Treesearch

In 2012, the USDA Forest Service released a new planning rule that called for fundamental changes in how scenic resources are to be addressed during the forest plan revision process. While the original 1982 rule relied on expert-based assessments of scenic resources described in the Forest Service's 1974 Visual Management System (VMS), the new rule mandates defining valued "scenic character" on the basis of the 1995 replacement for VMS, the Scenery Management System (SMS). In SMS, scenic character is established in part through a constituent analysis that involves assessing stakeholder...

With a central mission to "… conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein … by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations," the National Park Service (NPS) has been entrusted with some of the most spectacular and historically significant landscapes throughout the country (National Park Service Organic Act 1916). The NPS has successfully addressed visual resource issues at multiple park units but each had to develop its own approach. Over the last several years, NPS has developed a program that establishes service-w...

This paper presents a brief overview of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's regulatory framework for offshore renewable energy and summarizes the status of offshore wind energy projects in U.S. waters. The paper also discusses how visual impact analysis (VIA) will be integrated into the environmental analysis of proposed wind energy projects, the unique characteristics of VIA for offshore wind energy development, and the challenges encountered thus far. The conclusion describes lessons learned and summarizes the future of VIA at BOEM.

Hemlock woolly adelgid, Adelges tsugae Annand, is an invasive insect species in eastern North America that was accidentally introduced from southern Japan. It is the single most important pest of hemlocks in eastern North America and has a severe impact on the two susceptible species: eastern hemlock, Tsuga canadensis (L.) Carriere (Pinales: Pinaceae) and Carolina hemlock, Tsuga caroliniana Engelmann (Pinales: Pinaceae). Since the first report of hemlock woolly adelgid in Virginia in 1951, it has been slowly but steadily increasing its range. Recent establishments outside the contiguous...

In his February 8, 1965, "Message on the Natural Beauty of Our Country," President Lyndon B. Johnson said: "We must not only protect the countryside and save it from destruction, we must restore what has been destroyed and salvage the beauty and charm of our cities. Our concern is not with nature alone, but with the total relation between man and the world around him. Its object is not just man’s welfare, but the dignity of man’s spirit" (American Presidency Project 2018).

This introductory paper to the Visual Resource Stewardship Conference Proceedings describes efforts to develop and maintain professional capacity in the field of visual resource management (VRM). Large-scale energy development over the last two decades has been a major factor in the resurgence of activity in VRM, particularly with respect to visual impact assessment and mitigation. Efforts to capitalize on this activity culminated in a 2017 conference, and 27 papers and seven visual case studies from it are included in this proceedings, covering five broad themes: Federal agency programs...

The need to protect and preserve natural, cultural, and scenic resources is an escalating imperative for those tasked with managing Federal public lands and seascapes. The rise in energy development activities can compromise critical visitor experiences when they encroach on settings and seascapes cherished for their naturalness, scenic beauty, and cultural significance. The role of public land and offshore management agencies involves accommodating the demand for resource development while protecting the visual value and integrity of those resources’ natural character. This paper describes...

The need to protect scenery and historic properties is explicitly called out by several Federal statutes. By adopting thoughtful and intentional management strategies to implement the statutory direction, Federal agencies can collectively ensure that important scenery endures for the benefit of future generations. This paper summarizes why it is so important to cultivate thoughtful management of public scenic resources, which encompass both natural and cultural settings. It briefly describes current efforts by Federal agencies to advance the consideration and protection of scenery across...

Understanding biodiversity-productivity relationships (BPRs) is of theoretical importance, and has important management implications. Most work on BPRs has focused on simple and/or experimentally assembled communities, and it is unclear how these observed BPRs can be extended to complex natural forest ecosystems. Using data from over 115,000 forest plots across the contiguous United States, we show that the bivariate BPRs are positive in dry climates and hump-shaped in mesic climates. When considering other site characteristics, BPRs change to neutral in dry climates and remain hump-shaped...

Background: Fuel reduction treatments have been widely implemented across the western US in recent decades for both fire protection and restoration. Although research has demonstrated that combined thinning and burning effectively reduces crown fire potential in the few years immediately following treatment, little research has identified effectiveness of thinning and burning treatments beyond a decade. Furthermore, it is unclear how posttreatment disturbances such as a bark beetle outbreak affect fuel treatment effectiveness. Results: We evaluated differences in surface and canopy fuel...