Development and transfer of spatial tools based on landscape ecological principles: Supporting public participation in forest restoration planning in the Southwestern United States

Abstract

European explorers and colonists first established permanent settlements, and for centuries the forests seemed inexhaustible. In this context of seemingly limitless land, abundant timber resources, and ongoing westward expansion, the United States began a farsighted experiment-holding vast tracts of undeveloped land as public property and managing them under federal and state authority for the benefit of all citizens (for details, see Wilkinson and Anderson 1987). This experiment, bold in scope and visionary in concept, has retained forest cover over most of these lands, despite overzealous exploitation that liquidated virtually all southwestern oldgrowth forests and that degraded forest conditions in much of the region (Behan 2001). Yet on the whole, the public lands experiment in the United States has been a conservation success. Most of the National Forest System lands remain in a seminatural state, in contrast to productive private forests, which have largely been converted to agroforestry. Moreover, citizens retain a powerful voice in how public forest lands are managed. © 2006 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC. All rights reserved.