Hannu Saarenmaa may have opened a Pandora's box by asking for definitions of
ecosystem management. Perhaps the best way to define forest Ecosystem Management
(EM) is to contrast it with Multiple Use, Sustained Yield (MUSY) forestry, the
old forest resource management paradigm.
The philosophical base of MUSY forestry is utilitarian. EM has a Leopoldian
environmental ethic as a philosophical base. The objective of MUSY is to
maximize commodity production, or, for economists, to maximize net present
value. The objective of EM is to maintain the forest ecosystem as an
interconnected whole, while allowing for the sustainable extraction of
commodities; maintaining future options is another objective. Constraints for
the MUSY approach to forestry are related to sustained yield of outputs --
periodic harvest or use of outputs must be less than or equal to their periodic
growth or capacity (e.g., allowable cut for timber, carrying capacity for
recreation, etc.). Constraints related to EM include long-term ecosystem
sustainability, maintaining forest aesthetics, and social acceptability of
management practices. The role of science differs between MUSY and EM. Forest
management is viewed as applied science from the MUSY perspective. Forest
management is viewed as combining the scientific and the social from the EM
perspective
Finally, a number of major themes distinguish MUSY and EM. MUSY focuses on
outputs (goods and services demanded by people, e.g., timber, recreation,
wildlife, forage, etc.). EM focuses on inputs and processes (e.g., the soil,
natural capital, biological diversity, ecological processes, etc.). MUSY
emphasizes management that fits industrial production processes (the "regulated
forest"). EM emphasizes forest management that mimics natural processes. The
scale in MUSY forest management is typically stand-level. The scale in EM is
ecosystem-level or landscape-level. The appropriate planning and management unit
in MUSY forestry typically follows political or ownership boundaries. The
appropriate planning and management unit in an EM approach is entire ecosystems,
cutting across political and ownership boundaries.
The above observations are adapted from a table in my paper: "Changing forest
values and ecosystem management," SOCIETY AND NATURAL RESOURCES (forthcoming,
1994).
Prof. Saarenmaa also asked if forest EM is a new concept. I would suggest the
following book: THE ECOSYSTEM CONCEPT IN NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, George M.
Van Dyne (ed.). New York: Academic Press (1969), and especially chapter 2 by
Jack Major titled "Historical development of the ecosystem concept." The idea
of forest ecosystem management has been around for a long time, but it has
gained a lot of attention since the late 1980s in North America. The U.S.
Forest Service was the first agency in the world to adopt an ecosystem
management policy (in June of 1992), and the U.S. Department of the Interior
adopted an ecosystem management approach in 1993.
Sorry to be so long-winded! Happy new year!
dave bengston
____ __ ----------------------------------
\________| _) | Mail: David N. Bengston, Ph.D.|
/ \ / \ | Ecological Economist |
* */ \_ / \* * | North Central Forest |
* / * \| / * \ * | Experiment Station |
* /____*__O/ * \ * | 1992 Folwell Ave. |
* * |_ * * | St.Paul, MN 55108-1035 |
* * * * | USA |
* * * * | Phone: 612-649-5162 |
bengs001@maroon.tc.umn.edu | FAX: 612-649-5285 |
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