Working landscapes may be linked to public lands.

No abstract

Forest health," a term broadly used in US forest management, has been described as a normative term that implies one ecological state is better than another and as a positive goal for forests that stakeholders can rally around. The definitions stakeholders brought to a participatory adaptive management program in central California may be thought of as reflective of mental models shaped by experience and culture. Perceptions of forest health and the potential link to ideas about management were assessed through 42 in-depth interviews of individuals concerned about forests in the study area. Four views of forest health emerged, characterized here as oriented to biodiversity, ecological processes, history, and management. These were not clearly linked to divergent opinions of what participants consider appropriate forest management tools. Definitions were not mutually exclusive or rigid, revealing opportunities for reconciliation and social learning. Working to establish unified ecological goals has been suggested as a first step for collaborative and participatory projects. Longer-term participants tended to espouse the process-oriented view of forest health, perhaps reflecting the development of a hybrid culture of shared meanings, norms, and expectations about team processes fostered through the social learning that is key to adaptive management.

The 2004 Sierra Nevada Forest Plan Amendment adopted by the U.S. Forest Service called for using adaptive management -management through deliberate experimentation -to carry out treatments to improve forest health and reduce fire severity. The Sierra Nevada Adaptive Management Project (SNAMP), begun in 2005 and ending this year, has developed, implemented and evaluated participatory adaptive management processes in two national forests for applying fuels management treatments based on strategically placed patterns of tree thinning. SNAMP participants include federal and state agencies, the University of California and many members of the public. Research Article

Rancher-subsidized oak woodland silvopastoralism is being used to conserve land in California oak woodlands. As part of the Working Landscapes movement, non-governmental organizations like the Nature Conservancy and a proliferation of land trusts are brokering private and public fund transfers in exchange for title restrictions that preclude development on land used by "environmentally friendly" low intensity livestock grazing enterprises. Increasingly, ranchers are willing to trade their option to develop their land for capital, tax benefits and the continued opportunity to enjoy the ranching lifestyle, as a result sharing title with conservation-oriented non-governmental organizations or public agencies. A shift away from the traditional American land acquisition model and from subsidies and other policies for stimulating increased agricultural production, the relatively passive and indirect role of government is attractive to regulation-averse ranchers. Ranchers will invest considerable labour and capital in the ranch in return for lifestyle benefits, including environmental and other non-monetary benefits. Many such benefits are shared by the public. The high value of lifestyle to ranchers is widespread in the USA and California, with more than half of ranchers in various studies holding outside jobs to provide funding to invest in the ranch. Protecting the lifestyle and cultural values that motivate such ranchers is an important consideration for conservationists.