The Forest Stewardship Series is a 24-part free online publication that provides owners of California forestland with a comprehensive source of information pertinent to the management and enjoyment of their lands. Helps owners formulate and implement strategies for achieving personal goals as a landowner. The series provides an introduction to the lifelong study of forest stewardship that is part of owning forest property.
Part 8 of the 24-part Forest Stewardship Series. The Forest Stewardship Series is a 24-part free online publication that provides owners of California forestland with a comprehensive source of information pertinent to the management and enjoyment of their lands. This information will help you formulate and implement strategies for achieving your personal goals as a landowner. The series provides an introduction to the lifelong study of forest stewardship that is part of owning forest property.
Fundamental changes have occurred in all aspects of forestry over the last 50 years, including the underlying science, societal expectations of forests and their management, and the evolution of a globalized economy. This textbook is an effort to comprehensively integrate this new knowledge of forest ecosystems and human concerns and needs into a management philosophy that is applicable to the vast majority of global forest lands. Ecological forest management (EFM) is focused on policies and practices that maintain the integrity of forest ecosystems while achieving environmental, economic, and cultural goals of human societies. EFM uses natural ecological models as its basis contrasting it with modern production forestry, which is based on agronomic models and constrained by required return-on-investment. Sections of the book consider: 1) Basic concepts related to forest ecosystems and silviculture based on natural models; 2) Social and political foundations of forestry, including law, economics, and social acceptability; 3) Important current topics including wildfire, biological diversity, and climate change; and 4) Forest planning in an uncertain world from small privately-owned lands to large public ownerships. The book concludes with an overview of how EFM can contribute to resolving major 21st century issues in forestry, including sustaining forest dependent societies.