PARENT SESSION
Oral Session #97: Restoration Philosophy and Education.
Presiding: S. Cunningham
Friday, August 9. 9:00 AM to 10:30 AM. Mohave Meeting Room, TCC.
Citizens' call for ecological forest restoration: forest restoration principles and criteria.
MARTIN, ANNE1, DELLASALA, DOMINICK2, SCHULKE, TODD*,3, BIRD, BRYAN4, CRILEY, MARNIE5, VAN DAALEN, CHRIS6, KREILICK, JAKE7, BROWN, RICK8, SPIVAK, RANDI1, 1 American Lands Alliance, Reno, Nevada2 Klamath-Siskiyou Program - World Wildlife Fund, Ashland, Oregon3 Center for Biological Diversity, Pinos Altos, New Mexico4 Forest Conservation Council, Sante Fe, New Mexico5 Wildlands Center for Preventing Roads, Missoula, Montana6 Grass Lakes Consulting, Olympia, Washington7 National Forest Protection Alliance, Missoula, Montana8 Defenders of Wildlife, Lake Oswego, Oregon
ABSTRACT- Decision-makers, scientists, and the interested public have long recognized the need to restore forest ecosystems damaged by decades of mismanagement. There is an increase in fuels reduction and restoration projects due to recent pressures from to address forest fires in the West, however, some approaches are being implemented as "restoration" with questionable ecological benefits. Recognizing the need to define ecologically sound forest restoration, conservation groups from around the country met recently to develop a series of restoration principles. The restoration principles were developed with input from forest practitioners that would seek to articulate a collective vision of forest restoration, informed by science, that clearly defines what types of restoration efforts merit the conservation community's support. This more inclusive or "expanded" approach to restoration requires the use of restoration assessments and makes use of both active and passive management approaches. The objective of restoration in this context is to restore ecological integrity across multiple spatial scales and to seek participation from forest workers and communities in the process of putting the pieces back together. Three core principles and several related criteria are presented, including: ecological forest restoration, ecological economics, and communities and workforce restoration principles. Creative funding approaches also are discussed to remove perverse incentives that often have compromised restoration approaches.
KEY WORDS: restoration , forests, principles