Where the rubber meets the road

Abstract

Professionals and technical specialists working in the area of Forest Operations Engineering (FOE) say that without attendant technologies, strategies and systems, the promise of a new approach for managing the nation's forests is only a dream. The USDA Forest Service is shifting toward an ecosystem-based approach to management, generally referred to as ecosystem management. While not precisely defined, an ecosystem-based approach has several practices that are critically different From traditional management. These differences could in turn have a profound effect on the type of information needed by resource managers and policy makers to effectively implement ecosystem Management. One of the differences is that ecosystem management is an idea of focusing on the future and what is left, rather than what will be taken. In other words, it will ensure protecting the earth's environmental capital. Second, there is greater emphasis on ensuring diversity and complexity (both biological and structural) in forest stands. Third, wood products are a key part of multiple use objectives, along with an array of other benefits derived from the forests. While primary emphasis for FOE researchers in the Forest Service is on public land management, the same issues are affecting industrial and nonindustrial private managers. This paper discusses these issues.