Natural Resource Sciences
Keith Blatner
Dilemmas Surrounding Today's Forests
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The Healthy Forest Initiative and related legislation passed in 2003 to curb increased instances of wildfire in the western United States, is perhaps the greatest change in public forestland policy since the controversial Spotted Owl Decision of the early 1990s. The economic feasibility and environmental impact of treating large acreages of forestland has resulted in numerous dilemmas for forest managers across the West. The complexity of these issues has required a multidisciplinary approach to effectively analyze the numerous tradeoffs confronting land managers in the implementation of this initiative. Dr. Blatner, in combination with other scientists in the region, has focused on both the economic feasibility and social acceptability of alternative approaches to implementing this initiative. His analysis suggests that some excess mill capacity in the region could process material harvested under this initiative, but care must be taken not to destabilize the existing industrial infrastructure. In regard to smoke generated from prescribed forest burning, research with other colleagues has suggested that this may be more acceptable than agricultural field burning, a result that bodes well for the continued (and possibly increased) use of fire as a cultural treatment.
Similarly, private forest owners in the Pacific Northwest are being subjected to increasing development pressure due to urban sprawl, while at the same time the value of the land, as both a source timber for the region’s product sector and for a variety of environmental values, has never been higher. Because of increasing land use pressures, these forests are being subjected to increasing levels of regulation. These range from federal and state requirements for increased riparian buffer zones and restrictions on timber harvesting practices to local zoning regulations concerning potential future land conversions. At the same time, landowner reaction to the multitude of regulations and the dramatically increased market value of these lands for non-forest uses may result in a continued loss of forestland and a reduction in individually owned forest parcel size. These changes will have a dramatic effect on the future ability of these lands to provide commodities and environmental goods and services. Current research focuses on both the changing character of private forest landowners and on their responses to these forces, as well as on changes in the status of the land itself.
Contact
Information
Keith Blatner, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair
Department of Natural Resource Sciences
Washington State University
PO Box 646410
Pullman, WA 99164-6410
Telephone: 509-335-4499
E-mail: blatner@wsu.edu |
