Boreal Forest Landscape Restoration in the Face of Extensive Forest Fragmentation and Loss

Abstract

Historical conditions that provide a natural legacy for defining restoration targets are not applicable without adjusting these targets to expected future conditions. Prestoration approaches, defined as restoration that simultaneously considers past, present, and future conditions with a changing climate, are necessary to advance the protection of biodiversity and the provisioning of ecosystem services. Large areas of boreal forest landscapes are transformed and degraded by industrial forestry practices. With largely fragmented and too-small areas of remaining high conservation value forests, protection and preservation are insufficient and must be complemented by active restoration in the managed forest matrix. Successful forest landscape restoration incorporates varied spatiotemporal scales and resolutions to compose restoration routes that best reflect the expected future sustainability challenges as well as planning and governance frameworks.