Wild Forests presents a coherent review of the scientific and policy issues surrounding biological diversity in the context of contemporary public forest management. The authors examine past and current practices of forest management and provide a comprehensive overview of known and suspected threats to diversity.
In addition to discussing general ecological principles, the authors evaluate specific approaches to forest management that have been proposed to ameliorate diversity losses. They present one such policy -- the Dominant Use Zoning Model incorporating an integrated network of "Diversity Maintenance Areas" -- and describe their attempts to persuade the U.S. Forest Service to adopt such a policy in Wisconsin.
Drawing on experience in the field, in negotiations, and in court, the authors analyze the ways in which federal agencies are coping with the mandates of conservation biology and suggest reforms that could better address these important issues. Throughout, they argue that wild or unengineered conditions are those that are most likely to foster a return to the species richness that we once enjoyed.
Contents
Table of Figures
List of Tables
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
PART I. Whence Biodiversity?
Chapter 1. Forests Then and Now
Chapter 2. Shadows in the Forest
Chapter 3. The Myth of Heart's Content
PART II. Ecological Mechanisms and Biotic Resources
Chapter 4. Internal Affairs: Patch and Disturbance Dynamics
Chapter 5. From Hero to Villain: Edge Effects
Chapter 6. Hazards of Fragmentation: Area and Isolation Effects
Chapter 7. Tracking Diversity: Biological Inventory, Research, and Monitoring
PART III. Approaches to Forest Management
Chapter 8. The Evolution of Forest Management
Chapter 9. Multiple Use on National Forest Lands
Chapter 10. What's New in Forest Management?
Chapter 11. Zoning for Diversity
PART IV. Toward a New Diversity Policy (and Twenty-First Century Old Growth)
Chapter 12. Sources of a New Diversity Policy for the National Forests
Chapter 13. Case History: The Wisconsin National Forests
Chapter 14. Dominant-Use Zoning And Wildlands: Forestry for the Twenty-first Century
First Postscript
References
Glossary of Abbreviations and Acronyms
Species List
Index
