Assessing the Restoration Success of River Widenings: A Landscape Approach

During the last 200 years, many rivers in industrialized countries have been modified by canalization. In the last two decades, the philosophy of river management has changed considerably, and restoration of ecological integrity has become an important management goal. One appealing restoration approach is to create “river widenings” that permit braiding within a limited area. This study presents a new and efficient framework for rapidly assessing such widening projects and offers a novel method to comparing restored sites with near-natural stretches (stencil technique). The proposed framework evaluates spatial patterns of riparian habitat types using landscape metrics as indicators. Three case studies from river restoration (river widening) in Switzerland are presented for demonstration purposes.The method compares restored sites with prerestoration conditions and near-natural conditions, which are assumed to represent the worst and best case states of a river system. To take into account the limited spatial extent of the restored sites, the so-called “stencil technique” was developed, where the landscape metrics of the near-natural reference sites are calculated for both the entire study area and smaller sections (clips). The clips are created by using a stencil that has the exact shape and size of the restored area (random window-sampling technique). Subsequently, the calculated metrics for the restored sites are compared to the range of values calculated for the near-natural data subset. Our studies show that the proposed method is easy to apply andprovides a valid way to assess the restoration success of river widenings. We found that river widenings offer real opportunities for establishing riparian habitats. However, they promote mainly pioneer successional stages and the habitat mosaic of the restored section is more complex than at the near-natural reference sites.     

Factors affecting private forest landowner interest in ecosystem management: linking spatial and survey data

Many factors influence forest landowner management decisions. This study examines landowner decisions regarding participation in ecosystem management activities, such as a landscape corridor cutting across their private lands. Landscape corridors are recognized worldwide as an important tool in biodiversity conservation. For ecosystem management activities to occur in areas dominated by a multitude of small private forest landholdings, landowner participation and cooperation is necessary. Data from a survey of landowners combined with an analysis of their land's spatial attributes is used to assess their interest in ecosystem management. Results suggest that spatial attributes are not good predictors of an owner's interest in ecosystem management. Other factors such as attitudes and opinions about the environment are more effective in explaining landowner interest. The results have implications for any land manager using GIS data and implementing ecosystem management activities on private forestland.     

Stifled stakeholders and subdued participation: interpreting local responses toward Shimentai Nature Reserve in South China

In recent decades, protected-area management in many developing countries has been molded to win the support and participation of local people. Increasingly, research initiatives are undertaken to enhance understanding of the perceptions and attitudes of rural stakeholders. The effectiveness of the expanding protected-area system in China is critically constrained by similar considerations of community mentality. This paper provides an empirical assessment of local responses towards conservation efforts based on a case study of the recently established Shimentai Nature Reserve (SNR) situated in Yingde, Guangdong Province, China. Questionnaire surveys, face-to-face interviews, and group discussions were employed to gauge local residents' knowledge, perceptions, and expectations towards the SNR. The study covered seven villages situated in and around the reserve, grouped into far-zone (floodplain) and near-zone (upland) categories, accommodating Hakka (Han) and minority Yao peoples. Many respondents had inadequate knowledge, understanding, and perceptions of the reserve. Although most respondents welcomed the expected park-related dividends, the most affected near-zone villagers anticipated losses due to restriction on traditional resource-extraction activities in the forest. The local expectations were influenced by place of residence, emigration of rural young, and household affluence. The lack of local participation in management and inadequate dissemination of information posed obstacles to effective conservation. The high expectation of accruing benefits from development projects, including tourism, might be misplaced and might not be realized. The present honeymoon period of positive attitudes could end soon if the hopes remain unfulfilled for too long. The need to win sustained local support and provide alternative means of livelihood is emphasized.     

云蒙山国家森林公园内部旅游解说系统的改善

改进旅游解说系统是全面改善旅游景区管理的重要环节.以云蒙山国家森林公园为例,通过对游客的问卷调查获取一手资料,在简要阐明旅游解说系统概念、原则与目标以及与游客特征的关系的基础上,总结了公园内部旅游解说系统目前存在的问题,并通过对公园游客相关特征的分析,对公园内部旅游解说系统的改进提出了建议.     

陕西省林火灾害及预防对策

应用陕西省5大林区9a火灾个例及相关资料，分析得出陕西省林火的时空分布规律，火源特点，林火造成的灾害，林火发生发展的影响因子，并提出了相应的森林防火对策。     

Forest planning in an Oregon case study: Defining the problem and attempting to meet goals with a spatial-analysis technique

Five major management goals were identified for the upper Grande Ronde River Basin on the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest in northeastern Oregon: to produce high-quality fish habitat, to maintain elk habitat, to restore and maintain forest conditions within the natural range of viability, and to contribute to community economic stability. From the broad goals, specific goals for stream temperature, habitat effectiveness index (HEI), habitat corridors, maintenance of land in late or old seral stages, and a nondeclining even flow of timber were selected. A case study was undertaken in a small watershed that is under typical societal constraints to determine whether one decisionsupport tool, SNAP II+, could evaluate the selected goals in a single planning exercise. Three riparian management strategies and two forest road scenarios were used. The exclusion of harvest and road-building from riparian zones in order to increase habitat protection decreased harvest levels and net present value but maintained preactivity stream temperatures. Other resources were generally maintained within prescribed management levels. Although the technique has limitations (e.g., it does not account for riparian zones in calculations of forage and cover for HEI, and it can use the maximum but not minimum acreage goal for some resources), it shows promise for evaluating management tradeoffs in watershed analysis.This is Paper 3069 of the Forest Research Laboratory, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon.     

Simulating secondary succession of elk forage values in a managed forest landscape,western Washington

Modern timber management practices often influence forage production for elk (Cervus elaphus) on broad temporal and spatial scales in forested landscapes. We incorporated site-specific information on postharvesting forest succession and forage characteristics in a simulation model to evaluate past and future influences of forest management practices on forage values for elk in a commercially managed Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii, PSME)-western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla, TSHE) forest in western Washington. We evaluated future effects of: (1) clear-cut logging 0, 20, and 40% of harvestable stands every five years; (2) thinning 20-year-old Douglas fir forests; and (3) reducing the harvesting cycle from 60 to 45 years. Reconstruction of historical patterns of vegetation succession indicated that forage values peaked in the 1960s and declined from the 1970s to the present, but recent values still were higher than may have existed in the unmanaged landscape in 1945. Increased forest harvesting rates had little short-term influence on forage trends because harvestable stands were scarce. Simulations of forest thinning also produced negligible benefits because thinning did not improve forage productivity appreciably at the stand level. Simulations of reduced harvesting cycles shortened the duration of declining forage values from approximately 30 to 15 years. We concluded that simulation models are useful tools for examining landscape responses of forage production to forest management strategies, but the options examined provided little potential for improving elk forages in the immediate future.     

琅琊山国家森林公园生物资源的保护与开发

本文分析了琅琊山国家森林公园生物资源的生存环境和现状．提出了相应的保护与开发利用对策。     

Timber harvest planning—A combined optimization/simulation model

A special cascading fixed charge structure can be used to characterize a forest management planning problem in which the objectives are to identify the optimal shape of forest harvest cutting units and simultaneously to assign facilities for logging those units. We describe a four-part methodology that has been developed to assist forest managers in analyzing areas proposed for harvesting. This methodology performs an analysis of harvesting feasibility, computes the optimal solution to the cascading fixed charge problem, undertakes a GASP IV simulation to provide additional information about the proposed harvesting operation, and permits the forest manager to perform a time-cost analysis that may lead to a more realistic, and thus improved, solution.     

Planning future fuelbreak strategies using mathematical modeling techniques

Major drainage basins within the Angeles National Forest in southern California USA are aggregated into zones of homogeneous wildland fire damage-potential using multivariate statistical techniques. Mathematical models are utilized to examine the policy implications of ongoing and projected fuel management strategies in different Forest zones based on simulated impacts of fuelbreak construction and maintenance upon two proxies for future damage-potential: the expected area burned and an index of relative value used by Forest planners. Alternative strategies for future fuelbreak investments are evaluated based on model outcomes.