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ENVIRONMENTAL CONSEQUENCES in rocky mountain coniferous ...

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IMPLICATIONS FOR RESOURCE MANAGEMENT<br />

A PANEL REVIEW<br />

Forest land managers are faced daily with the challenge of mak<strong>in</strong>g resource<br />

management decisions that will facil itate produc<strong>in</strong>g a variety of goods and services<br />

from forested lands, while avoid<strong>in</strong>g unacceptable environmental impacts. Decisions<br />

regard<strong>in</strong>g timber harvest<strong>in</strong>g are particularly important because harvest<strong>in</strong>g and asso-<br />

ciated activities almost always result <strong>in</strong> significant changes <strong>in</strong> the environment.<br />

The <strong>in</strong>fluences of harvest<strong>in</strong>g on the site can provide the manager with a powerful tool<br />

with which to effect desired changes <strong>in</strong> the ecosystem. Broad multi-resource manage-<br />

ment objectives relat<strong>in</strong>g to stand regeneration, wildlife habitat, watershed management,<br />

<strong>in</strong>sect control, and other such concerns are usually dependent upon carry<strong>in</strong>g out<br />

closely prescribed timber harvest<strong>in</strong>g activities.<br />

The purpose of the research be<strong>in</strong>g reported <strong>in</strong> this symposium is to provide the<br />

land manager with an improved body of knowledge and strengthened guidel<strong>in</strong>es for pre-<br />

scrib<strong>in</strong>g the most appropriate harvest<strong>in</strong>g practices. Biological research must neces-<br />

sari ly beg<strong>in</strong> by <strong>in</strong>vestigat<strong>in</strong>g basic environmental responses and cause-and-effect<br />

relationships--consequences that will directly affect the production of wood, water,<br />

wild1 ife, and other resources cm that site, The manager's abil ity to select harvest<strong>in</strong>g<br />

treatments and to prescribe practices that best satisfy mu1 tiple objectives, while<br />

avoid<strong>in</strong>g unacceptable impacts, is dependent upon be<strong>in</strong>g able to re1 iably predict<br />

consequences of a1 ternative actions.<br />

In the papers that follow, a panel of forest land managers addresses the implica-<br />

tions of this k<strong>in</strong>d of research for broad resource management. These <strong>in</strong>dividuals<br />

represent three major forest land ownership classes <strong>in</strong> the Northern Rocky Mounta<strong>in</strong>s--<br />

Federal lands, State lands, and lands managed by large private corporations, Resource<br />

management objectives differ somewhat among ownerships, depend<strong>in</strong>g upon the expressed<br />

priorities and objectives of the respective owner-user groups. For a1 1 ownerships,<br />

however, land managers are faced with the comnon task of assess<strong>in</strong>g alternative manage-<br />

ment strategies, balanc<strong>in</strong>g resource use or production aga<strong>in</strong>st environmental protection<br />

and site ma<strong>in</strong>tenance requirements, and u1 timately choos<strong>in</strong>g an a1 ternati ve calculated<br />

to most nearly satisfy both short- and long-term resource management goals,

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