Showing papers in "Journal of Forestry in 1997"

New York's battle with the Asian long-horned beetle

Abstract: A wide variety of organisms are unintentionally transported from country to country each year, primarily as a result of world trade. Practically all classes of plants and animals can be stowaways. Aquatic organisms travel in the ballast water of ships; land organisms move with the cargo. Some organisms hitch rides inside the cargo, while others travel on or inside the crating, pallets, or other shipping materials.

Forest susceptibility to the gypsy moth.

Abstract: Since 1868 or 1869, when it was introduced near Boston, the gypsy moth has been slowly expanding its range to include the entire northeastern United States and portions of Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, Ohio, and Michigan (Liebhold et al. 1992, 1996). It is inevitable that the gypsy moth will continue to spread south and west over the next century.

Human Migration and Agricultural Expansion: A Threat to the Maya Tropical Forests

Abstract: A s in other parts of Central America, the onceremote tropical forests of Guatemala are being cut and burned to create new farmland. Evidence of the threat to the ancient lands of the Mayas comes from timeseries Landsat Thematic Mapper observations and analysis. In this paper we estimate deforestation rates and look for trends. Satellite images were used to quantify and monitor rates, patterns, and trends of forest clearing during a period corresponding to new road construction and significant human migration into the newly accessible forest region. The Peten District (36,000 square kilometers) is the largest and 'most remote region of Guatemala. The northern part of the district, along with adjacent Mexican states (Chiapas and Campeche) and Belize (Rio Bravo Conservation District), constitutes the largest contiguous tropical moist forest left in Central America. The center of the ancient Maya empire, it contains many of the largest and most famous classic Maya sites, including the popular tourist attraction Tikal National Park. In the thousand years since Maya culture waned, this area had not experienced significant population increases until the mid-1960s, when government policies began to encourage colonization of the region. In 1997 the Peten population is estimated at 500,000 people (N.B. Schwartz, pers. commun.) Figure /.The Maya Biosphere Reserve (hatched area) lies in the northern half of the Peten District of Guatemala. Time-series satellite imagery revealed a pattern of slash-and-burn clearing during the time that new roads were being built, allowing significant human migration into the reserve. Annual forest-clearing rates in the early 1990s exceeded 3 percent in the buffer zone south of the reserve and in some of its more accessible corridors. Satellite remote sensing is a viable technology in isolated tropical regions where other methods are not cost effective and current information is needed for establishing conservation priorities. The Maya Biosphere Reserve in the Peten District was established in 1990 by the congress of Guatemala. The reserve contains three types of management units. A core area of national parks and biological reserves has the highest level of protection. A large multiple-use zone allows some forms of extractive harvesting, ranching, farming, hunting, and commercial logging. A buffer zone, south of the reserve, has no land-use restrictions (Whitacre 1995). Although conservation organizations have been working diligently to develop sustainable programs in the reserve, real advances in conservation are difficult to achieve because of increasing human migration. Landless farmers (milperos) practice slasli-and-burn agriculture and have had few incentives to employ more intensive and sustainable methods (such as terracing), perhaps out of fear that they could be evicted from the land (Schwartz 1990). Whitacre (1996) cites other detrimental impacts on the Maya Biosphere Reserve, including road building, oil exploration, cattle ranching, hunting, taking of exotic fauna for pets and tropical plants for the floral trade, and high-grade logging of mahogany (Swietenia macropbylla) and cedar (Cedrela odorata). The socioeconomic and cultural forces driving the recent migration and forest conversion have been reported by Stuart (1 991); Southgate and Basterrechea

NIPF Landowner's view of regulation.

Abstract: As awareness and concern regarding the environmental consequences of forest practices have increased, new or amended forest regulations have been placed on nonindustrial private forestlands (NIPF) in the Pacific Northwest (Salazar and Cubbage 1990; Quigley 1992). Debates over whether forest practice regulations are providing public benefits or preventing public harm are intensifying (Ellefson et al. 1995), and forest landowners are finding their bundle of rights diminished by stricter forest practices legislation. Against this backdrop, NIPF harvest levels in the region have more than doubled since 1976 (Haynes et al. 1995). Some people speculate, based mostly on anecdotal evidence, that anticipation of future regulation has spurred the accelerating harvests (Plummer 1993).

10 Guidelines for Ecosystem Researchers: Lessons from Missouri

Abstract: In the early 1990s managers in natural resource agencies in Missouri began asking, How does ecosystem management relate to our current practices? How might we do a better job of managing large ecosystems? As they started addressing these questions, several points emerged: Planning and managing ecosystems requires expertise in more subject areas than any single individual can possess. Many ecosystem attributes can be observed only at large scales, like landscapes or watersheds. Management issues also involve multiple ownerships. New tools are needed to help synthesize information and guide decision making. The Missouri land managers acknowledged those constraints and began discussing ways to collaborate on ecosystem research and management projects. As with any collaboration, the process has not been quick, easy, or simple. There is no master plan for this work, but rather a series of complementary large-scale research and development efforts to improve both knowledge and tools. The initiatives involve longterm ecosystem experiments and other permanent plot data, synthesis of research results across numerous disciplines, spatial data compilation and analysis, and making ecosystem management responsive to society.