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OCR for page 27
2
THE REGION AND ITS FORESTS
/NTRODUCT/ON
This chapter presents a brief history of the development of the Pacific
Northwest region in relation to its forests and their uses, a current
demographic and economic profile of the region in relation to its forests,
and a short description of the forests themselves.
The region's forests are complex and vary depending on precipitation,
soils, elevation, disturbance patterns (e.g., fire, wind, disease, and insect
infestations), management, and use. The forests are traversed by
transportation and communication networks and are separated In places
by broad expanses of cropland, rangeland, and urban areas. They consist
of a mix of ownerships, public and private, that have been subjected to
quite different management regimes (Table 2-~.
A BRIEF M/STORY
The current status of the forests, the forest industry, or the society of the
Pacific Northwest can be understood only in the context of its history.
Humans have probably been altering the ecology of forests in the Pacific
Northwest for more than a millennium (USES 1993a). For example, on
the east side of the Cascade Range, American Indians burned the
hillsides to improve the production of black mountain huckleberries,
blueberries, and grouseberries. Those fires created openings that
attracted deer and elk. The landscape was changed further by the 1SOOs,
when native peoples in the interior Northwest acquired large numbers
27
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28
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OCR for page 29
The Region and Its Forests
Z9
of horses. Although Me IncLians may have altered the landscape in some
areas, the consequences were probably minor in comparison with
natural disturbances such as fire, storms, and drought.
The first European pioneers into the Pacific Northwest followed the
river valleys: today, most major cities are along those same
transportation routes. With the arrival of white settlers in the early
1SOOs, changes in the region accelerated. Forests were cut to clear lancT
for houses, farms, and towns. Timber, minerals, hycEroelectric power,
fish, range livestock, tourism, and agriculture ah played important roles
in the regions development.
The federal government also played an important role in the
development of the region's resources. To encourage settlement of the
Pacific Northwest, resources on public lands and the land itself often
were given away or sold at low prices, as was true throughout the West.
In the case of hydroelectric power and irrigated agriculture, the federal
taxpayer bore much of the cost of development.
The basic patterns of land ownership and subsequent use were
established in the micl-nineteenth century. Federal public-ctomain lands
acquired in the Oregon Compromise of 1846 were sold or granted to
encourage settlement and development of the region. Still other lands
were reserved from disposition to form national parks and national
forests, and Indian reservations were established in treaties between the
United States and sovereign Indian nations.
Large areas were transferred to the states or private ownership (Gates
1968~. Statehood grants to support schools—two sections) per township
of 36 sections have for the most part been retained by the states and
are managed In trust for the schools. But other grants to the states for
railroads, wagon roads, and other internal improvements, as well as
swamplands, were generally sold to settlers and others. The total area
of grants to state governments was substantial: 7.9% of Idaho, 11.4% of
Oregon, and 7.1% of Washington. In ac[dition, substantial areas went
directly into private ownership under various laws, including the
homestead acts, the 1878 Timber and Stone Act, and the IS50 Oregon
Donation Act.
Land grants directly to railroads have had a major effect on forest
land-use patterns (Gates 1968~. The Northern Pacific Railroad received
lone section is 1 square mile or 640 acres.
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30
Pacific Northwest Forests
a grant of 40 alternate sections (25,600 acres) for each mile of railroad
across Montana, Idaho, and Washington in a band as much as 60 miles
wide on both sides of the right-of-way. Some of that land in forested
areas was sold to timber companies, ancL some is still held by timber
firms descended directly from the original companies. Those sales and
other grants to railroads in the region created large regions of
checkerboard ownerships, where alternate sections of private lands are
intermingled with federal forest lands.
In Oregon, 2,891,000 acres of a grant to the Oregon and California
Railroad was revested to the federal government in 1916 when the
company failecE to meet the terms of the grant (Gates 1968~. About
93,000 acres of a grant to the Coos Bay Wagon Roacl were also returned
to the federal government in 1919 (Richardson 1980~. Those two areas,
together with a small amount of forest land that was never appropriated
for private use and was not included in areas reserved for national
forests, make up the highly productive Oregon forests managed by the
Bureau of Trance Management (BEM).
Today, about half the land in the Pacific Northwest is in public
ownership, and most of that land is managed by the U.S. Forest Service
(USFS) and BEM. State governments and a variety of other federal
agencies also manage public lands in the region. AmericanIndian tribes
and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BlA), manage large tracts of land on
reservations scattered throughout the region (Table 2-~. Private
owners have holdings that range in size from small woodIots to millions
of acres of industrial forests owned by large corporations.
The forest resources in the Pacific Northwest have provided income
and basic materials for a growing population. The U.S. National
Resources Committee called forests "the chief means of payment for the
products of other areas" (USNRC 1938), and forests were the most
important factor in the development of the Pacific Northwest through
the m~-1930s. Although the main economic commodities from forests
are timber and timber products, Pacific Northwest forests provide a
variety of other goods and amenities, such as wildlife, recreation, water,
wilderness, edible berries and mushrooms, ornamental plant materials,
and medicines.
By the early twentieth century, the Pacific Northwest had become the
country's leading {umber-producing region (USNRC 1938~; by 1930,
forest industries provided 41% of the value of the regents net exports.
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The Region and Its Forests
37
The clom~nance of forest products was even greater in Oregon and
Washington, where they accounted for 64% and 54% of the value of the
net exports, respectively.
Increasing affluence after World War IT lecl to a large increase In We
demand for wood. Forests began to be viewed as renewable resources
capable of supplying a more or less continuous flow of timber, thereby
eliminating the boom-and-bust cycles that had characterized the logging
industry before the war. In the 1960s, forest management became more
intensive, with many forest owners looking for ways to increase yields
and shorten rotations (the intervals between harvests). Management
strategies such as artificial regeneration—mainly tree planting—became
common practice; this was followed in the 1970s by other strategies,
including tree breeding for genetic improvement, fertilization, thinning,
and pruning. New logging practices were developed to lower costs of
logging and road building.
The place of federal forests in supplying timber for the wood-
procLucts industry in the Pacific Northwest has varied. Private forests
provided most of the timber until the 1950s. During the 1930s, the
timber industry actually lobbied to hoict down federal timber harvests
in western Oregon
because of fears
about their possible
effect on private
timb e r p r ic e s
(Robbing ~ 985;
Richardson 1980; Steen 1976~. Federal forests provided an increasing
share of the region's timber harvests after World War TI as lumber and
plywood production grew to meet the demand for residential
construction. From 1952 to 1976, total softwood timber harvests in the
region increased by 37%, but harvests from the national forests went up
by 87% (USFS 1982~.
Prompted in part by concern over the rapid increase in national forest
timber harvests, Congress passed the Multiple-Use, Sustained-Yield Act
in 1960, which, among other Wings, carried the tacit promise that timber
harvest levels would be maintained into the future (Steen 1976;
Hagenstein 1992~. Historically, most people in the timber industry
thought of sustained yield only in terms of wood; many still do
(Hammond 1991; USFS 1991~. But the multiple-use mandate extended
Today, about half the /and in the
Pacific Northwest is in public
ownership, ant/ most of that /anc/ is
managed by the... USFS ant/ BEM.
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32
Pacific Northwest Forests
to resources and uses other than just wood, including wilderness,
outdoor recreation, wildlife and fish, and grazing (NRC 1990, 1998~.
Throughout the post-WorId War IT era, future timber supplies were
a concern in the Pacific Northwest, especially in view of the increasing
share coming from the nationalforests. The research branch of the USES
examined the implications of the expected change from harvesting
mainly old-growth timber in the Douglas-fir subregion to relying on
second-growth timber. It appeared certain that public forests would
have to provide an increasing share of the region's timber harvest if the
totalharvest were to be maintained (USFS 1963~. Harvests from rational
forests in the region, however, were constant from 1960 until about 1990.
Some strenuous efforts were made to increase these harvests
substantially, but the USFS generally resisted those efforts and held firm
to its nondeclining, even-flow policy.
But even without increases in timber harvests, it was becoming
increasingly difficult to maintain a constant yield of timber from the
federal forests. Shortly after the sustained-yield policy was established
in law, Congress began chipping away at the potential contribution of
the national forests to the timber supply, first with the Wilderness Act
of 1964, and then with a series of other designations that effectively
withdrew parts of the national forests from timber production (Leshy
1992~.
Despite such restrictions on the timber supply, the region's total
output of wood products has increased since 1950. Lumber production
reached its highest level in 1946 and stayed close to that level through
the late 1980s. Plywood production increased rapidly after World War
II, although it has fallen from its peak in the 1970s. Log exports were a
minor drain on the region's forests until about 1970 but accounted for
10-15% of the region's timber harvests from then to the late 1980s.
Although total wood-product output has increased since 1950, timber
harvests have not increased as rapidly because of steady decreases in the
waste of timber used in processing (Adams et al. 1988~.
Despite relatively heavy harvests over the past several decades,
substantial timber volumes remain on lands in all ownership categories
(Waddell et al. 1989~. In 1992, the average volume of sawtimber (trees
suitable for making lumber or plywood) in forests available for timber
harvesting in Oregon and Washington was more than 1S,000 board feet
per acre (Table 2-2~.
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The Region and Its Forests
TABLE 2-2. Average Volume ~ Board Feet of Sawtimber
Per Acre by Ownership Category, 1992
Boar~feet
.
Idaho Oregon Washington
National forest 10,475 20,453 24,198
Other public 9,615 2S,941 22,086
Forest industry 8,462 10,736 14,875
Other private 6,281 7,794 8,809
Source: USES 1993a.
33
This compared with about 3,900 board feet per acre in the southern
United States. Of the Pacific Northwest's total timber not formally
reserved from harvest, private lands had 29%, national forests had 52%,
and other public lands had 19%.
DEMOGRAPHICS AND THE ECONOMY
Population Growth
Since 1970, the Pacific Northwest has undergone numerous dramatic
changes, including economic and cultural changes and significant
increases in human population. Today, about 4% of the U.S. population
lives In the Pacific Northwest.
A wave of immigration began shortly after World War TI when large
numbers of people moved to the Pacific Northwest, mostly to its two
largest metropolitan areas, Seattle and Portland. A second wave of
immigrants, this time largely retirees, began in the mid-1970s.
Communities with distinctive recreational and aesthetic assets, such as
coastal towns like Brookings and Brandon in Oregon, anct inland
communities like Bend, Oregon, and Coeur D'Alene, Idaho, grew
rapidly. By the 1980s, the Pacific Northwest was adding to its
population at a rate of I.9% per year, twice the U.S. national average of
0.99% (U.S. Bureau of the Census 1990~.
The metropolitan areas and cities on the Westside account for most of
the population of the Pacific Northwest and dominate the region's
economy (see Figure 2-1 and Figure 2-2~. Westside residents earn most
of the regions personal income: 69.4%. The economic and demographic
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34
Pacific Northwest Forests
Population Per
Square Mile—1995
250-1,000,000
100-249
50-99
25-49
10-24
5-9
1-4
Coo
FIGURE 2-~. Population in the Pacific Northwest.
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The Region and Its Forests
Westside
64.9%
Eastside 12.6%
14.8%
a) 1991 Population
Califomia
7.7%
Westside
69.4% _
Rockies
Eastside 1 0.7%
1 3.3%
Califomia
6.6%
by Total personal income
FIGURE 2-2. a) 1991 population and b) total personal income, by
subregions. Data from the U.S. Bureau of the Census. Areas
included are Oregon, Washington, and Idaho and counties in
California and counties in Montana.
35
dominance of the Westside has concentrated political strength and
recreation demandin that area. Across the Pacific Northwest, increasing
urbanization has coincided with a shift in public values greater
absolute demand for nonwood forest products (such as environmental
amenities, wildlife, parks, recreation, and wilderness) and greater
demancl for nonwood forest products relative to wood products and
other extractive uses of forest lands.
Economic /mp/ications
of Population Growth
Rapid population growth has been accompanied by two significant
changes in the regional economy. First, the aging of the population and
growing numbers of retirement-age immigrants has increased the
importance of nonIabor income (e.g., interest and dividends). The
second major change in the regional economy is its diversification. The
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36
Pacific Northwest Forests
proportion of total personal income generated by the wood products
industry cleclineci from 6% in 1971 to 3% in 1992. At the same time,
other manufacturing industries increased their shares of total personal
income, in sharp contrast to the national trend toward decreased
importance for manufacturing.
Adjusted for
inflation, personal
income in We Pacific
Northwest has risen
at an annual rate of
3.2% since 1971. This reflects very strong growth in nonlabor income
sources (4.5% annually) and more moderate growth in labor-derived
income (2.7%~.
The regional economy of the Pacific Northwest is remarkably similar
to the that of the nation. Manufacturing industries account for nearly
the same total share of the gross product (the value of all goods and
services produced) for the Pacific Northwest as for the nation
(approximately 19% in 1990~. Transportation, communications, public
utilities, and trade in the region produced 33.6% of the gross regional
product; it was 32.4% of the gross national product. The Pacific
Northwest is less reliant on service industries than the nation as a
whole—15.7% of the gross reg~onalproduct compared with 17.9% of the
gross national product.
Even with changes in the regional economy, the forest products
industry is an important exportbase. The region's share—more than $16
billion—of the nation's total annual value of shipments by the lumber
and wood products industry is about 6 times the region's share based on
indicators of demand for wood products, such as population, personal
income, and value of construction contracts (U.S. Bureau of the Census
1978; U.S. Department of Commerce 1993~. This is a strong indication
of the importance of wood products as a source of income for the region.
The regiona/ economy of the Pacific
Northwest is remarkably similar to
the that of the nation.
THE REGION S FORESTS
Westside Forests
The Cascade Mountains are largely responsible for the temperate
climate and generally moist conditions on the Westside. Much of this
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The Region and Its Forests
37
area receives more than 254 cm of precipitation per year. Precipitation
is strongly seasonal, with 75% occurring between November and March,
with only small amounts between June and October. Because
hardwoods are less drought tolerant, the pattern of winter rain and
summer drought favors growth of conifers over hardwoods (Waring
and Franklin 1979~. The moist climate west of the Cascade crest also
makes fires infrequent and fire-return intervals relatively long and
highly variable.
Coastal areas have dense temperate rainforests dom~natecl by Sitka
spruce (Picea sitchensis), western hemlock (Tsuga heterophyZZa), western
red cedar (Thuja pZicata), and grand fir (Abies grandlis) and Pacific silver
fir (Abies amabiZZis) in the north, grading into rec~wood (Sequoia
sempervirens) forests in southern Oregon ancE northern California.
Interior areas are predominantly western hemlock, Douglas-fir
(Pseudotsuga menziesii), and western red cedar up to midelevations in the
Cascades. Rect alder (AZnus rubra) is common at recently disturbed sites,
anct western rec3 cedar is characteristic of particularly wet areas. True
firs (Abies) and mountain hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana) dominate at
higher elevations (Franklin and Dyrness 1973~.
The Klamath and Siskyou mountains of southwestern Oregon and
northern California have very old and diverse exposed strata and an
east-west orientation of ridges that funnel weather patterns inland.
Those factors ant! the intersection of several vegetative zones make this
possibly the most biologically diverse section of the United States
(Whittaker 1960~. Gradients in species composition with elevation and
aspect are particularly pronounced here, with mesic assemblages at
upper elevations and on northern slopes and arid assemblages at lower
elevations and on southern slopes (Whittaker 1961~.
The amount of Douglas-fir relative to western hemlock in an area
depends on disturbance, especially fire, and on the amount of moisture.
Where fires occur at intervals of 100 to 400 years, Douglas-fir is
dominant. Tess frequent fires (intervals of more than 600 years) favor
hemlock forests (Agee 1993; Huff 1984~. In moist areas, hemlock may
also predominate.
The midelevation (1,000 to 2,500 m) forests on the Westside are
dominated by Douglas-fir, western hemlock, Pacific silver fir, noble fir
(Abies procera), and red fir (Abies magnifica). At lower elevations,
Douglas-fir and western hemlock also can be present, and at higher
elevations, mountain hemlock and yellow cedar (ChamaecJparis
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38
Pacific Northwest Forests
noolkatensis) are common. Above 2,500 meters, the subalpine forests
have open canopies of mountain hemlock (associated with loc~gepole
pine (Pinus contorta), whitebark pine (Pinus aZbicauZis), and other fir
species); in more continental climes and on the east slopes, subalpine fir
(Abies lasiocarpa) (associated with Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii)),
lodgepole pine, whitebark pine, and incense cedar are common.
The Douglas-fir/hardwood and Douglas-fir forests are characteristic
of areas in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon, with the
latter forest type extending along the east slope of the Cascades (Agee
1991~. The upper canopy is predominately Douglas-fir; tanoak
(Lithocarpus rlensiforus), canyon live oak (Quercus chrysolepis), golden
chinquapin(Castanea pumila), and Pacific madrone (Arbutus menziesii)
make up the understory.
Eastside Forests
The landscape and its vegetation are highly varied on the eastside of the
Cascade range. The highest mountain elevations (more than 2,500 m)
have harsh temperatures, and high winds limit the number of species.
Below 2,500 m, frequent drought and fuel accumulation favor short fire-
return intervals (including low-intensity surface fires) (Agee 1993~. The
Eastside receives an average of 25-51 cm of rainfaD annually and as
much as S) cm at higher elevations, such as in the foothills of the Rocky
Mountains north of the Snake River. Some of the subalpine forests of
the WestsicLe also extend east of the Cascade crest.
Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forests are characteristic of the lower
elevations of the eastern Cascade Mountains and intermountain ranges
and extend to lower elevation grasslands and shrublands. The forests
often have open canopies with a heterogeneous understory of grasses
and shrubs. Lodgepole pine is typically found at higher, moist
elevations. The importance of fire in this zone is well established
(Franklin and Dyrness 1973~. Suppression of fire over the past century
in these forests has favored growth of the shrubby understory species
and invasion of shade tolerant firs and Douglas-fir.
Well east of the Cascades, western white pine (Pinus monticoZa) forest
extends from southern Canada to the Locksa Divide in central Idaho,
east on better soils into northwestern Montana, and west to a boundary
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The Region and Its Forests
39
with ponderosa pine in western Idaho and eastern Washington (Larsen
1930~. Much of the original white pine forest has been logged or killed
by white pine blister rust (Cronartium ribicoZa), an introduced pathogen.
The white pine forest is richer in plant species than any other forest type
in the region east of the Cascades (Larsen 1930~. Various other conifer
species commonly grow with white pine, particularly shade-tolerant
species, such as western red ceclar, western hemlock, grand fir, and
Engelmann spruce.
The grand fir zone extends along the eastern Cascade Mountains and
the Blue Mountains into somewhat drier areas. Douglas-fir and
ponderosa pine are common with grand fir in this zone; Douglas-fir
tends to be more prevalent in Idaho. Ponderosa pine, western
larch(Larix occidentaZis), lodgepole pine, western red cedar and western
hemlock are also typical of this zone (Frenke} 1993~. A white fir (Abies
concoZor) zone, with ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir, extends from the
Sierra Nevada north into the eastern Cascades of Oregon. It gracLes into
forests dominated by red fir at higher elevations.
Northern Rocky Mountains
The Northern Rocky Mountain area is an extremely complex ecosystem
with regard to climate, substrate' and biota. From the west, elevations
increase eastward to the Bitterroot Divide, then decrease eastward into
Montana, fmally increasing again toward the Continental Divide of the
Rocky Mountains. Weather systems usually originate over the Pacific
Ocean southwest of the region, and there are rain shadows (areas on the
leeward side of mountains) between the Cascade range and the
Bitterroot range and east of the Bitterroot range.
Annual precipitation decreases progressively toward the southern
portions of the region, as well as from higher to lower elevations
(Franklin and Dyrness 1973~. About half of the annual precipitation is
snow, and precipitation is light in summer. There is a north-south
gradient in climate: northern areas are more maritime and southern
areas are more continental in climate. Steep mountainous slopes create
a dramatic solar-energy flux with large diurnal temperature variations.
Cold-air masses collect in drainages and valley bottoms, often creating
an inversion of the normal vegetation gradients.
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40
Pacific Northwest Forests
The forests of this ecoregion are influenced by catastrophic, stand-
destroying wildfires. This area includes the western red cedar zone and
extensions of the grand fir, Douglas-fir, and ponderosa pine zones.
Western hemlock, grand fir, and western red cedar communities
dominate the more mesic northern portions of the region, and {odgepole
pine, Douglas-fir, and ponderosa pine forests are common farther south.
High-elevation forests include subalpine fir and Engelmann spruce
communities, with lodgepole and whitebark pine communities also
common. Quaking aspen is widely distributed across the region but is
most common in the drier forests to the south. The zone in northern
Idaho and western Montana is predominantly western red cedar,
western hemlock, and western white pine. Grand fir and western larch
are found in drier sites.
REGIONAL OWNERSHIP PATTERNS
Forest landownership is important because of the degree of control over
management that can be exercised by the owner, the differences among
owners in their objectives, and the regulations to which the owners are
subject. The region's forest ownership pattern was establishect early as
population centers and transportation corridors were developect, public-
domain lands were granted to the states ancE railroads, Indian
reservations were created, and the major federal land systems (national
forests and parks) were reserved from the public domain. Those
patterns are unlikely to be changed greatly in the foreseeable future,
although clevelopment is sure to spread. Five broad ownership
categories are especially relevant: federal, other public (mainly state),
Indian, forest industry, and nonindustrial private.
Of the federal forest lancts, the national forests are most extensive, but
the BEM holdings and the national parks are also important for issues
addressed in this report. Forests on Indian reservations, which are
private but sometimes viewed as quasi public, are important in the
region because they are fairly extensive. State-owned forests are of
moderate importance, except in Washington, where they are extensive
and have been consolidated to a substantial extent. The two big
categories of private forest land, forest-incLustry and nonindustrial, are
important not only because they are extensive and are managed to meet
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The Region and Its Forests
47
various private objectives, but also because of their juxtaposition with
fecleral forest lands.
Congress has used its plenary authority over the federal lands to
designate national parks, wilderness areas, wild ancE scenic rivers,
national recreation areas, and other kiwis of jurisdictions and uses.
Many of these were created from forest land in national forests.
Although Congress was
specific in setting uses of
these designated areas, it has
left the allocation of land
uses on the remaining
national forest and the BEM
holdings to the various lanct-
management agencies.
USES and the Bl M allocate land uses under broad multiple-use
statutory guidelines that give the agencies wide discretion in
determining specific uses or mixtures of uses. The planning process
identifies streamside and scenic influence zones, special wildlife habitat,
and intensive recreational-use areas, as well as timber management and
harvest areas. Public involvement in this planning is intended to ensure
land allocations and other management decisions reflect broad public
interests. Plans are reviewed every 10 to 15 years to allow adjustment
for changing conditions.
The various reserves2 and riparian zones that are emerging as part of
the Northwest Forest Plan will override allocations in existing plans, but
not the congressional designations of national wilderness areas, parks,
ancl recreational areas.
Most of the state-owned forest lanct in the region was granted to
support schools as part of statehood acts. Acting as trustees for the
schools, the states generally manage the lands to maximize income from
timber production. As other demands on the lands have mounted, the
states have responded with management plans that recognize
recreational, environmental protection, and other uses, even where those
might compete with timber production.
Five broad ownership
categories are especia//y
relevant: feciera/, other public
(mainly state), /nclian, forest
in c/ustry, and n on industria/
private.
2For the purposes of this report, a reserve is any public land on which
commercial timber harvest is prohibited, such as wilderness areas, national
parks, and the reserves created in the NFP.
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42
Pacific Northwest Forests
Under its trust responsibility for managing forests on Indian
reservations, the federal government (through the Bureau of Indian
Affairs) works with some tribal governments in planning the use ancl
management of Indian forests. BlA tends to see its responsibility as
maximizing income for the tribe, which usually translates to an
emphasis on timber production wherever possible. The tribes, on the
other hand, are often more interested in cultural values (IFMAT 1993~.
Many tribes with large areas of forest plan and conduct their own forest
management programs and also work with federal, state, and local
governments to manage lands affected by the Endangered Species Act
and other federal acts.
On private forest land, each owner decides on the uses and
management. Forest-industry firms tend to take a fairly long-range
view in selecting management goals and programs. The objectives of
nonindustrial private forest owners are more variable. Ownership tencEs
to be less stable and the time perspective shorter than for industry firms
(NRC 1998~. And statewide land-use controls, such as those of the
Oregon Land Conservation and Development Commission, can limit an
owner's ability to change from forest to nonforest uses, although such
controls typically do not require the owner to devote the land to
particular forest uses (Diamond and Noonan 1996~.
The mix of ownerships and purposes for which forests are managed
and used in the Pacific Northwest amplifies the effects of the natural
patchiness of forest landscapes. The intermingling of forests and
ownerships presents a complicated situation for management of Pacific
Northwest forests.
SUMMAR Y
Human activities have changed the face of the Pacific Northwest
considerably. Today's landscape is a mix of public and private lands
put to cliverse uses; the Pacific Northwest is well known for its
checkerboard! ownership patterns. Reducing ownership fragmentation
of existing and proposed reserves on federal lands would improve
management of lands for multiple uses and is well recognized (NRC
1993~. Many mechanisms (e.g., conservation easements, land trusts,
land tracLes, and dedications) have been attempted for a variety of
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The Region and Its Forests
43
purposes, sometimes to increase the representation of old-growth forest
types that are underrepresented on the landscape. But land trades and
similar mechanisms often are controversial, and many groups believe
the government is not receiving equitable treatment in those
transactions.
The major challenges for forest ecosystem management in the Pacific
Northwest lie less in resolving the problems of the past than in
anticipating the changes of the future. Development of the Pacific
Northwest during this century has relied heavily on the array of
resources—timber, domestic water, salmon, and recreation—provided
by federal forests. Natural resources will play a prominent role in the
future as well—the 1994 population is expected to have doubled by
2030.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
northwest forests
