Chapter 12

Ecosystem Based Management

A process that attempts to manage the harvesting of resources in ways that minimize impacts on the ecosystems and ecological processes that provide the resource.

National Forest Management Act

An act passed by congress in 1976 mandating that renewable resource management plans be made for every national forest, based explicitly on the concepts of multiple use and sustained yield.

National Wildlife Refuge

Another type of protected area and is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Forest

Any ecosystem with a high density of trees.

Controlled Burns

Burning areas of forest under carefully controlled conditions.

Prescribed Burns

Burning areas of forest under carefully controlled conditions.

Island Biogeography Theory

Explains how species come to be distributed among oceanic islands.

Edge Effects

Impacts that result because the conditions along a fragment„s edge are different than conditions in the interior.

Land Trusts

Local and regional organizations that preserve lands valued by their members.

United States National Forest

Managed by the U.S. Forest Service—that covers over 8% of the nations land area.

Primary Forest

Old-growth timber forests.

Brazil, Indonesia and West Africa are...

Places in which deforestation is occurring rapidly.

Wildland-Urban Interface

Placing more homes in fire prone situations.

Corridors

Protected land this is important for allowing animals to travel between islands of habitat.

National Parks

Publicly held lands protected from extraction and development but open to the public for nature appreciation and recreation.

Subcanopy

Second sub habitat of a forest.

Sustainable Forest Certification

Several organizations examine timber company practice, if the practice is solid it gets this label.

Adaptive Management

Systematically testing different management approaches with the aim of improving methods as time goes on, including changing practices in midstream if necessary.

SLOSS Dilemma (Single Large or Several Small)

The SLOSS Debate was a debate in ecology and conservation biology during the 1970s and 1980s as to whether Single Large or Several Small (SLOSS) reserves were a superior means of conserving biodiversity in a fragmented habitat.

Deforestation

The clearing and loss of forests. Deforestation has negative impacts. It causes major loss of biodiversity, desertification, and adds carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.

Clear-Cutting

The easiest and most cost-efficient method in the short term, but it has the greatest impact on ecosystems.

Distance Effect

The farther an island lies from a continent, the fewer species tend to find and colonize it. Thus, remote islands host few species because of low immigration rates.

Forestry (Silviculture)

The growing and cultivation of trees.

Understory

The layer of a forest around the bushes and shrubs.

Maximum Sustainable Yield

The maximum amount of resource extraction possible without depleting the resource from one harvest to the next.

Multiple Use

The national forests are to be managed for recreation, wildlife habitat, mineral extraction, and other uses.

Salvage Logging

The physical removal of small trees, underbrush, and dead trees by timber companies.

Sustainable Resource Management

The practice of harvesting resources in ways that do not deplete them.

Secondary forest

The redwoods in California..

Concession

The right to extract the resource.

Wilderness Areas

These areas are off-limits to development, but open to hiking, nature study, and other low-impact public recreation.

New Forestry

This approach calls for timber cuts that explicitly mimic natural disturbances.

Seed-Tree

This approach leaves small numbers of mature and vigorous seed-producing trees to reseed the logged area.

Shelterwood

This approach leaves small numbers of mature trees to provide shelter for new seedlings.

Species-Area Curves

Together, the latter two trends give large islands more species than small islands.

Canopy

Top sub habitat of a forest.

Biosphere Reserves

Tracts of land with exceptional biodiversity that couple preservation with sustainable development to benefit the local people. Local stakeholders apply to UNESCO for biosphere designations.

Uneven-Aged

With a mix of ages and species, to more closely resemble a natural forest.

Even-Aged

monocultures are planted and cut all at once, and then the land is replanted.