Treesearch

Sociocultural perspectives on threats, risks, and health are explored in this chapter. The authors begin with a discussion of the linkages between well-being in the Sierra Nevada ecosystem and public health and well-being to set the context of socioecological resilience. This is followed by a summary of how trust and confidence influence the management of threats and risk. Selected ecosystem dynamics and threats of specific concern in this synthesis are discussed, and include climate change, wildland fire, and invasive species. The chapter closes with a discussion of research findings on...

Forest products harvesting and use from national forest lands remain important to local residents and communities in some parts of the Sierra Nevada science synthesis area. Managing national forests for the sustainable production of timber, biomass, nontimber forest products, and forage for livestock can help support forestbased livelihoods in parts of the region where they are socially and economically important, thereby contributing to social and economic sustainability and community resilience. This chapter provides context for understanding the social and economic dimensions of timber...

National forest management efforts have generally moved toward collaborative and participatory approaches at a variety of scales. This includes, at a larger scale, greater public participation in transparent and inclusive democratic processes and, at a smaller scale, more engagement with local communities. Participatory approaches are especially important for an all-lands approach to managing forest ecosystems across ownership boundaries.

The Sierra Nevada and southern Cascade Range support thousands of montane lakes, from small, remote tarns to iconic destinations such as Lake Tahoe. Their beauty and recreational opportunities instill high social value, in particular by serving as destinations for hiking, camping, swimming, and fishing. Lakes also have high ecological value because they support a diverse aquatic fauna, including rare species such as the mountain yellow-legged frog (Rana muscosa/R. sierrae), and they provide food for terrestrial and aquatic predators. A number of stressors interact to affect lake ecosystems...

Martens and fishers, as predators, perform important functions that help sustain the integrity of ecosystems. Both species occur primarily in mature forest environments that are characterized by dense canopy, large-diameter trees, a diverse understory community, and abundant standing and downed dead trees. Martens occur in the upper montane forests, where the threat of wildfire is less, and fishers predominately occur in the lower montane forests, where the threat of severe wildfire is much greater. Both species use habitat at multiple scales: the resting/denning site, the stand, the home...

When managing for resilient forests, each soil’s inherent capacity to resist and recover from changes in soil function should be evaluated relative to the anticipated extent and duration of soil disturbance. Application of several key principles will help ensure healthy, resilient soils: (1) minimize physical disturbance using guidelines tailored to specific soil types; (2) evaluate changes in nutrient capital and turnover, perhaps using simple balance sheets; and (3) recognize effects on organic matter and soil biota. Because of fire suppression, accumulations of litter and duff in many...

Water and aquatic ecosystems in the synthesis area have high social, cultural, and ecological values. National forests in the synthesis area are a major source of water supply, hydropower, and recreational activity for much of California. Recent research has provided more information on water and nutrient budgets; these data are fundamental to understanding the interaction of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, current forest conditions, and response to stressors. Rapid changes in climate pose a threat to water resources, as warming has produced a shift toward more precipitation falling as...

Riparian areas are typically highly productive areas that sustain important socioecological benefits, including the capacity to modulate effects of watershed disturbances on aquatic systems. Recent studies have shown that fire behavior in riparian areas varies with landscape attributes. Smaller, headwater riparian areas often burn similarly to adjacent uplands, whereas riparian areas next to larger streams (4th order and higher) often burn less frequently and less severely because of moister microclimates, and therefore can serve as fire breaks within a landscape. However, other riparian...

Wet meadows help to sustain favorable water flows, biological diversity, and other values; consequently, restoration of degraded wet meadows is an important part of a strategy for promoting socioecological resilience. This chapter focuses on high-elevation wet meadows that are associated with streams; thus restoration of such meadows may be considered a subset of stream restoration. However, it is important to recognize that degradation of high-elevation meadows often reflects site-level impacts rather than watershed-scale impacts that degrade lower-elevation streams and rivers. For that...

Recent studies of historical fire regimes indicate that fires occurring prior to Euro-American settlement were characterized by a high degree of spatial complexity that was driven by heterogeneity in vegetation/fuels and topography and influenced by variability in climate, which mediated the timing, effects, and extents of fires over time. Although there are many important lessons to learn from the past, we may not be able to rely completely on past forest conditions to provide us with blueprints for current and future forest management. Rather than attempting to achieve a particular...