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A decade after its creation, the Northwest Forest Plan is contributing to the conservation of old-growth forests on federal land. However, the success and outlook for the plan are questionable in the dry provinces, where losses of old growth to wildfire have been relatively high and risks of further loss remain. We summarize the state of knowledge of old-growth forests in the plan area, identify challenges to conserve them, and suggest some conservation approaches that might better meet the goals of the plan. Historically, old-growth forests in these provinces ranged from open, patchy stands, maintained by frequent low-severity fire, to a mosaic of dense and open stands maintained by mixed-severity fires. Old-growth structure and composition were spatially heterogeneous, varied strongly with topography and elevation, and were shaped by a complex disturbance regime of fire, insects, and disease. With fire suppression and cutting of large pines ( Pinus spp.) and Douglas-firs (Pseudotsuga menziesii [Mirbel] Franco), old-growth diversity has declined and dense understories have developed across large areas. Challenges to conserving these forests include a lack of definitions needed for planning of fire-dependent old-growth stands and landscapes, and conflicts in conservation goals that can be resolved only at the landscape level. Fire suppression has increased the area of the dense, older forest favored by Northern Spotted Owls (Strix occidentalis caurina ) but increased the probability of high-severity fire. The plan allows for fuel reduction in late-successional reserves; fuel treatments, however, apparently have not happened at a high enough rate or been applied in a landscape-level approach. Landscape-level strategies are needed that prioritize fuel treatments by vegetation zones, develop shaded fuel breaks in strategic positions, and thin and apply prescribed fire to reduce ladder fuels around remaining old trees. Evaluations of the current and alternative strategies are needed to determine whether the current reserve-matrix approach is the best strategy to meet plan goals in these dynamic landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated factors limiting the recovery of natural forest in former large-scale conifer plantations abandoned after clear-cutting in southwestern Japan. We analyzed forest recovery status (“recovered” sites covered by evergreen broad-leaved trees, and “unrecovered” sites covered by pioneer community or nonvegetated sites) using aerial photographs and field survey. We applied logistic regression analyses to evaluate the effects of topography, construction of harvesting roads, distance from remnant forest, stand condition before clear-cutting, and prior land-use history on forest recovery. Human factors, i.e., land use and clear-cutting age, were found to affect to forest recovery more than environmental factors such as topography. Harvesting roads had the strongest negative impact on forest recovery. Forest recovery after clear-cutting of young sugi plantations also took longer than after clear-cutting of old sugi plantations or evergreen broad-leaved forests. Furthermore, areas formerly utilized as meadows recovered less successfully than those that had been managed as coppices. The influences of these factors were thought to be promoted by the advance reproduction as the regeneration sources for forest recovery. The influence of stand age before logging suggested an effect of thinning, which might alter the abundance of advanced reproduction in the understory. However, distance from remnant forest appeared to be less important. An influence of topography was also detected, but this could be partly explained by the existence of advance reproduction in the understory in certain topographic positions. Thus, our analysis suggests that regeneration sources originating from advanced reproduction in plantations play a significant role for the recovery of natural forest after clear-cutting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents an interview with Lynn Carpenter, a teacher and researcher at the University of California at Irvine. When asked about her transition from studying hummingbirds into tropical forest restoration, she discusses how studying those type of birds forced her to see the problems caused by deforestation and the impact on land and on people. She also tackles how rejuvenation of tropical forests provides a habitat for hummingbirds. She did not get into this type of work to restore bird habitats.

South Africa has limited indigenous forest resources. These indigenous forests play a significant role in biodiversity conservation and socioecononiic development, although these values have never been fully accounted for. The general scarcity of natural forest cover defines the long history of forest biodiversity conservation that commenced as a proclamation in 1658. Subsequent proclamations and laws addressed the same issue until it was obvious that natural forests could not be managed sustainably to meet environmental, timber, and fuelwood needs that laws favoring the establishment of plantations were passed. Today, more sophisticated policies and laws which are anchored in South Africa's constitution and the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) have evolved to conserve the same resources. However, successful implementation of these natural resource conservation laws is weakened by the lack of' institutional capacity within the Forestry Function in the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF). Furthermore, lack of capacity limits intersectoral and intergovernmental coordination which is essential for optimizing strategic synergies for natural resource conservation. Opportunities for overturning these constraints on indigenous forest conservation are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on a study that analyzes the impact of the long term protection against biotic interference of a denuded ravine on the vegetation development and chronosequence of succession of different grass species based on species abundances at three topographic situations in Agra, India. It is known that overexploitation of vegetation is one of the most serious environmental concern of countries in the tropical and sub tropical regions. Based on the study, the plant species diversity and the invariability of the distribution of species reduced with protection. Overexploitation has caused an increase in species diversity. Moreover, the pattern of species occurrences across all the three topographic situations showed a close relationship between resource availability and resource use.

This study examines the perceived risks to forest biodiversity and perceived effectiveness of biodiversity conservation strategies among the general public. It tests the hypotheses that perceived risk to forest biodiversity is influenced by cognitive factors (value orientation and knowledge) and social-cultural factors (such as gender and environmental membership) and that risk perceptions influence other cognitive constructs such as support for natural resource policy and management. Data were collected from a sample of the general public ( n= 596) in British Columbia, Canada by mail survey in 2001. Results show that insects and disease were perceived as the greatest risk. Educating the public and industry about biodiversity issues was perceived as a more effective conservation strategy than restricting human uses of the forest. Value orientation was a better predictor of perceptions of risk and perceived effectiveness of conservation strategies than knowledge indicators or social-cultural variables. Examining the indirect effects of social-cultural variables, however, revealed that value orientation may amplify the effect of these variables and suggests that alternative paths of influence should be included. Perceived risk showed an inconsistent association with perceived effectiveness of conservation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studying biodiversity change in existing typical ecosystems of the world under possible global climate change and local human activities is important for diversity conservation. An adapted forest dynamics model is used to simulate tree diversity change of the remaining primary mixed-broadleaved Korean pine forest (RPMKPF) in northeast China under global climate change and local human activities for the next 50 years. Human activities include logging, which removes all big trees (DBH > 50 cm), removing all individuals of each single species and all species of each functional type (shade tolerant, shade intolerant and medium type tree species). As results for RPMKPF, the &agr; index of tree diversity decreases under climate change, but it increases significantly under a combination of climate change and logging. Removing all individuals of each single species significantly affects the tree diversity of the ecosystem. After the removal of shade tolerant species, both &agr; and βc indices of tree diversity experience a significant change. The &agr; index decreases significantly under climate change when shade intolerant or medium type tree species are removed, but the βc index does not change significantly. The results of this study have implications for tree diversity management in RPMKPF under climate change and human activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Uluguru Mountains in eastern Tanzania contain at least 16 endemic vertebrate and 135 endemic plant taxa, with hundreds of more taxa shared only with forests in eastern Tanzania and Kenya. This degree of endemism is exceptional in tropical Africa, and the Uluguru Mountains are one of the 10 most important tropical forest sites for conservation on the continent. Surveys carried out during 1999-2001 updated information on the status of forests and biodiversity across the Uluguru Mountains. Forest area has declined from c. 300 km2 in 1955 to 230 km2 in 2001. Forest loss has been greatest over altitudes of 600-1,600 m, and concentrated in submontane forest. During the recent surveys most of the endemic and near-endemic vertebrate species known from the Uluguru Mountains were re-recorded, but three endemic snake species and two near-endemic bird species were not found. These species were previously known from the elevations where deforestation has been greatest. More than 50 plant species are also known only from the altitude range that has been heavily deforested. The primary cause of forest loss has been clearance for new farmland. The forest that does remain is largely confined to Catchment Forest Reserves managed for water by the Tanzanian Government. Without these reserves the loss of forest, and hence the loss of biodiversity, in the Uluguru Mountains would most likely have been much greater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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