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Abstract
An unexpected outcome of U.S. Forest Service General Technical Report PSW-GTR 220, "An Ecosystem Management Strategy for Sierran Mixed-Conifer Forests" (North et al. 2009), was how it generated discussion about a desired future condition for Sierra Nevada forests. The paper did not convey leading-edge research results or provide an exhaustive literature review. Rather it was an effort to take findings generally accepted amongst scientists, and synthesize them into a conceptual model for how Sierra Nevada forests might be managed. When the GTR has been used in implementing projects, the conceptual model often generates discussion about a desired endpoint toward which management and treatments could move a forest. Initially that discussion can seem removed from the project at hand, but agreement on a desired future condition is a foundation for building collaboration. Yet in discussions of desired future conditions for Sierra Nevada forests there remain some challenges that are more fundamental than clarifying GTR 220 concepts or providing more detailed science summaries. During field visits to project sites, discussions with managers and through dialogue with stakeholders, three areas keep being brought up. Collectively they are issues that may require basic changes in how Sierra Nevada forests are managed: changes in the way forests are perceived and measured, the scale and economics of how forests are managed, and an institutional change in management that internalizes science and course correction.
Parent Publication
Citation
North, M. 2012. Chapter 15: A desired future condition for Sierra Nevada Forests. In: North, Malcolm, ed. 2012. Managing Sierra Nevada forests. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-237. Albany, CA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station. pp. 165-175.
