Evaluating pathways to social and ecological landscape resilience

Ecology and Society: a journal of integrative science for resilience and sustainability

article

Eric S. Abelson¹  Keith M. Reynolds³  Angela M. White²  Jonathan W. Long⁴  Charles Maxwell⁵  Patricia N. Manley² 

[1] University of Texas, Austin, Department of Integrative Biology;US Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station;US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station;USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station;Spatial Informatics Group

关键词: decision support;    ecology;    forest management;    Lake Tahoe;    landscape resilience;    scenario planning;    wildlife conservation;   

DOI  :  10.5751/ES-13243-270408

学科分类：生物科学（综合）

来源: Resilience Alliance Publications

【 摘 要 】

Rapid environmental changes challenge the resilience of wildlands. The western portion of the Lake Tahoe Basin in California is an important ecological and cultural hotspot that is at risk of degradation from current and future environmental pressures. Historical uses, fire suppression, and a changing climate have created forest landscape conditions at risk of drought stress, destructive fire, and loss of habitat diversity. We prospectively modeled forest landscape conditions for a period of 100 years to evaluate the efficacy of 5 unique management scenarios in achieving desired landscape conditions. Management scenarios ranged from no management other than fire suppression to applying treatments consistent with historical fire frequencies and extent (i.e., regular and broadscale biomass reduction). We developed a decision support tool to evaluate environmental and social outcomes within a single framework to provide a transparent set of costs and benefits. Results illuminated underlying mechanisms of forest resilience and provided actionable guidance to decision makers. Sixteen attributes were assessed in the model after assigning weights to each. We found that removing forest biomass across the landscape, particularly when accomplished using extensive fire-based removal techniques, led to highly favorable conditions for environmental quality and promoted overall landscape resilience. Environmental conditions resulting from extensive fire-based biomass removal also had nominal variation over time, in contrast with strategies that had less extensive and/or used physical removal techniques (e.g., mechanical thinning). Our analysis provides a transparent approach to assess large datasets with complex and interacting variables. Ultimately, we aim to provide insights into the complexities of maintaining optimal conditions and managing landscapes to promote ecosystem resilience in a changing world.

【 授权许可】

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