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Author: Bruce A. Shindler
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Forests and forestry
Languages : en
Pages : 74
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Book Description
Author: Bruce A. Shindler
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Forests and forestry
Languages : en
Pages : 74
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Book Description
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Forests and forestry
Languages : en
Pages : 18
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Author: Eric Lee Toman
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Forest management
Languages : en
Pages : 250
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Book Description
Forests in the Blue Mountains region of eastern Oregon and Washington are facing a large-scale forest health crisis. Poor forest conditions have greatly increased the risk of catastrophic wildfire. Resource managers in the Wallowa-Whitman, Umatilla, and Malheur National Forests are utilizing prescribed fire and mechanized thinning treatments to reduce hazardous fuel loads and restore forest health. While it is generally recognized that social data must be included in resource management decisions there is still a lack of knowledge about public responses to forest conditions and forest practices. In particular, although considerable research has focused on the biological effects of hazardous fuel reduction techniques relatively few studies have addressed public acceptance of these practices. Fuel reduction projects and information programs within the Blue Mountains region provide an opportunity to examine citizen perspectives on the legitimacy of these practices and the effectiveness of informational messages. This report presents a summary of research conducted in 2000/2001 in Blue Mountain communities. This current study replicates research conducted in 1996 (Shindler and Reed 1996), by resurveying the same individuals about the same forest conditions and management practices, while also including a new line of inquiry to examine more recent concerns expressed by forest managers (e.g., smoke, agency outreach programs, and citizen-agency interactions). This type of longitudinal research is particularly useful because it allows the identification of shifts in public attitudes and behaviors and recognition of the factors that influence individual actions. The study used a mail questionnaire to elicit responses from panel members. Panel members consisted of respondents to Shindler and Reed's 1996 survey of Blue Mountain residents. The questionnaire focused on general perceptions of forest conditions and forest management, knowledge of prescribed fire and mechanized thinning treatments, the usefulness of general information sources and specific Forest Service outreach programs, public attitudes prescribed fire and mechanized thinning, and preferences for public involvement in forest management decisions. Several key findings emerge from the data. First, although respondents are supportive of both prescribed fire and thinning practices, support is much greater for mechanized thinning treatments. Second, respondents are generally knowledgeable about prescribed fire and thinning effects; however, some misperceptions exist with key treatment objectives. Third, citizens find interactive educational programs (e.g., personal conversations, guided field trips, school education programs) more useful than uni-directional programs (e.g., newsletters, brochures, environmental impact statements). Fourth, while attitudes toward the use of prescribed fire and mechanized thinning remained relatively constant throughout the study period, findings indicate a declining relationship between the Forest Service and Blue Mountain residents. These findings suggest three strategies essential to continued public support of fuel reduction practices. First, capitalize on existing public knowledge and support. Data indicate an existing base of well-informed, supportive stakeholders that could be a central asset in building future management programs. Second, focus on relations with citizens. Findings suggest that filtering out national issues to focus on local problems and increasing opportunities for meaningful citizen involvement in fire management planning will be particularly useful to improving citizen-agency relations. Third, develop a comprehensive communication strategy. As suggested by this study, a successful strategy will not only consist of information provision but will also focus on the process of how people come to understand forest conditions and support policies.
Author: Bruce A. Shindler
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Forest thinning
Languages : en
Pages : 76
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Author: Bruce Shindler
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 1437929656
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 52
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This is a print on demand edition of a hard to find publication. A mail survey to local residents was used to describe the public¿s understanding of this form of management, identify perceived associated risks and potential barriers to implementation, and the overall level of support for disturbance-based practices. The public generally supports the disturbance-based concept, particularly ecological benefits, but many are still uncertain about details and are withholding judgment until they see the outcomes of implementation. Support is highly correlated with citizens¿ past interaction with local managers. Concerns involve the amount of timber harvesting necessary to achieve objectives and the possibility that changing national politics may influence the consistency of agency policies toward disturbance-based mgmt.
Author: Bruce A. Shindler
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Forest management
Languages : en
Pages : 54
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Book Description
This report examines public perspectives on disturbance-based management conducted in the central Cascade Range in Oregon as part of the Blue River Landscape Strategy. A mail survey to local residents was used to describe the publics understanding of this form of management, identify perceived associated risks and potential barriers to implementation, and the overall level of support for disturbance-based practices. Findings suggest the public generally supports the disturbance-based concept, particularly ecological benefits, but many individuals are still uncertain about details and are withholding judgment until they see the outcomes of implementation. Support is highly correlated with citizens past interaction with local managers. Major concerns involve the amount of timber harvesting necessary to achieve objectives and the possibility that changing national politics may influence the consistency of agency policies toward disturbance-based management.
Author: United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Electronic government information
Languages : en
Pages : 100
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Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Climatic changes
Languages : en
Pages : 183
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Over the past century in the western United States, warming has produced larger and more severe wildfires than previously recorded. General circulation models and their ensembles project continued increases in temperature and the proportion of precipitation falling as rain. Warmer and wetter conditions may change forest successional trajectories by modifying rates of vegetation establishment, competition, growth, reproduction, and mortality. Many questions remain regarding how these changes will occur across landscapes and how disturbances, such as wildfire, may interact with changes to climate and vegetation. Forest management is used to proactively modify forest structure and composition to improve fire resilience. Yet, research is needed to assess how to best utilize mechanical fuel reduction and prescribed fire at the landscape scale. Human communities also exist within these landscapes, and decisions regarding how to manage forests must carefully consider how management will affect such communities. In this work, three aspects of forest management are analyzed: (1) climate effects on forest composition and wildfire activity; (2) efficacy of fuel management strategies toward reducing wildfire spread and severity; and, (3) local resident perspectives on forest management. Using a forest landscape model, simulations of forest dynamics were used to investigate relationships among climate, wildfire, and topography with long-term changes in biomass for a fire-prone dry-conifer landscape in eastern Oregon. Under climate change, wildfire was more frequent, more expansive, and more severe, and ponderosa pine expanded its range into existing shrublands and high-elevation zones. There was a near-complete loss of native high-elevation tree species, such as Engelmann spruce and whitebark pine. Loss of these species were most strongly linked to burn frequency; this effect was greatest at high elevations and on steep slopes. Fuel reduction was effective at reducing wildfire spread and severity compared to unmanaged landscapes. Spatially optimizing mechanical removal of trees in areas at risk for high-severity wildfire was equally effective as distributing tree removal across the landscape. Tripling the annual area of prescribed burns was needed to affect landscape-level wildfire spread and severity, and distributing prescribed burns across the study area was more effective than concentrating fires in high-risk areas. I conclude that forest management can be used to reduce wildfire activity in dry-mixed conifer forests and that spatially optimizing mechanical treatments in high-risk areas can be a useful tool for reducing the cost and ecological impact associated with harvest operations. While reducing the severity and spread of wildfire may slow some long-term species shifts, high sub-alpine tree mortality occurred under all climate and fuel treatment scenarios. Thus, while forest management may prolong the existence of sub-alpine forests, shifts in temperature, precipitation, and wildfire may overtake management within this century. The use of PPGIS was useful for delineating the range of forest management preferences within the local community, for identifying areas of agreement among residents who have otherwise polarized views, and for generating modeling inputs that reflect views that may not be obtained through extant official channels for public participation. Because the local community has concerns about the use of prescribed fire, more education and outreach is needed. This may increase public acceptance of the amounts of prescribed fire needed to modify wildfire trajectories under future climate conditions.
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Forest fires
Languages : en
Pages : 60
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Book Description
A series of syntheses were commissioned by the USDA Forest Service to aid in fuels mitigation project planning. This synthesis focuses on research for assessing the social acceptability of fuels treatments. The synthesis is structured around six important considerations for any social acceptability assessment: defining the fuels treatments being assessed; representing the fuels treatments to people; identifying whose opinion is being sought; deciding how people will be contacted; allowing people to express their judgments; and analyzing and synthesizing the data.
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Electronic journals
Languages : en
Pages : 320
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