Beyond best management practices

Abstract

In contemporary forest landscapes, aquatic-riparian management approaches are addressing ecological integrity of site-to-landscape components that extend beyond the reach of traditional best management practices (BMPs). In this chapter, we highlight the intersection of BMPs that have guided past priorities with integrated interdisciplinary geomorphic, hydrologic, and biological perspectives of joint aquatic-terrestrial ecosystem management and restoration in forests. Beyond-BMP considerations include adapting prescribed BMPs for broader species and habitat protections and recognizing the need for coordinated stream-to-upland ecosystem restoration, in addition to protection from project-­specific actions. Riparian management area (i.e., riparian buffer) designs, site­-specific management, and watershed set-asides are beyond-BMP approaches that can be used to address abiotic resources such as light, temperature, nutrients, and down wood, as well as biotic concerns, including imperiled species, their habitats at whole-watershed scales, and the ecological functions and processes to which they are tied. Aquatic-riparian ecosystems are inherently dynamic, and managing for spatial and temporal heterogeneity has emerged as a priority restoration goal. To aid in complex protection and restoration aims across watershed scales, multiforest stakeholder collaborative groups are seeking to ensure delivery of broad ecosystem services (i.e., the range of goods and values desired by people from forests) across watersheds or landscapes, rather than on each project area or land ownership. In this way, beyond-BMP approaches are integrating management of geomorphic, hydrologic, and biological concerns to provide both a sustainable supply chain of wood and a host of other ecosystem services.

Citation

Olson, Dede H.; Coble, Ashley A.; Homyack, Jessica A. 2022. Beyond best management practices. In: Danehy, Robert J.; Dolloff, C. Andrew; Reeves, Gordon H., eds. Reflections on forest management: Can fish and fiber coexist? American Fisheries Society. Symposium 92. Bethesda, MD: 279 – 325.