FOREST MANAGEMENT PRESCRIPTIONS

Prescription = A schedule of activities for a stand, landscape, watershed, or other management unit

Five key elements:

1. Statement of goals

2. Understanding of historical processes

3. Land-type classification

4. Treatment schedule

5. Quantitative projection of conditions and outcomes

I. Goals and Objectives

1. Goals• Timeless statement of intent• Statement of direction, don’t necessarily expect to

fully achieve a goal

2. Objectives• Specific statement of intended accomplishment• Measurable, observable, has a reference to time,

an associated cost, and is attainable.

II. Land Classification

Four kinds of maps:

1. Biophysical environment

2. Status and trends

3. Resource interpretation

4. Coordinated planning

1st generation: raw data

2nd generation: classification generated from raw data

Stand Inventory Map: e.g. “Compartments”

Standbounds.shpUVM Research Forest Boundary

N100 0 100 200 Meters

Stands by Management History

Current Vegetation or Cover Type

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N300 0 300 Meters

1000 0 1000 FeetHemlock forests and swampsDry oakHemlock-northern hardwoodHemock-red oakNorthern-hardwoodsNorthern-hardwoods limestoneRed maple-black ash swampRed or silver maple-green ash swampRich northern hardwood forestSeepShallow pondSugar maple-white ash-jack-in-the-pulpit forestTemperate calcareous cliff

%U Monitoring PlotsMBR Park Boundary

Natural Communities

Planning and

analysis scale

Ecological Units

Purpose, objectives, and general use

General size range

Ecoregion

Global

Continental

Regional

Domain

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Division

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Province

Broad applicability for modeling and sampling, strategic planning and assessment, and international planning

Millions to tens thousands of square miles

Sub-region Section

---------- Subsection

Area-wide planning and watershed analysis

Thousands to hundreds of acres

Landscape Landtype association

Area-wide planning and watershed analysis

Thousands to hundreds of acres

Land unit. Landtype association

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Landtype phase.

Project and management area planning and analysis.

Hundreds to less than ten acres.

National Hierarchy of Ecological Units

The National Hierarchy of Ecological Units

National Hierarchy of Ecological Units

National Hierarchy of Ecological Units

Landscape Diversity Unit

Does the Natural Community Approach Adequately Capture Ecosystem Dynamics?

Multiple Pathways of Succession:

f (Timing, Type, and Intensity of Disturbances + Masting and Seed Availability)

From Hemstrom and Logan (1986), in Spies (1997)

Low Intensity

Low Intensity High Intensity

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Landscape Diversity Units

A Modified Land Classification Model?

• Based on probabilities

- disturbance probability functions

- successional pathway probability functions

• Probability distributions must be temporally dynamic

• Based on ranges of variability

• Scale-dependent

A Range Possible Natural Communities Types

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