A major shift to the retention approach for forestry can help resolve some global forest sustainability issues

Abstract

Approximately 85% of the global forest estate is neither formally protected nor in areas dedicated to intensive wood production (e.g., plantations). Given the spatial extent of unprotected forests, finding management approaches that will sustain their multiple environmental, economic, and cultural values and prevent their conversion to other uses is imperative. The major global challenge of native forest management is further demonstrated by ongoing steep declines in forest biodiversity and carbon stocks. Here, we suggest that an essential part of such management—supplementing the protection of large reserves and sensitive areas within forest landscapes (e.g., aquatic features)—is the adoption of the retention approach in forests where logging occurs. This ecological approach to harvesting provides for permanent retention of important selected structures (e.g., trees and decayed logs) to provide for continuity of ecosystem structure, function, and species composition in the postharvest forest. The retention approach supports the integration of environmental, economic, and cultural values and is broadly applicable to tropical, temperate, and boreal forests, adaptable to different management objectives, and appropriate in different societal settings. The widespread adoption of the retention approach would be one of the most significant changes in management practice since the onset of modern high‐yield forestry.

Managing forests in a changing world: the need for a systemic approach. A review

“…have collectively defined these approaches "ecological forestry", which comprises both natural disturbance based management (Oliver, 1981;Attiwill, 1994;Franklin et al, 2002Franklin et al, , 2007Kuuluvainen & Grenfell, 2012) and variable retention harvesting (Franklin et al, 1997, Gustafsson et al, 2012, Lindenmayer et al, 2012. Harvesting decisions in all these alternative approaches are generally driven by an appreciation of the economic and ecological value of retained trees in terms of ensuring the continuity of ecosystem processes and functions.…”

“…Compared to other recent alternative forest management approaches which have been proposed during the past years in various parts of the world (Puettmann et al, 2015), such as close-to-nature forestry (Jacobsen, 2001), variable retention forestry (Lindenmayer et al, 2012) or ecosystem management (Grumbine, 1994), systemic silviculture takes into account most of the characteristics of forests as complex adaptive systems .…”

Aftermath of Mountain Pine Beetle Outbreak in British Columbia: Stand Dynamics, Management Response and Ecosystem Resilience

“…Conversely, after natural disturbance, unsalvaged stands create a heterogeneous landscape structure with a mosaic of even-aged and uneven-aged patches [43,135]. These heterogeneous forests can recover faster than the salvage-logged stands as a significant portion of biological legacies (e.g., surviving trees, snags and logs, patches of intact vegetation, seedbanks in tree crowns or in the soil) of that particular ecosystem remain intact [136][137][138]. This allows the forest to remember its genetic, compositional and structural pre-harvest condition to build a new complex ecosystem [139], which, due to its increased heterogeneity, may be more adaptable to a changing climate and less susceptible to future disturbances [32,140].…”

Abiotic and Biotic Soil Characteristics in Old Growth Forests and Thinned or Unthinned Mature Stands in Three Regions of Oregon

“…No stand originating from commercial harvest will develop the loading of coarse woody debris and consequent soil patterns that characterize old growth forests in the mesic regions. However harvesting that retains large green trees in perpetuity will move managed forests in that direction [71]. Although thinned stands remained quite different from old growth in a multivariate context, they were similar in percent soil organic matter, and that may speed the development of soil moisture, microbial biomass, and mesofaunal communities that characterize old growth forests.…”