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Using soil quality indicators for monitoring sustainable forest management

Informally Refereed

Abstract

Most private and public forest land owners and managers are compelled to manage their forests sustainably, which means management that is economically viable,environmentally sound, and socially acceptable. To meet this mandate, the USDA Forest Service protects the productivity of our nation’s forest soils by monitoring and evaluating management activities to ensure they are both scientifically wise and socially responsive.The purpose of this paper is to review soil quality indicators and models for their possible use in soil management and evaluation programs. The Forest Service has taken a progressive stance on adapting their long-used soil quality monitoring program to take advantage ofnew science and technology. How forest soils function in terms of their stability, hydrology,and nutrient cycling is better understood, and indicators of these functions have been identified and tested for cause and effect relationships with tree growth and ecosystem health. Soil quality models are computer-based evaluation tools that quantify soil change and potential change in forest productivity due to management inputs or unintended detrimental disturbances. Soil quality models, when properly conceptualized, developed,and implemented, can provide a legally defensible monitoring and evaluation program based on firm scientific principles that produce unequivocal, credible results at minimum cost.

Parent Publication

Keywords

soil monitoring, soil quality standards, National Forests and Rangelands

Citation

Burger, James A.; [Gray, Garland;] Scott, D. Andrew. 2010. Using soil quality indicators for monitoring sustainable forest management. In: Page-Dumroese, Deborah; Neary, Daniel; Trettin, Carl, tech. eds. Scientific background for soil monitoring on National Forests and Rangelands: workshop proceedings; 2008 April 29-30; Denver, CO. Proc. RMRS-P-59. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station: 13-41.
https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/35615