ENVIRONMENTAL CONSEQUENCES in rocky mountain coniferous ...

REW 'ORD
One of the pressing problems confronting forestry today is how to more efficiently
harvest and use the timber resource without creating unacceptable environmental im-
pacts on the forest. The manner in which timber is harvested significantly influences
almost all aspects of the forest ecosystem--microcliri~ate, nutrient availability,
microbiology of the site, insect and disease activity, hydrology, and esthetic qua1 i ty.
The sil vicul tural prescription, util ization standard, harvesting method, and post-
harvest treatment al 1 combine to influence the environmental attributes of the site.
Some effects, such as residue concentrations (and reductions), are readily apparent.
Less apparent and often unknown are the effects of harvesting activity upon the
biological characteristics of the ecosystem.
Timber harvesting is the most significant management tool available to the forest
manager. The potential is present to either help or hinder efforts to meet multiple
resource protection and management goals. The present concern of land managers, and
of researchers evaluating environmental impacts, is to identify timber harvesting
a1 ternatives that are compatible with, and can facil i tate, responsible management of
the forest ecosystem. Research reported in this symposium will provide foresters and
others with improved knowledge of how harvesting activities affect the forest ecosystem.
It wi 11 a1 so provide strengthened guide1 ines for prescribing harvesting
practices to achieve specific land management objectives--objectives relating to
esthetics, stand regeneration and development, wildlife, management, hydrology,
insect and disease control, fire management, and other management concerns.
Most of the research has been conducted in forest ecosystems common to the lodgepole
pine, larch, and Douglas-fir forests of Wyoming and Montana. Investigations of envi-
ronmental consequences have covered an array of harvesting systems, si 1 i vicul tural
prescriptions, and utilization standards. Emphasis has been directed toward deter-
mining the biological consequences of successively more intensive levels of utilization,
and alternative post-harvest residue treatments. Although the research has necessarily
been site-specific, the results have management implications for coniferous forests
in general.
ROLAND L. BARGER
Program Manager
USDA Forest Service, Intermountain
Forest and Range Experiment Station