Landscape impacts from valuing core area in national forest planning

Abstract Forest core area was valued in a mathematical programming model to support decision-making for the most recent USDA Forest Service plans for national forests in Minnesota. A comparison of management schedules developed by the model to a strategy of simply designating pre-allocated areas for large patch production shows that valuing core area substantially increases the average patch size of mature forest. Analyses of maps of management schedules over the 100-year planning horizon using Fragstats, a computer program for spatial analysis, show substantial differences in spatial measures such as the overall distribution of patch sizes and edge-to-patch-area ratios. Model results reflect the fact that increasing patch sizes improves the efficiency of producing core area because less area of mature forest is then needed for buffer area to protect core area. Although the model cannot address patch size directly, results point to locations where large patches can likely be produced without large sacrifices in other objectives. Compared to other spatial modeling approaches, the approach is appealing because emphasis is on forest conditions rather than the size of harvested areas. Results demonstrate that multiple model runs can give forest planners insight regarding tradeoffs between spatial management objectives and other management objectives for areas as large as a national forest.

[1]  Adaptable Landscapes Ate the Key to Sustainable Forests , 1992 .

[2]  Fred L. Bunnell,et al.  Forest-Dwelling Vertebrate Faunas and Natural Fire Regimes in British Columbia: Patterns and Implications for Conservation , 1995 .

[3]  Jerry F. Franklin,et al.  Creating landscape patterns by forest cutting: Ecological consequences and principles , 1987, Landscape Ecology.

[4]  D. W. Johnston,et al.  Ecology and conservation of neotropical migrant landbirds , 1992 .

[5]  Southeastern Forest Experiment Station.  General technical report , 1985 .

[6]  G. Aplet,et al.  Historical Range of Variability: A Useful Tool for Evaluating Ecosystem Change , 1994 .

[7]  L. Fahrig,et al.  Importance of patch scale vs landscape scale on selected forest birds , 2002 .

[8]  B. Biswell,et al.  Northern Spotted Owls: Influence of Prey Base and Landscape Character , 1992 .

[9]  José G. Borges,et al.  Using dynamic programming and overlapping subproblems to address adjacency in large harvest scheduling problems , 1998 .

[10]  L. Harris.  Edge Effects and Conservation of Biotic Diversity , 1988 .

[11]  W. Romme,et al.  Cumulative effects of roads and logging on landscape structure in the San Juan Mountains, Colorado (USA) , 2001, Landscape Ecology.

[12]  K. McGarigal,et al.  FRAGSTATS: spatial pattern analysis program for quantifying landscape structure. , 1995 .

[13]  Dietmar W. Rose,et al.  A simulation approach for optimal timber management scheduling , 1984 .

[14]  Richard H. Yahner,et al.  Changes in Wildlife Communities Near Edges , 1988 .

[15]  Pacific Southwest Forest,et al.  Ecology and conservation of the Marbled Murrelet , 1996 .

[16]  D. E. Andersen,et al.  EDGE EFFECT ON NESTING SUCCESS OF GROUND NESTING BIRDS NEAR REGENERATING CLEARCUTS IN A FOREST-DOMINATED LANDSCAPE , 2002 .

[17]  L. Fahrig,et al.  HABITAT LOSS AND POPULATION DECLINE: A META‐ANALYSIS OF THE PATCH SIZE EFFECT , 1998 .

[18]  R. Forman.  Land Mosaics: The Ecology of Landscapes and Regions , 1995 .

[19]  L. A. Brand,et al.  RESPONSE OF PASSERINE BIRDS TO FOREST EDGE IN COAST REDWOOD FOREST FRAGMENTS , 2001 .

[20]  M. Wimberly.  Spatial simulation of historical landscape patterns in coastal forests of the Pacific Northwest , 2002 .

[21]  G. A. Jordan,et al.  Forest landscape management modeling using simulated annealing , 2002 .

[22]  John A. Young,et al.  A landscape-level analysis of marbled murrelet habitat in western Washington , 1995 .

[23]  W. Zipperer.  Deforestation patterns and their effects on forest patches , 1993, Landscape Ecology.

[24]  G. A. Jordan,et al.  Characterizing spatial structure of forest landscapes , 1995 .

[25]  Jared M. Diamond,et al.  THE ISLAND DILEMMA: LESSONS OF MODERN BIOGEOGRAPHIC STUDIES FOR THE DESIGN OF NATURAL RESERVES , 1975 .

[26]  J. Bissonette,et al.  The behavior of landscape metrics commonly used in the study of habitat fragmentation , 1998, Landscape Ecology.

[27]  Yu Wei,et al.  Integrating spatial objectives into forest plans for Minnesota's National Forests , 2005 .

[28]  T. Rambo,et al.  DISPERSAL LIMITATIONS OF EPIPHYTIC LICHENS RESULT IN SPECIES DEPENDENT ON OLD‐GROWTH FORESTS , 2000 .

[29]  O. Honnay,et al.  Permeability of ancient forest edges for weedy plant species invasion , 2002 .