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Public advisory committees (PACs) are a dominant form of public participation in Canada's Crown forests, providing a venue in which members of the local public can engage and influence sustainable forest management decision-making. In this paper, we examine the experiences of Indigenous participants (relative to non-Indigenous participants) concerning the success of PAC processes. We focus on issues of fairness, equity, and inclusion of Indigenous voices along with an assessment of forest values diversity. Findings from surveys in 2004 and 2016 indicate statistically significant differences between Indigenous and non-Indigenous PAC members regarding their forest values and their evaluation of the success of PAC processes. This work draws attention to the relative experiences of survey participants and the identification of persistent challenges associated with public engagement over the last two decades. Policy recommendations include substantial changes to how we define and measure sustainable forest management in Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the middle of the eleventh century, the Anglo-Saxon England was conquered by the army led by the Duke of Normandy, who, crowned as William I. of England, began the Norman rule on the insular territory. Among the changes he done was the prohibitions imposed to the use of woods through the creation of royal forests, lands out of the common law and subjected to a special law, which aimed to preserve the flora and the fauna for the king use only. This article intends to identify aspects related to the use of forests by said sovereign and his descendents along the twelfth and the thirteen centuries, as well as to point out the impact of the forest law in the population, which resentment is expressed in chronicles and legendary accounts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After decades of civil war, the archdukes Albert and Isabella drew on the princely hunt to consolidate their regime in the Habsburg Netherlands. In essence a performance of dominion, the hunt served to enact their exalted birth and the return to peace and order. Attempts to unify the hunting laws of their possessions were, however, frustrated by provincial liberties. As a result the archducal hunt had to derive its prestige from where it was held, rather than from the species that were hunted. Appropriating the cult of Saint Hubertus and patronizing artistic representations further enhanced the prestige of these locations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lidar remote sensing has emerged as one of the best technologies for mapping aboveground biomass in forest systems. Recent developments in lidar instruments, computer processing power, and algorithm development have enabled the mapping of individual tree structure from lidar remote sensing, yet the utility of individual tree metrics has not been fully explored for aboveground biomass mapping. Conversely, scaling-based approaches using minimal data inputs have recently been presented as an alternative method for mapping regional biomass. We compare these two emerging avenues of lidar-based biomass mapping to plot-aggregated biomass modeling techniques. We assess three forested ecosystems: a mature, closed-canopy deciduous broadleaf forest; a mature evergreen needleleaf forest; and a Loblolly pine plantation with a range of even-aged stands. For individual tree based approaches, individual tree metrics improve explanatory power from R 2 = 0.57 to R 2 = 0.85 in the mature conifer site, but do not show statistically significant improvements in the other two sites. We suggest that with large field sample plots in areas of open canopy cover, individual tree metrics can significantly improve aboveground biomass (AGBM) estimation as they directly take into account stand density. Regarding scaling-based approaches, we demonstrate that the proposed methods are currently unsuitable at local scales in forests without a tight relationship between canopy top height and basal area, as seen in two of our study areas. Individual tree information shows promise for improving AGBM modeling capabilities, and may also facilitate scaling-based approaches, but further research regarding the application of allometric equations and the spatial scale of models is necessary to continue advancing the field of high-resolution forest biomass accounting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Royal forests comprised land devoted primarily to hunting. They were a distinctive feature of Norman and Angevin England and Wales. Expressing the crown's arbitrary power to prevent holders of land from using it as they chose, they were generally resented. Royal forests must disappear to enable individuals to utilize landholdings for their own private economic purposes, and so for commercially oriented land uses to occur. However, it is shown here that 'royal forests' did not constitute a hermetic historiographical category, distinct from non-royal 'chases'. There were royal chases as well as royal forests; monarchs had private forests and chases as well as royal ones; and non-royal earls, barons and high churchmen possessed and created forests and chases of their own, which were as well protected and displayed the same non-economic imperatives and cultural consequences as those of the crown. They were not a transient feature of medieval times which inevitably disappeared with the inexorable progress of commercial economy. Some of them continued to flourish, in all their distinctiveness, through early modern times into the nineteenth century. In consequence, the transition between the medieval and modern worlds was not as clear-cut nor as complete as is suggested by the conventional narrative of English historical development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Located at the interface between contemporary archaeology, cultural and historical geography, this essay explores the ‘more-than-representational’ nature of memory as embodied and haunted by the spectral. Focusing on the post-industrial landscape of the Royal Forest of Dean, I narrate a walk undertaken in November 2008 with local resident, Ron Beard, as we sought to re-trace an old miners’ path. Histories of the landscape unfolded as we walked. Yet they also revealed a haunting sense of loss, a fragmented remembering and forgetting that was unsettled by ghosts from the past. For memory is born of strange and uncanny associations, inexplicable connections between times and places that erupt into the present without warning. As such, memory demands new ways of writing; narratives that better cope with our fragile and contingent recollections, disclosing the haunting presence-absence of the spectral in all its shapes, apparitions and phantasms. I begin by pursuing the idea that memory is more-than-representational. I go on to explore the recurrent manifestation of the spectral, which disturbs, displaces and conditions our understanding of space and time, absence and presence. Developing the argument that alternative styles of writing are needed to reveal the true nature of memory and our haunting engagements with the past − while at the same time accepting Wylie’s assertion that spectral geographies should themselves be spectral − I consider the work of Walter Benjamin and W.G. Sebald, which, through devices such as literary montage, biography and phantasmagoria, successfully unsettles, disrupts and enlivens. Taking stylistic inspiration from these great writers, the ‘Long Path’ is narrated in a non-conventional academic style that seeks itself to displace settled orders of space and time, to reveal the revenant trace of the spectre. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An experiment in open-top chambers was carried out in summer 2008 at Curno (Northern Italy) in order to study the effects of ozone and mild water stress on poplar cuttings (Oxford clone). In this experiment direct fluorescence parameters (JIP-test) were measured in leaves from different sections of the crown (L: lower; M: medium; U: upper parts of the crown). The parameters considered were calculated at the different steps of the fluorescence transient, and include maximum quantum yield efficiency in the dark-adapted state (Fv/FM); the L-band, at 100 μs, that expresses the stability of the tripartite system reaction centre--harvesting light complex--core antenna; the K-band, at 300 μs, that expresses the efficiency of the oxygen-evolving complex; the J-phase, at 2 ms, that expresses the efficiency with which a trapped exciton can move an electron into the electron transport chain from QA- to the intersystem electron acceptors; the IP-phase, which expresses the efficiency of electron transport around the photosystem 1 (PSI) to reduce the final acceptors of the electron transport chain, i.e., ferredoxin and NADP; and finally the performance index total (PItot) for energy conservation from photons absorbed by PSII to the reduction flux of PSI end acceptors. The main results are: (i) different dynamics were observed between leaves in the lower section, whose PItot decreased over time, and those in the upper sections in which it increased, with a dynamic connected to the leaf age; (ii) ozone depressed all the considered fluorescence parameters in basal leaves of well-watered plants, while it had little or no damaging effect on medium-level or upper-section leaves; (iii) PItot and IP-phase increased in upper leaves of plants subjected to ozone stress, as well as the net photosynthesis; (iv) water stress increased PItot of leaves in all levels of the crown. The results suggest that ozone-damaged poplar plants compensate, at least partially, for the loss of photosynthesis with higher photosynthetic rates in young leaves (in the upper section of the crown), more efficient to fix carbon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the potential economic impacts of future spruce budworm (SBW) ( (Clemens)) outbreaks on 2.8 million hectares of Crown forest land in New Brunswick by coupling an advanced Spruce Budworm Decision Support System (SBW DSS) model with a dynamic computable general equilibrium model. A total of 16 alternative scenarios were evaluated, including two SBW outbreak severities (moderate versus severe), four SBW control program levels (protecting 0%, 10%, 20%, and 40% of susceptible Crown land forest area), and two pest management strategies ('without' versus 'with' replanning harvest scheduling and salvage). The 'without' replanning harvest scheduling and salvage strategy findings indicated that, under uncontrolled moderate and severe SBW outbreaks, total output in the New Brunswick economy over the 2012-2041 period would decline in present-value terms by CDN$3.3 billion and $4.7 billion, respectively. SBW control via aerial spraying was shown to reduce the negative impacts on output by up to 66% when protecting 40% of susceptible area. Combining SBW control with replanning harvest scheduling and salvage strategy under moderate and severe outbreaks would reduce the negative impacts on output by a further 1%-18% depending on the level of control implemented. These findings can help forest managers assess the direct and indirect economic effects of forest pest disturbances on regional economies and can also be used together with other sustainable forest management indicators to help broaden the scope of SBW and other forest pest management decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study employs a benefit-cost analysis framework to estimate market and non-market benefits and costs of controlling future spruce budworm (Choristoneura fumiferana) outbreaks on Crown forest lands in New Brunswick, Canada. We used: (i) an advanced timber supply model to project potential timber volume saved, timber value benefits, and costs of pest control efforts; and (ii) a recent contingent valuation method analysis that evaluated non-market benefits (i.e., changes in recreation opportunities and existence values) of controlling future spruce budworm outbreaks in the Province. A total of six alternative scenarios were evaluated, including two uncontrolled future budworm outbreak severities (moderate vs. severe) and, for each severity, three control program levels (protecting 10%, 20%, or 40% of the susceptible Crown land forest area). The economic criteria used to evaluate each scenario included benefit-cost ratios and net present values. Under severe outbreak conditions, results indicated that the highest benefit-cost ratio (4.04) occurred when protecting 10% (284,000 ha) of the susceptible area, and the highest net present value ($111 M) occurred when protecting 20% (568,000 ha) of the susceptible area. Under moderate outbreak conditions, the highest benefit-cost ratio (3.24) and net present value ($58.7 M) occurred when protecting 10% (284,000 ha) of the susceptible area. Inclusion of non-market values generally increased the benefit-cost ratios and net present values of the control programs, and in some cases, led to higher levels of control being supported. Results of this study highlight the importance of including non-market values into the decision making process of forest pest management. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

An essay is presented on the impact of the legal innovation royal forest on English jurisprudence in relation to the verse chronicle "Laʒamon's Brut." It discusses the use of "friᶞ" in Anglo-Saxon legal language, arguing that it reflects social freedoms and prerogatives. It explores its utilization by Laʒamon's readers of Otho version of "Brut" and the author of the poem "Alliterative Morte Arthure."

Abstract: Environmental conditions can have major influences in shaping biophysical properties of leaf surfaces. In moist environments, high leaf water repellency (LWR) is expected because the presence of a water film on leaf surfaces can block stomatal pores, reduce the diffusion of CO2, promote pathogen incidence, colonization of epiphylls and leaching of leaf nutrients. However, LWR can also increase in dry environments as a consequence of higher epicuticular wax deposition induced by high temperatures, high radiation loads and vapor pressure deficits (VPD), which could also lead to a high leaf mass per area (LMA). The aim of this study was to determine how LWR varies among tropical trees with contrasting crown exposures and subjected to distinct vapor pressure deficits at different altitudes in the Atlantic Rain Forest. We hypothesized that (i) LWR will be higher in overstory species because they are more frequently exposed to higher radiation and higher vapor pressure deficit; (ii) In the Montane Forest, LWR will be higher for overstory species in comparison to those in Lowland Forest because radiation and VPD increase with altitude; (iii) Overstory species will also show higher LMA in response to exposure to drier conditions. We measured LWR by observing angles of droplets on adaxial and abaxial leaf surfaces in five species co-occurring at lowland and a montane forest. LWR was positively related to crown exposure and VPD at both sites but not to LMA. LWR was significantly higher in the Montane forest (mean angle 66.25°) than in the Lowland forest (mean angle 61.33°). We suggest that atmospheric conditions associated with contrasting crown exposures may exert important controls over leaf surface properties involved in the repellence or direct absorption of water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents three ways in which Crown forest administration in British Columbia at the turn of the 20th century helped to facilitate effective provincial control of territory. First, officials discursively constructed timbered spaces as a shared trust for British Columbia's citizens. Secondly, they produced useful geographical knowledge and a spatial architecture that would facilitate on-going surveillance. Finally, officials constructed resource spaces of sustained production, monitored and controlled by trained experts. Thus, Crown forest administration solidified provincial claims to vast swaths of territory. The analysis highlights the importance of considering the on-going geographies of land and resource management as a fundamental part of processes of dispossession and reterritorialisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental non-governmental organisations (ENGOs) adopt a range of positions on the issue of tourism development within protected areas. While many ENGOs perceive tourism development as being extremely undesirable within protected areas, the forms of action that ENGOs actually take in response to such development vary. This paper discusses and analyses the responses of one ENGO (The Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society) to tourism within the protected areas of New Zealand. While the responses of ENGOs may be largely issue and organisation specific, there are broad influences at work that result in cross-national variation among the ways that ENGOs operate and relate their concerns about tourism. This paper briefly investigates these influences by comparing the actions of the New Zealand ENGO with those of a similar ENGO in Canada. The analysis contributes to an understanding of why in Canada much ENGO action within the national park-tourism policy domain has tended to be confrontational, whereas in New Zealand, this is not (yet?) the case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessing the crown class (dominant, codominant, intermediate, suppressed) of a tree is a subjective procedure. Most definitions of crown class are based on the relative height of a tree and (or) the amount of light that is incident on the tree crown. With this research, we devised a classification scheme, based on easily measured tree variables, to assign a crown class to trees. Our data consisted of tree measurements, including crown class, from four stem-mapped 0.05-ha sample plots with buffers. The light model tRAYci was used to assess the light incident on each tree crown. These data gave us field-based and light-based assessments of crown class. The classification and regression tree technique — with diameter at breast height (DBH), height, relative DBH, relative height, height to the crown base, and crown depth as variables — was used to classify the trees. Accuracy rates of 91% and 82% were achieved for the field-based and light-based assessments of crown class, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]