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Southern Forest Resource AssessmentReport - Experts Meeting to Define Questions |
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Session #3: Defining derivative questions from the concerns
Assessment Questions - Broad Category A
Landscape/Terrestrial Ecosystems
Concern #4. Main questions that need to be answered:
A1. Based on the selection criteria, what plant and animal species will be emphasized in the SSA and what are their habitat relationships (forest community, forest succession, rare communities)? (criteria: federally listed threatened and endangered species, rangewide viability, major game species, high management/public interest, demanding habitat requirements, keystone species).
A2. What is the status , trends, and distribution of terrestrial habitats stratified according to landownership, ecological units, states, and across the South?
A3. What ecosystem conditions and management activities are needed to sustain habitats for the selected plant and animal habitat associates?
A4. What roles do the various landowners have now and in the future to sustain habitats for the selected plant and animal species?Concern #1. Rapid urbanization and land use changes in the South are leading to detrimental impacts to some terrestrial plants and animals.
A5. What are the historic land use changes in the South? [NRI data (state level): 1982-present]
A6. What are the projected land use changes?
A7. What are the historic and projected changes in forest land use intensity (e.g., native to plantation, recreational)?
A8. What are effects of road density on habitat and selected plant and animal species?
A9. What are the effects of road maintenance on selected species?
A10. What are the impacts of environmental stressors (drought, ozone, acid rain) on forest structure, composition, and function?
A11. How have land use changes affected forest composition and structure?
A12. How do human population changes influence plant and animal diversity?
A13. What are the effects of urban development on plant and animal habitats?Concern #2. Increasing number of landowners with diversified objectives may be impacting forest sustainability and ecosystem health.
A14. What is the distribution of land ownership by tract size?
A15. What is the forest composition and age class distribution of those ownerships?
A16. What percentage of non-industrial private land owners are actively managing their lands?
A17. What are the natural resource objectives of non-industrial private landowners?
A18. What are the trends and driving factors influencing non-industrial private landowner objectives?
A19. What are the trends and driving factors for landownership changes?
A20. How does land ownership affect forest management and resource sustainability?
Issue 3. The effects of more intensive forest management strategies across the South may be negatively impacting sustainability of forest ecosystems (productivity and biological diversity).
Questions:
A21. Has intensive forest management resulted in younger forest?
A22. Has intensive forest management resulted in reduction in soil productivity?
A23. Has intensive forest management resulted in changes in species composition?
A24. Has intensive forest management resulted in increased soil erosion?
A25. Has intensive forest management resulted in less complex forest structure?
A26. Has intensive forest management resulted in adverse impacts to t&e species?
A27. Has intensive forest management resulted in adverse impacts to water quality?
A28. Has intensive forest management resulted in adverse impacts to game species?
A29. Has intensive forest management resulted in beneficial effects to select species?
A30. What are the trends in annual timber harvest (acres) and reforestation?
A31. What is the management regime on pine plantations?
A32. What are the trends in fire management activities (prescribed fire, fire suppression, etc.)?
A33. What barriers exist to the use of prescribed burning?Issue 4. The lack of integrated information sources and interagency cooperation hinder our ability to manage natural resources.
A34. What are the tools necessary to address this issue?Issue 5. The diversity of public perceptions, attitudes, and land use greatly complicates public policy and forest management.
A35. What are the public perceptions?
A36. How the changing public perceptions and attitudes affecting public policy and forest management?Assessment Questions - Broad Category B
Forest Extent/Condition/Health
Concern #1: Native and invasive non-native (exotic) species are affecting the productivity of the South's forests.
B1. What are the most important native and invasive/exotic species and where do they occur (now and in the future)?
B2. What the are the effects of these species on forest conditions?
B3. What are the factors that will influence future rates of spread of native and exotic species?
B4. What are the factors that will influence future introductions of invasive exotic species?Concern #2: Rapid urbanization of wildlands and forest fragmentation are impairing land managers abilities to conduct forest management activities of fire management, pesticide use, recreation, harvesting, and silvicultural activities and interrupting the structural integrity of large tracts of wildlands.
B5. What are the socio-economic tradeoffs to different strategies associated with managing the integrity of wildlands? (e.g. prescribed versus wildland fires, pesticide use, silviculture, recreation)
B6. What is the extent and distribution of forest fragmentation during the past two decades?
B7. Where is urbanization most likely to occur during the next 10 years?
B8. How changes in land ownership affect the management of forestlands and what are those ownership changes?Concern #3: Public sentiment about the use of fire, pesticides, old growth forests, forest dynamics, and management practices negatively affect the ability to implement management activities.
B9. What are public opinions about the use of fire, pesticides, old growth, forest dynamics, etc.?
B10. What are the sources of information that the public uses to formulate their opinions?
B11. How has public sentiment affected sustainability and management practices?
B12. What are the demographics of the people or groups who express public opinion related to forest management?Concern 3: Appropriate forest management strategies are sometimes not selected because of potential legal/political ramifications (Endangered Species Act, Best Management Practices, Conservation Reserve Program, etc.).
B13. What are the specific legal and political ramifications that are currently in place or proposed?
B14. Who influences the establishment of legal and political actions?
B15. Which policies and laws have conflicting objectives?
B16. How have policies and laws affected forest conditions?Concern 4: EPA's proposed NAAQS, regional haze, PM 2.5, and ozone regulations will impair abilities to implement prescribed fire treatments.
B17. What are the current and proposed regulations that have potential effects?
B18. How would policies affect the amount, type, and timing of prescribed fire treatments in fire-adapted/fire-dependent systems?
B19. What are the economic and ecological trade-offs of implementing prescribed fire management?
B20. What are the sources of emissions that have potentially negative effects?Concern 5: Major changes are occurring in forest composition with regard to tree and plant species, forest structure, and age distribution.
B21. What do the forests currently look like and what changes or trends are occurring?
B22. What are the natural and human induced events that influence changes?
B23. What are the tree and other plant species that are changing?
B24. What species and communities are at risk?
Assessment Questions - Broad Category C
Water/Aquatic Ecosystems
1. Concern - BMPs are not implemented on private lands, there is no way to enforce BMPs and no incentives to follow suggested BMPs.
C1. Do BMPs work in protecting water quality? Are they adequate? Are they implemented?
C2. What are the actual compliance rates with BMPs?
C3. Why do landowners choose to (or not) implement BMPs?
C4. What factors influence implementation of BMPs?
C5. What measures are in place currently to enforce or encourage or provide incentives to implement BMP?
C6. What effect do BMPs have on aquatic systems, habitats, species?
C7. Are there standardized methods for monitoring compliance rates among states?
C8. Is there variation among forest ownership classes, areas of the South? (industrial/PNIF)
C9. How well are loggers trained to implement BMPs?
C10. Is there monitoring system for BMPs? Is monitoring adequate?2. Concern - Stream habitat conditions are adversely impacted by silvicultural and other (roads, recreation, etc.) activities?
C11. What aquatic habitat conditions are effected by forest management?
C12. What baseline data are available to detect changes in stream conditions?
C13. What are the relative levels of the adverse impacts to aquatic systems from roads, silviculture, recreation?
C14. Can we separate past land-use practices from current land use practices?
C15. Can cumulative impacts from land uses be accurately assessed?3. Concern - Insufficient baseline data on many aquatic and wetland species does not allow determination of effects from land management practices?
C16. Where are the data gaps for locations and habitat requirements for aquatic species of concern?
C17. What water quality/quantity parameters are effected by forest management practices?
C18. Are there accurate methods for determining whether silvicultural practices are impacting aquatic species?
C19. Can we use indicator species to evaluate forest management impacts to aquatic species?
C20. Are current wetland inventories accurate and thorough?
C21. For what species do we have adequate baseline data?
4. Concern - Do silvicultural activities contribute a large portion of the total sediment load to aquatic ecosystems?
C22. What portion of the total sediment load is attributed to each land use?
C23. What measures are available to reduce excessive sediment loads and associated erosion rates?
C24. How can we ensure that available measures are utilized?
C25. Are water quality parameters, such as turbidity, improving or degrading over time?
C26. What types of silvicultural activities induce the greatest soil erosion and sedimentation ?
C27. How do excessive sediment loads from forest practices in interact with other activities?
C28. What are the economic implications of sedimentation of aquatic ecosystems due to silviculture?
C29. How does sedimentation from forest management practices impacts streams /aquatic systems downstream?5. Concern - Lack of road maintenance causes water quality degradation?
C30. What is the science involved with proper road construction/maintenance to minimize impacts to water quality?
C31. What educational materials are available for road construction/maintenance?
C32. Can we separate the effects of poor road design from poor road maintenance?
C33. Are we leaving roads open that should be closed between uses?
C34. What practices are available to re-seed roads for wildlife use?
C35. What road maintenance activities cause water quality degradation?
C36. Is sedimentation from roads a local or regional problem?6. Concern - Changes in land use/land cover are adversely impacting aquatic threatened and endangered species?
C37. What is the rate of permanent loss of forested land and what are the reasons?
C38. Do changes in land uses/land cover adversely impact threatened and endangered aquatic listed species?
C39. What changes adversely impact listed species?
C40. What aquatic species have been impacted by forest management activities?
C41. Are present land management regulations (CWA 404, ESA, NPDES) adequate to recover listed species?
C42. What effect do changes in forest cover (pine to hardwood) have on threatened and endangered species?7. Concern - How do recreational demands will adversely affect aquatic resources?
C43. How does recreation increase risk of invasion by exotic species?
C44. How do various recreational uses impact the aquatic resources ? Compare horse use, fishing, hiking, mountain biking, etc.
C45. How do recreational flows affect aquatic systems?
C46. What effect do trout stocking programs have upon native aquatic communities?
C47. How much recreation occurs in or near water resources?
C48. Is the growth of water-based recreation sustainable?
C49. What are the effects of greentree reservoir management on forested wetlands?
Assessment Questions - Broad Category D
Timber Markets / Forest Management Core Area
Concern #1. NIPF and industry landowners are concerned about retaining their right to determine how they can use their lands.
D1. What are the current legal precedents (laws, regulations at National, State & local) and interpretations that impact how private forest they use land?
D2. What are the restrictions on timber harvest? on use?
D3. Are these laws & regulations being complied with?
D4. How do these laws and regulations affect forest sustainabiliy?
D5. What laws are established or proposed for sustainable forest management? "Right to practice forestry" laws?Concern #2. Private forest land are not being managed in a sustainable manner, including sustainable forest management. (Management is value driven.)
D6. Are private land owners establishing sustainable forest management as part of their land management objective?
D7. What benefits are not being met or failing to provide on a sustainable basis?
D8. Are private landowners using acceptable forest management practices to provide timber while protecting the environment?
D9. To what degree are private landowners reforesting harvested land in acceptable manner.
D10. How are private land being reforested after harvest?
D11. How much forest land is being converted to non-forest uses?
D12. How have land ownership changed over time?
D13. What are the current mechanisms for providing management information to NIPFs
D14. What are the current landowner incentive programs?
D15. What age class distributions for the NIPF? Trend over time?Concern #3. Increased demands for timber and increasing demands for other forest benefits are impacting the ability for the manager to develop appropriate forest management strategies.
D16. What information is available to the landowner for management for wood products, for other resource benefits, and for a mix?
D17. What are the supplies of and demands for wood products in the South?
D18. How much of the available timberland and inventory is near urban areas?
D19. How does proximity to urban areas affect the kind of forest management?
D20. What is our current level of understanding of the relationship to
D21. What information is available concerning joint production relationships?
D22. What are joint production relationships among forest uses. (e.g., timber harvesting vs. recreational use)
D23. are old logging roads acceptable as hiking trails in wilderness areas.
D24. How is NIPF wood being merchandised?
D25. What are the spatial relationship in the price of small roundwood products to sawlog products?
D26. What are the trends in competing forest product prices?Concern #4. Intensive forest management practices are perceived inappropriate to sustaining wood production in the South.
D27. What harvest methods are being used by NIPF owners?
D28. What forest management practices are being used in the South?
D29. For what benefit are forest management practices are perceived inappropriate?
D30. Are there significant changes to forest management types as result of the applied management practices?
D31. What is the science basis - theoretical, conceptual and experimental - for silviculture for forest disturbance and ecological response to disturbance?
D32. What is the current state of knowledge and science basis of disturbance ecology?
D33. What percent of harvest sites is actually disturbed enough to affect productivity?
D34. What equipment is being used and what are their impacts?
D35. What silvicultural practices are being used for harvest? for stand tending practices?
D36. What percent of harvest sites is actually disturbed enough to affect resource sustainability ?
D37. What proportion of harvest sites are prepared mechanically, chemically, manually?
Assessment Questions - Broad Category E
Social and Economic Systems
Concern A. Impacts of sustainable forestry on rural communities
E1. What are population demographic trends for rural and urban counties?
E2. What role does the forest resource play in local/county level economy? (Limited resource landowners, minority populations, ...)
E3. What are other economic potentials/opportunities of rural areas?
E4. What are trends in land use and ownership pattern changes by county?Concern B. Urban trends and opportunities
E5. Has urbanization caused a decline in forest land area? (data?, timeframe?)
E6. How is urban growth and attitudes (data? timeframe?) changing management practices?
E7. What are the trends in recreational demands? (Feasibility ok)
E8. How are the trends in recreation demand impacting forest management? (data?)Concern C. Institutional/Policy
E9. What is the accessibility and availablility of forest resources, by county? (data?, scale?)
E10. How to improve coordination of resource planning and management
E11. between public and private organizations/landowners? (data?)
E12. How to catalyze strategic planning both within and between counties? (data?)
E13. What are the impacts of federal, state and local laws on the practice of natural resource management in the south?
E14. What are the non-regulatory tools (incentives, tax structures, ...) for addressing pri on 5vate property rights issues?Concern D. Education, public participation and coordination
E15. How do we determine if the grass roots opinion of natural resource management is the same as the leaders opinions of their respective organizations? (data?)
E16. What, where and how effective are the public schools and early age programs on natural resources?
E17. What are the variety and scope of resources, incentives, programs, etc. for landowner resource management (all resource management options)?
Concern E. Non-timber demands for forest resources
E18. What is the supply and demand for non-timber uses? (data????, time?, scale?)Concern F. Technologies
E19. What are the projected supplies and areas of short-rotation woody crops? (data?)
E20. What opportunities exist for extending the forest resource through new technology? (data? scale?)
E21. What are the trends in new forest harvesting technology and markets? And how are they affecting the forest resource? (data?)
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modified: 17-APR-2000
webmaster: John M. Pye
