Defining stand-level sustainability exploring stand-level stewardship

Abstract

Today's forest manager must balance recreation and other nonconsumptive values with the increasing demand for both timber and nontimber forest products. How do we ensure that our actions represent an appropriate balance among competing demands? What is sustainable forest management, and how might we reconcile this concept with the developing standards of 'green' certification? Decision support tools can help make long-term projections of forest conditions and values that may result from alternative management strategies. Here we describe a decision support software package for forest ecosystem management, called FORECAST.