Forest biodiversity policies: where are they leading us? Are we going where we expected to go?

Abstract

Policies to achieve biodiversity goals have been implemented across many different forest ownerships in the last 10 years. Surprisingly, little research has been done to examine how well those policies might achieve their goals, how they might change landscapes in the future, and how the policies affecting different owners add up to a total picture of forest biodiversity in a large multiowner landscape.

To fill this void, the Coastal Landscape Analysis and Modeling Study (CLAMS), a multidisciplinary research project centered at the Pacific Northwest (PNW) Research Station in Corvallis, Oregon, recently completed a set of different analyses that paint a picture of how forests of the Oregon Coast Range look today, how they might change over the next 100 years, and what the implications are to forest biodiversity and forest management.

Assuming a continuation of the current suite of forest policies, CLAMS scientists project that disparate management priorities between public and private landowners will amplify contrasts in forests structure. Future timber harvest will occur predominantly on forest industry lands. Habitat area for spotted owls, low-dispersal lichens, and marbled murrlets is projected to increase dramatically on federal lands over the next 100 years. Alternative conservation policies, such as increased retention of large trees after harvest, could be implemented to increase wildlife habitat, but these would come at substantial cost to private landowners.

Citation

Thompson, Jonathan. 2005. Forest biodiversity policies: where are they leading us? Are we going where we expected to go?. Science Findings 76. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 5 p