are gross differences in ecosystem conditions within the country. Self-examination by each country of its contributions and voluntary actions to rectify its excesses and deficiencies will probably be more effective than a global policing system. Local, ground-specific actions can be taken to correct the imbalances within each ecosystem within a country. This paper illustrates that sustainable forestry can be considered and analyzed at different scales, and that even in countries where broad data sets indicate acceptable progress toward sustainable forestry, local data show the heterogeneous nature of this progress.

A Conceptual Framework for Characterizing Forest Areas with High Societal Values: Experiences from the Pacific Northwest of USA and Central Europe

In recent decades, much work has been invested to describe forest allocations with high societal values. Yet, few comparative analyses have been conducted on their importance and differences across the regions of the globe. This paper introduces a conceptual framework to characterize forest priority areas defined as areas with identified higher importance of societal values in the context of multi-objective forest management. The six dimensions of the framework (designation objective, prioritization of objectives, governance, permanency, spatial scale, and management regime) characterize the general approach (integrative vs. segregative) to multi-objective forest management and explain the form and role of priority areas for providing forest services. The framework was applied in two case study regions—Pacific Northwest of USA (PNW) and Central Europe (CE). Differences between the regions exist in all dimensions. Late-successional and riparian reserves are specific to the PNW, while protection against natural hazards is specific to CE. In PNW, priority areas are mainly focused on public lands whereas in CE they include public and private lands. Priority areas in PNW are designated in a much larger spatial context and have longer time commitments. In CE, integration of management objectives on priority areas prevails, whereas in PNW priority areas tend to be designated for single objectives. In CE, greater tolerance of timber management within priority areas compared to PNW is allowed. Convergent trends in application of priority areas between the regions indicate mixing of segregation and integration approaches to forest management.

An Ecosystem Services Framework

Ecosystem services are the full range of social, ecological, and economic benefits that people obtain from nature (Millennium Assessment 2003; Smith et al. 2011). These services include both biophysical (e.g., water, food, and fiber) and intangible (e.g., cultural or health) benefits. The concept originated in ecological economists’ attempts to assign monetary valuations to the goods and services humans receive from naturally functioning ecosystems, so that the full array of direct and indirect benefits are captured in environmental policy, management, and decision making (Westman 1977). The importance and value of ecosystem services are being recognized internationally (Farley and Costanza 2010; Muradian et al. 2010), as illustrated by the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES 2012), which is currently supported by 124 nations. Many US state and federal natural resource agencies have adopted policies that include analyses of ecosystem services in planning and decision making. The US Environmental Protection Agency, US Geological Survey, and US National Park Service all have new initiatives regarding the identification and mapping of ecosystem services. Specific to national forestlands, the US Forest Service’s new planning rule (USDA 2012) requires all 175 national forests to report key ecosystem services for forest plan assessments and revisions.

Ecosystem Services with Diverse Forest Landowners

Pacific Northwest moist coniferous forests provide a wide array of globally important goods and services, including water, carbon sequestration, wood products, fish and wildlife habitat, cultural values, and world-class recreation. These forests are owned and managed by a mix of public, private, and tribal landowners (plates 6, 7), however, who often have different forest-management objectives. Overall, this diverse landownership provides a highly variable forest landscape with forest-management objectives ranging from intensive management on industrial forestlands, to longer rotations on state and tribal lands, to an emphasis on preservation and restoration of late-successional forests to support endangered species and water quality on federal lands. In this chapter, we synthesize some of the objectives of different landowners in the region and the potential opportunities and challenges of integrating goods and services (ecosystem services) into forest management. We show how broad assessment of ecosystem services can be used to plan management activities and to evaluate trade-offs of managing public and private lands to provide a suite of goods and services.

The Future of Human-Forest Ecosystem Sustainability

In this book we have woven a socioecological synthesis to describe how forests and communities have changed over the last two to three decades, especially in the moist coniferous forest zone of the US Pacific Northwest. Lessons have emerged from the social, physical, and biological studies of these forests, from contemporary forest resource management, and from traditional, indigenous resource and environmental management (table 19.1). In this chapter, we take a broad perspective on what we have learned and highlight the emerging principles from our cross-disciplinary review, with an eye toward improving management of moist coniferous human-forest ecosystems. In the next and final chapter, we continue this theme and focus on some tangible steps to sustain the best these landscapes have to offer into the future.

Role of Online Journals and Peer-reviewed Research

The recent explosion of online journals has lead some researchers, scientist and academics to reconsider their traditional venues for publishing research. These on-line journals have the potential for quickly disseminating research, but they also present lots of uncertainty, confusion, and pitfalls for researchers. Many academics search out journals with the high impact factors or short review time for publications.

The density and distribution of Sitka spruce and western hemlock seedling banks in partially harvested stands in Southeast Alaska.

This study’s objective was to document and describe the current seedling bank of Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis (Bong.) Carr.) and western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla (Raf.) Sarg.) stands in southeast Alaska that were partially cut between 1900 and 1984. We investigated the following: (1) What are seedling bank densities? (2) What are seedling size- and age-class distributions? (3) Do seedbed type, treatment, and understory vegetation affect seedling density and species composition? and (4) What are seedling growth rates? Density was high for both Sitka spruce (22,000 seedlings/ha) and western hemlock (223,000 seedlings/ha) and varied widely between sites. There were always fewer spruce than hemlock. Ninety-five percent of spruce and 94 percent of hemlock were less than 0.5 m tall. Spruce had a mean age of 8 years (range 1 to 41 years) and hemlock 19 years (range 1 to 110 years). Both species were four times as common on logs as on undisturbed forest floor. Under closed-canopy conditions at the 15 sites harvested between 1900 and 1958, the average annual height growth rate was 2.3 cm for hemlock and 1.7 cm for spruce. At the two open-canopy sites, harvested in 1983 and 1984, annual height growth rates increased to 8.2 cm for hemlock and 10.2 cm for spruce. Our results suggest that the seedling bank of both species is established and well stocked, thus providing advanced regeneration for the postharvest stand. Because forest managers have increasing concern about effects of clearcut harvesting in Pacific Northwest forest ecosystems and renewed interest in maintaining or restoring biodiversity, other silvicultural methods warrant examination.