Back in November, I posted “Old Growth: How Much is Enough?” with a link to the Dovetail Partners report of the same title. (Only 2 comments on TSW.)
Now Dovetail has posted 4 “guest responses” to the report. The group explains:
In November 2023, Dovetail Partners released a report titled, “Old growth forests: How much is enough?”. In the report, we explored the different definitions of “old growth” applied globally and in regions of North America and Europe, including their scientific basis. The report considered why we need old growth forests, and conversely, why we do not, and included a discussion of old growth forest protection and management. We concluded with a discussion how much old growth is ‘enough’, how we can create more, and how our understanding of the relationship between people and forests is evolving.
We asked the following individuals to respond to the report, “Old growth forests: How much is enough?”, and compiled their feedback into one document.
Marcella Windmuller-Campione
Marcella is an Associate Professor with the Department of Forest Resources at the University of Minnesota.
Dr. Alexander Evans, Forest Stewards Guild
As an Executive Director, Zander focuses on building partnerships, promoting sound policy, and supporting on-the-ground implementation of ecological forestry. He has a PhD from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and worked as a cartographer and spatial analyst with the US Geological Survey.
Dave Atkins
Dave is a Family Forest Owner and President of the Montana Forest Owners Association; he is one of the authors of the Mass Timber Report.
Joseph Vaughn, CF
Joseph is a Key Account Manager at NCX and has a deep rooted passion for sustainable forest management.
Legally? On national forest lands, when it occurs for an ecosystem “within the natural range of variation and can withstand and recover from most perturbations imposed by natural environmental dynamics or human influence.” (36 CFR §219.19)
So.. how would you figure that out in terms of acres?
“The Interdisciplinary Team should describe the natural range of variation based on review and synthesis of available information for selected key ecosystem characteristics of terrestrial, aquatic, and riparian ecosystems. Information used to determine the natural range of variation may be drawn from many sources including scientific journal articles, historical records and photographs, early surveys, pollen and sediment records, tree ring analyses, or descriptions of reference areas. The Interdisciplinary Team may adapt the natural range of variation analysis from another National Forest System unit for specific ecosystems that are shared and make adjustments to fit the local conditions. Refer to Wiens et al. 2012 for further discussion and examples.” FSH 1909.12 §12.14a