Evaluating areas of high conservation value in western Oregon with a decision-support model

Abstract: The Northwest Forest Plan was implemented in 1994 to protect habitat for species associated with old-growth forests, including Northern Spotted Owls (Strix occidentailis caurina) in . Nevertheless, Resumen: El Plan Forestal Noroccidental fue implementado en 1994 para proteger el hábitat para especies asociadas con bosques maduros, incluyendo Strix occidentailis caurina en Washington, Oregon y norte de California (E. U. A.). Sin embargo, datos de monitoreo durante 10 años indicanéxito mixto en el logro de las metas ecológicas del plan. Utilizamos el modelo de respaldo a la toma de decisiones para el manejo de ecosistemas para evaluar hábitats terrestres y acuáticos en el paisaje con base en los objetivos ecológicos de

Spatial patterns in land use and water quality in the Tillamook Bay Watershed : a GIS mapping project

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Climate Change Refugia For Biodiversity In The Klamath-Siskiyou Ecoregion

The Klamath-Siskiyou Ecoregion has been a refuge for species during past climate change events, but current anthropogenic stressors are likely compromising its effectiveness as a refugium for this century\u27s projected changes. Reducing non-climate stressors and securing protection for large, complex landscapes are important long-term actions to alleviate climate change impacts on biodiversity. Equally important is the immediate protection of a network of climate change microrefugia, particularly old growth and intact forests on north-facing slopes and in canyon bottoms, lower- and middle-elevations, wetter coastal mountains, and along elevational gradients. Such areas provide local opportunities for vulnerable species to persist within the ecoregion. We identify a provisional set of 22 highest-priority and 40 high-priority microrefugia that occur mostly outside of existing protected areas and along wetter and lower elevations of the ecoregion. Proposed reserve designs, if fully implemented, would capture most of the recommended microrefugia, although we found 11 important gaps. Most of the region\u27s biodiversity, endemic species, and species vulnerable to climate change are invertebrates, non-vascular plants, and fungi that are largely restricted to persistently cool and moist late-successional forests. Opportunities for climate change response for vulnerable taxa will necessarily be local due to a limited capacity of many species to move to new habitat, even over relatively small distances where land use practices create inhospitable conditions. The ecoregion\u27s distinctive and endemic serpentine-substrate flora also is at risk and possible refugia are sites that will retain wet soil conditions, such as seeps and bogs

Building on Two Decades of Ecosystem Management and Biodiversity Conservation under the Northwest Forest Plan, USA

Correction: We discovered two typos and a change in a sentence needed in our published manuscript. Regarding the typos: timber estimates in Section 2 of the NWFP’s Long-Term Objectives should have been 2.34 million cubic meters annually instead of 234 million cubic meters annually and ~1.78 million cubic meters instead of 178 million cubic meters annually. The statement regarding murrelet populations—“Trends were downward (but not significant) in other NWFP states” should be deleted in this paper [1]. The authors would like to apologize for any inconvenience caused to the readers by these changes.The 1994 Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP) shifted federal lands management from a focus on timber production to ecosystem management and biodiversity conservation. The plan established a network of conservation reserves and an ecosystem management strategy on ~10 million hectares from northern California to Washington State, USA, within the range of the federally threatened northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina). Several subsequent assessments—and 20 years of data from monitoring programs established under the plan—have demonstrated the effectiveness of this reserve network and ecosystem management approach in making progress toward attaining many of the plan’s conservation and ecosystem management goals. This paper (1) showcases the fundamental conservation biology and ecosystem management principles underpinning the NWFP as a case study for managers interested in large-landscape conservation; and (2) recommends improvements to the plan’s strategy in response to unprecedented climate change and land-use threats. Twenty years into plan implementation, however, the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, under pressure for increased timber harvest, are retreating from conservation measures. We believe that federal agencies should instead build on the NWFP to ensure continuing success in the Pacific Northwest. We urge federal land managers to (1) protect all remaining late-successional/old-growth forests; (2) identify climate refugia for at-risk species; (3) maintain or increase stream buffers and landscape connectivity; (4) decommission and repair failing roads to improve water quality; (5) reduce fire risk in fire-prone tree plantations; and (6) prevent logging after fires in areas of high conservation value. In many respects, the NWFP is instructive for managers considering similar large-scale conservation efforts.This is the publisher’s final pdf. The published article is copyrighted by the author(s) and published by MDPI. The published article can be found at: http://www.mdpi.com/journal/forestsKeywords: northern spotted owl, ecosystem management, global forest model, climate change, ecological integrity, biodiversity, Northwest Forest Pla

Red-Listed Ecosystem Status of Interior Wetbelt and Inland Temperate Rainforest of British Columbia, Canada

The Interior Wetbelt (IWB) of British Columbia, which includes the globally rare Inland Temperate Rainforest (ITR), contains primary forests poorly attributed and neglected in conservation planning. We evaluated the IWB and ITR using four IUCN Red List of Ecosystems Criteria: geographic distribution, environmental degradation (abiotic and biotic factors), and likelihood of ecosystem collapse. Clearcut logging (3.2M ha) represented 57% of all anthropogenic disturbances, reducing potential primary forest by 2.7 million ha (28%) for the IWB and 524,003 ha (39%) for the ITR. Decadal logging rates nearly doubled from 5.3% to 10.2% from 1970s–2000s. Core areas (buffered by 100-m from roads and developments) declined by 70% to 95% for the IWB and ITR, respectively. Vulnerable was assigned to karst, the only abiotic factor assessed, because it was associated with rare plants. For biotic factors, Old-Growth Birds were Vulnerable, Southern Woodland Caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) habitat and Sensitive Fish were Endangered, and Old-Growth Lichens habitat was Critical. Overall, the IWB was ranked as Endangered and the ITR as Critical with core area collapse possible within 9 to 18 years for the ITR, considered one of the world’s most imperiled temperate rainforests

Building on Two Decades of Ecosystem Management and Biodiversity Conservation under the Northwest Forest Plan, USA

The 1994 Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP) shifted federal lands management from a focus on timber production to ecosystem management and biodiversity conservation. The plan established a network of conservation reserves and an ecosystem management strategy on ~10 million hectares from northern California to Washington State, USA, within the range of the federally threatened northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina). Several subsequent assessments—and 20 years of data from monitoring programs established under the plan—have demonstrated the effectiveness of this reserve network and ecosystem management approach in making progress toward attaining many of the plan’s conservation and ecosystem management goals. This paper (1) showcases the fundamental conservation biology and ecosystem management principles underpinning the NWFP as a case study for managers interested in large-landscape conservation; and (2) recommends improvements to the plan’s strategy in response to unprecedented climate change and land-use threats. Twenty years into plan implementation, however, the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, under pressure for increased timber harvest, are retreating from conservation measures. We believe that federal agencies should instead build on the NWFP to ensure continuing success in the Pacific Northwest. We urge federal land managers to (1) protect all remaining late-successional/old-growth forests; (2) identify climate refugia for at-risk species; (3) maintain or increase stream buffers and landscape connectivity; (4) decommission and repair failing roads to improve water quality; (5) reduce fire risk in fire-prone tree plantations; and (6) prevent logging after fires in areas of high conservation value. In many respects, the NWFP is instructive for managers considering similar large-scale conservation efforts