Sustainable forestry is a forest management concept. The basic tenet of sustainable forestry is that the amount of goods and services yielded from a forest should be at a level the forest is capable of producing without degradation of the soil, watershed features or seed source for the future. It differs from Sustained Yield Forestry and Sustainable forest management according to the sets of forest goods and services that we attempt to "sustain". Forest management includes a range of human interventions that affect forest ecosystems. ... The sustainable yield of natural capital is the ecological yield that can be extracted without reducing the base of capital itself, i. ... Sustainable forest management is a sub-set of sustainable development. ...

Sustainable forestry includes, clean water,wildlife, recreation natural cover and forest where seed trees are left for natural regeneration. The sensitive ecosystems are not all about the tall trees but rather the whole mosaic of forest entities. The potential natural vegetation, annual growth and the basal area, combined with the amount of trees per stand to develop a management plan for area sizes from a stand to an ownership through the entire forest, as well as considering the landscape and position of the forest within it are considered. Eucalyptus Forest at Swifts Creek in East Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. ... See: Sensitivity (electronics) Sensitivity (human) Sensitivity (tests) For sensitivity in finance, see beta coefficient This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... In ecology, an ecosystem is a community of organisms (plant, animal and other living organisms - also referred as biocenose) together with their environment (or biotope), functioning as a unit. ... The coniferous Coast Redwood, the tallest tree species on earth. ...

Boreal forests

In boreal forest and other forests, clear cutting and intensive silviculture have been blamed for biodiversity problems. Many environmentalists believe that clearcutting is not sustainable, while single tree management is. Many foresters assume that in boreal situations clear cutting imitates natural forest fire and other dynamics in important ways. Recent research has suggested that large-scale fires did not occur very frequently and that the end result of fire or other natural dynamics are not comparable with the end result of clear cutting. However, considering that boreal forests have low biodiversity to begin with, these claims may be unsubstantiated. Environmentalism is activism aimed at improving the environment, particularly nature. ... Clearfelling or clearcutting is the process where every tree is taken in a logging operation. ... Fire in San Bernardino, California Mountains (image taken from the International Space Station) A wildfire, also known as a forest fire, vegetation fire, grass fire, or bushfire (in Australasia), is an uncontrolled fire in wildland often caused by lightning; other common causes are human carelessness and arson. ... The taiga is found throughout the high northern latitudes, just below the tundra, and just above the steppes. ... Rainforests are among the most biodiverse ecosystems on earth Biodiversity or biological diversity is the diversity of life. ...

Clearcutting and other types of even-aged forest management are used as silvicultural tools to promote growth of shade-intolerant species and are used in some forest types in order to promote regeneration. Levels of spatial patchiness (horizontal structural diversity) at the expense of variety of canopy layers (vertical structural diversity), both necessary for many wildlife species, are increased with some level of even-aged management. Selection system, or uneven-aged forest management, has low levels of horizontal structural diversity with a high level of vertical structural diversity. Thus it seems that both types of management should be considered at the landscape level. Silviculture is the art and science of controlling the establishment, growth, composition, health, and quality of forests to meet diverse needs and values of landowners and society on a sustainable basis. ... Selection cutting is the logging practice of removing mature timber or thinning to improve the timber stand. ...

Old Growth Forests

If sustainable forestry is an experiment, reserves are the control of that experiment. By comparing a management regime to a close to natural setting, we can better devise schemes for optimal growth. Aside from being a good standard to compare our commercial forests to, old growth forests are a good seed source. The two-hundred year old trees in old growth forests are not representative of all the trees two hundred years ago- they are actually the most resilient trees of their time. The old trees are the trees that made it, while others did not- those trees are more disease resistant, fire resistant and fit than any other.

High grading

One ecological advantage of clearcutting is that it avoids the risk of selection cutting and single tree management. When harvesting individual trees from a stand, some jurisdictions consider it sustainable practice to cut the tallest, fastest growing and generally best trees. This 'high grading' leaves the dwarfed, non preferred trees to make up the gene pool of the forest. The result is a short, poor growing forest, especially when there is a lack of an outside seed source. High grading has long been discredited in some jurisdictions, such as Canada, where any recent examples would be rare. Sustainable - the ability to maintain into perpetuity. ... The term high grading has uses in forestry, mining, and fishing relating to selectively harvesting goods. ...

Fire suppression

Fire and insect infestations are the dominant natural disturbances in the Taiga and is an important disturbance mechanism in many other forest types, including temperate, sub-alpine and chaparral forests. Large, stand-replacing fires, particularly in the boreal forest, determine the age distribution and spatial age mosaic of the forested landscape. Fire in San Bernardino, California Mountains (image taken from the International Space Station) A wildfire, also known as a forest fire, vegetation fire, grass fire, or bushfire (in Australasia), is an uncontrolled fire in wildland often caused by lightning; other common causes are human carelessness and arson. ... The taiga is found throughout the high northern latitudes, just below the tundra, and just above the steppes. ...

In North America, the belief that fire suppression has substantially reduced the average annual area burned is widely held by resource managers and is often thought to be self-evident. Direct empirical evidence however is essentially limited to just two studies by Stocks (1991) and Ward and Tithecott (1993), that use Ontario government fire records to make comparisons of average annual area burned between areas with and without aggressive fire suppression policies. Numerous subsequent studies have presented the same information, often in a different format (Martell 1994, Martell 1996, Weber & Stocks 1998, Li 2000, Ward & Mawdsley 2000). The proponents of these studies argue that areas without aggressive fire suppression policies have larger average fire sizes and greater average annual area burned and a longer interval between fires and that this is evidence of the effect of fire suppression. Motto: Ut Incepit Fidelis Sic Permanet (Latin: Loyal she began, loyal she remains) Official languages English (de facto) Flower White Trillium Tree Eastern White Pine Bird Common Loon Capital Toronto Largest city Toronto Lieutenant-Governor James K. Bartleman Premier Dalton McGuinty (Liberal) Parliamentary representation  - House seats  - Senate seats 106 24...

However, the idea that fire suppression can effectively reduce the average annual area burned is the focus of a vocal debate in the scientific literature. In particular, several recent papers have argued against this idea (Miyanishi & Johnson 2001, Miyanishi et al. 2002, Bridge et al 2005). These papers claim that statistically rigorous techniques for estimating the average annual area burned, called the fire cycle, do not show changes in the fire cycle associated with fire suppression and that the evidence used to support the effect of fire suppression is biased and has been presented in a way that is flawed. Note that none of these papers criticize fire management agencies for being anything less than completely committed to their mandate. Nor do they suggest that fire personnel are not well trained, efficiently deployed or well managed. Instead, these papers simply suggest that despite the resources employed, fire management agencies are simply unable to effectively reduce the average annual are burned.

The impact that effective fire suppression may have on the average annual area burned is important for many reasons, but in particular, its impact is key to the current paradigm of sustainable forest management in many jurisdictions. One of the core aspects of SFM in many jurisdictions is the use of wood supply models to determine sustainable harvest levels. This determination of sustainable harvest levels often assumes that fire suppression has been effective at reducing the average annual area burned. Thus, if current assumptions about the effect of fire suppression are wrong, the impact on SFM could be substantial.

One area where it is largely accepted that fire suppression has altered the “natural” fire regime is the Pinus ponderosa ecosystems in the interior West of the United States, where a historical regime of frequent surface fires had maintained open-canopy conditions. With the arrival of European settlers, the frequency of surface fires decreased, changing both the accumulation and arrangement of fine fuel. Growth of an intermediate-height ladder of vegetation and the increased bulk density of canopy fuel allowed surface fires to burn into the crown, thus creating a crown-fire regime (Fuli et al. 1997, Shinnerman & Baker 1997).

Harvest

Harvest of trees can deplete nutrients in forest with poor soil. This is particularly true with whole tree harvest as many nutrients are held in the tops and branchs. Harvest often doesn't allow for different successional stages. Forests have different stages of height, age and species diversity, and different animals depend on each. Some harvest techniques eliminate one or more stage of forest development, reducing the value of the wildlife in the forest, and reducing the health of the trees overall. Loggers on break, c. ...

There are six different kinds of tree harvesting:

Selective cutting, Shelterwood Cutting, Seed-Tree Cutting, Clear-Cutting, Strip Cutting,

Fragmentation

Urban sprawl and other construction can fragment forests. This creates edge habitat, habitat not protected by other trees and exposed to an urban environment. If the same area of forest is spread over different fragments, than there will be more edge than if all of that area were in one lump. If that same area is in a narrow line, then all of the forest becomes the degraded edge with little or no middle. Edge trees are not protected from storm wind, and are more easily consumed by deer. The wildlife living along the edge will suffer predation by racoons or may simply leave because the species will not live that close to humans. There is also the problem of dispersal between fragments. If a part of a contiguous stand of trees is damaged, it can be repopulated by the existing trees around it. However if that stand happened to be a part of a fragment with no dispersal from the rest of the fragmented area, it would take human intervention to maintain the stands. Wildlife species with poor dispersal would suffer in this situation also, even including some birds that will very rarely fly over highways.

Solutions

Using untouched reserves as a model, we can try to recreate those forest conditions. Selection cutting is a practice which mimics some natural disturbances like a tree falling down. Clearcutting mimics other natural disturbances such as intense forest fires. If we can mimic natural conditions, trees have been evolving to grow well under those conditions far longer than under modern forestry conditions, and our mimicry will yield better trees. Selection cutting can be based on gap sizes and woody debris found in our natural reserves. Sustainable forestry also involves re-introducing fire to forests. This has the added benefit of bringing back a variety of wildlife species. And there are also harvest practices that can allow all successional stages of a forest to exist. Reserves are banks holding of deposits in accounts with their national bank (for instance, the Federal Reserve), plus currency that is physically held by banks (vault cash). ... Selection cutting is the logging practice of removing mature timber or thinning to improve the timber stand. ... Clearfelling or clearcutting is the process where every tree is taken in a logging operation. ... Fire in San Bernardino, California Mountains (image taken from the International Space Station) A wildfire, also known as a forest fire, vegetation fire, grass fire, or bushfire (in Australasia), is an uncontrolled fire in wildland often caused by lightning; other common causes are human carelessness and arson. ...

Dispersal corridors are lines of habitat that go between fragments so that beneficial wildlife can travel at a regualar rate between forests. This helps lichens and poor dispersing plants and animals to survive in between forest fragments. However, this does not reduce edge effects or help protect trees from the wind. It can help the trees cross pollinate and expand their gene pool, however.

See also

• Environment
• Forestry
• Illegal Logging
• Logging
• Sustainable forest management
• Sustainability
• Timber
• Forest Farming, The Ecosystem Approach to Forest Management

A decidous beech forest in Slovenia. ... Illegal logging is the harvest, transportation, purchase or sale of timber in violation of national laws. ... Loggers on break, c. ... Sustainable forest management is a sub-set of sustainable development. ... Sustainability is an attempt to provide the best outcomes for the human and natural environments both now and into the indefinite future. ... Timber in storage for later processing at a sawmill Timber is a term used to describe wood, either standing or that has been processed for use—from the time trees are felled, to its end product as a material suitable for industrial use—as structural material for construction or wood...

References

• BERGERON, Y. 1991. The influence of island and mainland lakeshore landscapes on boreal forest fire regimes. Ecology 72:1980-1992.

• BERGERON, Y., and S. ARCHAMBAULT. 1993. Decrease of forest fires in Quebec's southern boreal zone and its relation to global warming since the end of the Little Ice Age. Holocene 3:255-259.

• BRIDGE, S.R.J, K. MIYANISHI AND E.A. JOHNSON. 2005. A Critical Evaluation of Fire Suppression Effects in the Boreal Forest of Ontario. Forest Science 51:41-50.

• CUMMING, S.G. 2005. Effective fire suppression in boreal forests. Can. J. For. Res. 35: 772–786.

• HEINSELMAN, M.L. 1973. Fire in the virgin forests of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, Minnesota. Quat. Res. 3:329-382.

• JOHNSON, E.A. 1992. Fire and vegetation dynamics: studies from the North American boreal forest. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

• JOHNSON, E.A., AND S.L. GUTSELL. 1994. Fire frequency models, methods and interpretations. Adv. Ecol. Res. 25:239-287.

• JOHNSON, E.A., AND D.R. WOWCHUK. 1993. Wildfires in the southern Canadian Rocky Mountains and their relationship to mid-troposhperic anomalies. Can. J. For. Res. 23:1213-1222.

• JOHNSON, E.A., AND C.E. VAN WAGNER. 1985. Theory and use of two fire history models. Can. J. For. Res. 15:214-220.

• JOHNSON, E.A., K. MIYANISHI, AND S.R.J. BRIDGE. 2001. Wildfire regime in the boreal forest and the idea of suppression and fuel buildup. Conserv. Biol. 15:1554-1557.

• JOHNSON, E.A., K. MIYANISHI, AND J.M.H. WEIR. 1995. Old-growth, disturbance, and ecosystem management. Can. J. Bot. 73:918-926.

• JOHNSON, E.A., K. MIYANISHI, and J.M.H. WEIR. 1996. Old-growth, disturbance, and ecosystem management: Reply. Can. J. Bot. 74:511.

• JOHNSON, E.A., K. MIYANISHI, AND J.M.H. Weir. 1998. Wildfires in the western Canadian boreal forest: Landscape patterns and ecosystem management. J. Veg. Sci. 9:603-610.

• LI, C. 2000. Fire regimes and their simulation with reference to Ontario. P. 115-140 in Ecology of a managed terrestrial landscape: patterns and processes of forest landscapes in Ontario, Perera, A.H., D.L. Euler, and I.D. Thompson (eds.). UBC Press, Vancouver, BC.

• MARTELL, D.L. 1994. The impact of fire on timber supply in Ontario. For. Chron. 70:164-173.

• MARTELL, D.L. 1996. Old-growth, disturbance, and ecosystem management: commentary. Can. J. Bot. 74:509-510.

• MIYANISHI, K., AND E.A. JOHNSON. 2001. A re-examination of the effects of fire suppression in the boreal forest. Can. J. For. Res. 31:1462-1466.

• MIYANISHI, K., S.R.J. BRIDGE, AND E.A. JOHNSON. 2002. Wildfire regime in the boreal forest. Conserv. Biol. 16:1177-1178.

• OMNR. 2002. Forest management guide for natural disturbance pattern emulation, Version 3.1. Ont. Min. Nat. Res., Queen’s Printer for Ontario, Toronto. ON. 40 p.

• REED, W.J. 1994. Estimating the historic probability of stand-replacement fire using the age-class distribution of undisturbed forest. For. Sci. 40:104-119.

• REED, W.J. 1998. Determining changes in historical forest fire frequency from a time-since-fire map. J. Agric. Biol. Env. Stat. 3:430-450.

• STOCKS, B.J. 1991. The extent and impact of forest fires in northern circumpolar countries. P. 197-202 in Global biomass burning: atmospheric, climatic and biospheric implications, Levine, J.S. (ed.). MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

• STOCKS, B.J., AND R.B. STREET. 1983. Forest fire weather and wildfire occurrence in the boreal forest of northwestern Ontario. P. 249-265 in Resources and dynamics of the boreal zone, Wein, R.W., R.R. Riewe, and I.R. Methven (eds.). Association of Canadian Universities Northern Studies, Ottawa, ON.

• SUFFLING, R, B. SMITH, AND J. DAL MOLIN. 1982. Estimating past forest age distributions and disturbance rates in north-western Ontario: a demographic approach. J. Env. Manage. 14:45-56

• WARD, P.C., AND W. MAWDSLEY. 2000. Fire management in the boreal forests of Canada. P. 274-288 In Fire, climate change, and carbon cycling in the boreal forest, Kasischke, E.S., and B.J. Stocks (eds.). Springer, New York, NY.

• WARD, P.C., AND A.G. TITHECOTT. 1993. The impact of fire management on the boreal landscape of Ontario. Aviation, Flood and Fire Management Branch Publication No. 305. Ont. Min. Nat. Res., Queens Printer for Ontario, Toronto, ON.

• WEBER, M.G., AND B.J. STOCKS. 1998. Forest fires in the boreal forests of Canada. P. 215-233 in Large forest fires, Moreno, J.M. (ed.). Backhuys Publishers, Leiden, The Netherlands.

• WEIR, J.M.H., E.A. JOHNSON, AND K. MIYANISHI. 2000. Fire frequency and the spatial age mosaic of the mixed-wood boreal forest in western Canada. Ecol. Applic. 10:1162-1177.

• WOODS, G.T., AND R.T. DAY. 1977. A fire history study of Quetico Provincial Park. Rep. No. 4, Fire Ecology Study, Quetico Prov. Park. Ont. Min. Nat. Res., Toronto, ON.

External links

• Forest and the European Union Resources Network (FERN)
• Nature Serve
• Trees, Forests, Eco-Forestry
• Rainforest Alliance's Sustainable Forestry program