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Outline• Understanding interface landowners• Opportunities realized through interface forest
management Income (timber, tourism, herbs, edibles,
decorations, marketing) Reduced fire risk Amenities (scenery, trails, cool shade, privacy) Health Wildlife
• Vegetation management of interface forests Small scale systems Planning, safety, and costing Visible stewardship Cooperatives
Categories of ownership
Family forest ownership
31%
0.2%
0.4%
0.1%
5.6%
6.7%
56.1%
1-9 Acres
10-49 Acres
50-99 Acres
100-499 Acres
500-999 Acres
1000-4999 Acres
5000+ Acres
6%21%
15%34%
9%
11% 4%1-9 Acres
10-49 Acres
50-99 Acres
100-499 Acres
500-999 Acres
1000-4999 Acres
5000+ Acres
Fragmentation of forests
• Majority of forested land is in large tracts (greater than 100 acres)
• More than 50 million forested acres (23%) are divided into parcels less than 100 acres
• About 90% of owners will seek assistance on how to manage their small forested lands
Types of forest owners
• Timber managers Investments and best management
practices• Resident conservationists
Preserving natural beauty, wildlife and natural values
• Affluent weekenders Second homes on land
• Low-income rural residents Inherited the land
Characteristics of interface regions
• Tourist destination
• Retirement destination
• Resource production
• Trade and professional centers
• Counterculture opportunities
Categories of ownership
• New owners fall into six markets according to forest ownership needs and abilities: Absentee investors (4%) Career professional (13%) Wildlife preservationists (16%) New pioneer farmers (21%) Planners (21%) Young families (19%)
Management actions
• Strive to be economically feasible and ecologically sustainable
• Increased concerns about fire, invasive species, and trespassing
• Fewer verbal agreements
• Increased specific site restoration requirements
Embracing land management
• New owners are not adverse to management
• They are more concerned about protecting amenities and ecological qualities than maximizing profit
" I would be willing to accept less money from a timber sale if the logging actions
protected other forest qualities."
49%
35%
16%Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Willingness to cut trees for…
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%
100%
Timber $ Health Scenic
Probably will not do
Might do
Already do
Willingness to…
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Test Soil Inspect Land Write Plan UseHerbicide
Plant forPrivacy
Probably not
Might do
Already do
Residential migration
• New development increases pressure on amenities
• Newcomers’ concerns about management practices
Dangerous Offensive odors Traffic Competes with additional housing
development and retail stores
Professionals can help because …
• Most landowners are not opposed to managing their land
• Many landowners do not know possible management options the amount of funds required for
management the benefits of management
Professionals can address issues through various methods
Landowners feelings towards professional foresters
%Agree
%Neutral
%Disagree
Are a trusted source of knowledge about how to manage the trees on my land
54 38 8
Are more interested in making money than in the ecological health of my land
31 46 23
Are more interested in cutting timber than in the ecological health of my land
30 45 25
I don’t know anything about professional foresters
40 36 24
I would be willing to harvest a few trees and saw them up for lumber using a small, portable sawmill
42 25 33
I would be willing to accept less money from a timber sale if the logging actions protected other forest qualities
49 35 16
Trusting foresters
Cutting Timber
30%
45%
25%Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Making Money
31%
46%
23% Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Foresters are more interested in ____ than the health of my forest.
Addressing challenges
• Try new methods of reaching landowners
• Work to develop trust
• Find tools to produce amenity and ecological quality
• Work with landowners to develop a formal management plan
Opportunities realized through interface forest management
Alternative forest products
• Decorative
• Herbal
• Medicinal
• Edible
• Enhance property value
Challenge of interface fire
• Common in southern ecosystems
• South has most fire starts and acres burned
• Objections to interface fire include concerns about forest aesthetics and forest
health concerns about safety of structures access and responsibility negative impacts of smoke on human
health and driving safety
Firewise solutions
• Firewise communities Large fire breaks
(golf courses, farms)
• Firewise structures Nonflammable
material, gutters, windows, driveways
• Firewise landscaping around structures Lean, clean, green
Fuel reduction methods
• Mechanical thinning
• Herbicides
• Prescribed burning
• Animal grazing
Amenity resources
• Scenery• Trails• Privacy• Shade
Typically the most important product of interface forests
Scenery sells• Park-like stands with large
trees and low ground cover
• Low or no downed wood, trash, waste
• Open vistas and meadows
• Thinning creates depth of view, larger trees
• Ephemeral features
Picnic, park, and camp• Soil compaction kills
older, sensitive trees Use young, deep
rooted trees• Parking lots should
drain away from water source
have a swale to hold water and allow pollutants to settle.
Trail building considerations
• Soils
• Trail size
• Trail grade
• Trail alignment
• Streams, lakes and trails
Privacy and Shade
• Vegetation visual buffers• Vegetation performs poorly as an acoustic buffers • Shade can significantly reduce
temperature (10-15 degrees) cooling costs (10-80%)
• Shade can direct/block cooling breezes
Regional amenity
Forest health
• Historically narrow in scope
• Expansion of definition• Influenced by people• Investment• Environmental safety• Personal opinion and
values• Experience is the key
Site management
• Construction damage Roots and stems
• Toxic chemicals Tree-friendliness
• Species selection Nursery
personnel
Insects and diseases
• Bark beetle and wood borers
• Defoliating insects• Sap-feeding
insects• Girdling insects• Canker diseases• Tree decline• Leaf diseases
Abiotic factors and invasives
• Abiotic factors Lightning strikes Drought Flooding
• Invasive plants Kudzu
• Invasive animals Coyote Armadillo
• Nuisance animals
Wildlife
• Approximately 87 million people participate in wildlife-associated activities each year.
• Approximately $108 billion is spent on these activities per year.
• Managing for wildlife is a challenge due to forest fragmentation development landowners opinion about wildlife
Effects of human expansion
““What are the likely effects of expanding What are the likely effects of expanding human populations, urbanization, and human populations, urbanization, and
infrastructure on wildlife and their infrastructure on wildlife and their habitats?”habitats?”
• Non-native species threaten the survival of some sensitive wildlife species.
• Urban and agricultural land uses have created forest islands.
• Disturbed areas facilitate the spread of non-native species.
Human-wildlife conflicts
• Vectors for disease Lyme disease West Nile virus
• Car accidents• Property damage• Control strategies• Species diversity
Managing nuisance wildlife
• Three main factors• Exclusion• Habitat modification• Repellents• Toxic baits and pesticides• Glue boards and traps• Scare tactics
Attracting wildlife
• Limit amount of lawn
• Increase vertical layering
• Leave snags and brush piles
• Provide water source
• Plant native vegetation
• Put up feeders and houses
• Remove invasive exotics
• Manage household pets
• Reduce pesticide use
• Expand scale of habitat
Effects of urbanization on the water cycle
• Forests intercept precipitation.
• Approximately two-thirds of incoming precipitation is released back into the atmosphere in contiguous forests.
• Remaining water recharges the groundwater and contributes to streams.
• Forest clearing generates more storm-water runoff and reduces the amount of water that soaks into the ground.
• Storm water carries pollutants.
Storm-water management
• Best management practices (BMPs) Detention ponds
• Low impact development (LID) practices Treat water where it falls Vegetated rooftops New methods to convey water
• Implementation obstacles Steep slopes Impacted soils Shallow water
Practicing visible stewardship
• Public perception• Visual screening• Cues-to-care • Forest
management• Environmental
impacts• Terminology
Cues-to-care
Waste and damage
Neatness
Schedule and duration
Planning and safety
Communication
Re-vegetation
Appearances
Community commitment
Screen/hide management
• Add visual buffers
• Keep aesthetics in mind
• Limit downed wood
• May create negative perceptions
• Communicate with the public
Mechanical vegetative management
• Generate income, amenity, forest health, and recreation opportunities Not just “harvesting timber”
• Issues and Tradeoffs Social acceptability Environmental impact Economic viability Operator safety
Small scale harvesting systems
• Lower capital investment costs• Horse logging• Small agriculture tractor• Small excavators/skid-steers• Small cable-yarding system• All terrain vehicles (ATVs)• Cut–to-length
Equipment
Cut-to-length
• Two person, two machine system
• Low-impact harvesting Distributed weight
Reduced soil compaction
Costs and Benefits Comparisons
• Wet weather sensitivity • Slope tolerance • Extraction distance• Tree size • Log length• Moving cost • Road • Log weight
Costing an operation
• A challenge to find a harvester• Harvest contracts
Transfer of ownership to contractor Encourage high production Pay a rate per ton Encourage high grading
• Hourly rate
Safety
• Small crews and equipment• Few safety options exist in the South• Follow OSHA requirements
Wear personal protective equipment Keep first-aid kit on site Create a safety plan
• Workers compensation insurance
Forest cooperatives• Participate voluntarily• Protect ecological systems• Share information, equipment, and labor
coordination of management across boundaries
• Protect privacy buffers• Create wildlife corridors for migration and
cover• Share access roads • Develop formal business arrangement
Convincing landowners’ to join
• Temptation
• Time
• Trust
• Role of the professional
Benefits of forest cooperatives
• Trusted knowledge• Increased property
access• Coordinated forest
health• Shared work activities• Profit• Value added• Political clout• Community
development
Summary
In the WUI natural resource professionals may find that implementing management goals can only be done with good communication skills and policy initiatives. It may be difficult to separate these elements because in practice they are used concurrently.
Credits
Photos• Slide 11: USDA Forest Service - Rocky
Mountain Region Archives, USDA Forest Service, www.forestryimages.org
• Slide 19, 26, 28, 34, 27, 44, 46: Larry Korhnak
• Slide 35: James Solomon, USDA Forest Service, www.forestryimages.org
• Slide 36: Ronald F. Billings, Texas Forest Service, www.forestryimages.org
Credits
Photos
• Slide 51: A. courtesy of Virginia Tech, B. John D. Hodges, Mississippi State University, www.forestryimages.org, C. http://www.cppa.org/album/cableyarding.jpg, D. courtesy of Virginia Tech
• Slide 52: http://www.ncrs.fs.fed.us/4101/focus/mgt_approaches/ecological/svor/
• Slides 57, 58: Courtesy of the Blue Ridge Forest Landowner Cooperative
• All other photos courtesy of Virginia Tech
CreditsReferences
• Slide 4, 5: Butler, B. and E. Leatherberry. 2004. USDA Forest Service National Woodland Owners Survey. Newtown Square PA: USDA, Forest Service, National Woodland Owner Survey.
• Slide 7: Klunder, R. A. and T. L. Walkingstick. 2000. “Rethinking How Nonindustrial Landowners View Their Lands.” Southern Journal of Applied Forestry 24(3): 150-158.
• Slide 9, 12, 13, 14: Kendra, A. and R. B. Hull. 2005. “Motivations and Behaviors of New Forest Owners in Virginia.” Forest Science 51(2): 142-154.
Credits
References• Slide 17, 18: Hull, R. B.; D. P. Robertson; and G. J.
Buhyoff. 2004. “Boutique Forestry: New Forest Practices in Urbanizing Landscapes.” Journal of Forestry 102 (1): 14-19.
• Slide 42: Hostetler, M. E.; G. Klowden; S. W. Miller; and K. N. Youngentob. 2003. Landscaping Backyards for Wildlife: Top Ten Tips for Success (Circular 1429).