Introduction: 2017 National Silviculture Workshop: Forest management policy, forest restoration, disturbance resilience, climate adaptation

Abstract

Since 1973, the National Silviculture Workshop has provided a forum for USDA Forest Service managers and scientists to deliberate on management topics, issues, or challenges that reflect the progression of Federal forest management in the United States (Table 1). Rotating the meeting location around the United States to expose the attendees to many different ecosystems and management concerns and practices, early workshops explored techniques of uneven-aged management, controlling stand density in second-growth stands, tree improvement, and fertilization for timber management (Barton et al. 1973, Nelson et al. 1974, Usher et al. 1976). In response to passage of the National Forest Management Act of 1976 (NFMA) Section 4, the focus of subsequent workshops expanded to reforestation and the maintenance of forest cover (Cargill et al. 1977). Since the 1980s, the Forest Service and other public agencies have addressed the public’s concerns about the environment and forestry by emphasizing and managing for other benefits of forests beyond timber production. The forestry profession identified the value of silviculture in the pursuit of these new goals by pointing out that silviculture was an effective approach not only in timber production but also in managing for other forest ecosystem benefits (Table 1). Five workshop themes - “Successes in silviculture” (McCoy et al. 1985), “Silviculture for all resources” (1987), “Silvicultural challenges and opportunities in the 1990s” (Sesco et al. 1989), “Communicating the role of silviculture in managing National Forests” (Northeastern Experiment Station 1997), and “The past, present, and desired future of silviculture’s role and practice” (Barras 2001) - reflect the profession’s adaptation to these shifts in policy and the workshops’ conclusions that silviculture was designed to meet a variety of management objectives.

Citation

Jain, Theresa B. 2019. Introduction: 2017 National Silviculture Workshop: Forest management policy, forest restoration, disturbance resilience, climate adaptation. Forest Science: 65(4): 492‐495.