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Options for biodiversity conservation in managed forest landscapes of multiple ownerships in Oregon and Washington, USA

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Abstract

We examine existing and developing approaches to balance biodiversity conservation and timber production with the changing conservation roles of federal and nonfederal forest land ownerships in the US Pacific Northwest. At landscape scales, implementation of the reserve-matrix approach of the federal Northwest Forest Plan in 1994 was followed by proposals of alternative designs to better integrate disturbance regimes or to conserve biodiversity in landscapes of predominantly young forests through active management without reserves. At stand scales, landowners can improve habitat heterogeneity through a host of conventional and alternative silvicultural techniques. There are no state rules that explicitly require biodiversity conservation on nonfederal lands in the region. However, state forest practices rules require retention of structural legacies to enhance habitat complexity and establishment of riparian management areas to conserve aquatic ecosystems. Habitat Conservation Plans (HCPs) under the US Endangered Species Act provide regulatory incentives for nonfederal landowners to protect threatened and endangered species. A state-wide programmatic HCP has recently emerged as a multi-species conservation approach on nonfederal lands. Among voluntary incentives, the Forest Stewardship Council certification comprehensively addresses fundamental elements of biodiversity conservation; however, its tough conservation requirements may limit its coverage to relatively small land areas. Future changes in landscape management strategies on federal lands may occur without coordination with nonfederal landowners because of the differences in regulatory and voluntary incentives between ownerships. This raises concerns when potentially reduced protections on federal lands are proposed, and the capacity of the remaining landscape to compensate has been degraded.

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Abbreviations

CA:

California

DBH:

Diameter at Breast Height

ESA:

US Endangered Species Act

FSC:

Forest Stewardship Council

HCP:

Habitat Conservation Plan

NWFP:

Northwest Forest Plan

OR:

Oregon

SFI:

Sustainable Forestry Initiative

US:

United States

WA:

Washington

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Acknowledgments

We thank D. Clayton, R. Nauman, H. Welsh, E. Reilly, S. Morey, B. Devlin, and L. Ollivier for conservation planning in the Applegate Watershed., and E. Reilly for help assembling GIS layers that were used in Fig. 4. Kathryn Ronnenberg assisted with graphics and editing. Funding and support was provided by the Aquatic and Land Interactions Program of the US Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station and Oregon State University.

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  1. Department of Zoology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, 97331, USA

    Nobuya Suzuki

  2. Pacific Northwest Research Station, USDA Forest Service, Corvallis, OR, USA

    Deanna H. Olson

  3. Pacific Northwest Research Station, 3200 SW Jefferson Way, Corvallis, OR, 97331, USA

    Nobuya Suzuki

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Correspondence to Nobuya Suzuki.

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Suzuki, N., Olson, D.H. Options for biodiversity conservation in managed forest landscapes of multiple ownerships in Oregon and Washington, USA. Biodivers Conserv 16, 3895–3917 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-007-9198-y

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