Management of Forest Landscapes Studied
11/11/97
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Headline: Management of Forest Landscapes Studied
Source: The Environmental News Network
Date: 11/11/97
Copyright: 1997 Environmental News Network, All Rights Reserved
Management of forest landscapes studied
Researchers are using computer modeling programs to study the
effects of landscape structure on plant species, habitat, and
economic output in public forests.
The researchers, from Michigan Technological University and the
U.S. Forest Service Forest Science Laboratory at Rhinelander, Wis.,
hope their findings will help land managers in the Great Lakes region
select timber harvesting methods that will ensure the greatest
possible biological diversity and economic sustainability.
"Our central hypothesis is that landscape structure directly
controls the distribution of plant species, habitat quality, and
economic output," says Project Leader Dr. JiQuan Chen of Michigan
Tech's School of Forestry and Wood Products. "The dynamics of
ecological and economic values and their relationships to various
landscape components can in turn be used as feedback for
manipulating stand and landscape structure to conserve biological
diversity and sustain economic output."
Different harvesting methods result in different structural
patterns across the landscape. Size and placement of patches,
corridors and other features of the landscape are determined in
part by how an area is logged. However, little information exists
on the effects of these large scale patterns on such critical
issues as biodiversity, according to Chen.
"We want to know the cumulative effect of different timber cutting
methods," explains Chen. "We need to be able to describe
conditions from a more comprehensive viewpoint. What we need is
more of a birds eye view -- or better yet, the view from a Boeing
747. Then we can bring together our data, synthesize it,
conceptualize, and put it into a computer mode that will help both
students and resource managers."
"With the computer we can simulate different options," says Chen.
"That's something you can't test in real field conditions. For
example, if you want to test 10 different landscape management
options, you can do it on 10 different sites, but not on the same
site. The computer model will enable us to determine which options
will give what results. We can then assess these with expected
economic returns and accepted social and ecological values."
Chen says wildlife species need different types of forest at
different stages of their lives, so it is important to know how the
forest is put together over large areas, so managers can make sure
they create the right types of habitats in the right time and
space. This is sometimes difficult because different owners may have
different management objectives.
"The public wants land to be managed in particular ways," he says.
"Computer models can help us do that. We'll be able to tell land
managers how these values will play out under different management
options that address both habitat quality and the economic
viability of wood production."
Working with Chen are Paul Desanker of Michigan Tech and Tom Crow
and Eric Gustafson of the USDA Forest Science Lab.
The project is supported by a $228,000 grant from the USDA
National Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program.
For more information, contact JiQuan Chen, Michigan Technological
University, (906)487-3432, email: jiq@mtu.edu.