Transcript developed for State Forester Use - Sustainable Forests Roundtable

Criteria and Indicators
Building A Common Language for
Monitoring Forest Sustainability in
the Northeastern Area
Terri Heyer, Watershed Program
USDA Forest Service, Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry
NA/NAASF
Criteria and Indicators Effort
 Collaborative effort between NA and States
 Use Montreal Process C&I framework
 Developed a base set of indicators
 Reporting on the forest sustainability indicators
• State and regional indicator information on-line
• Regional assessment reports every 5 years
Collaborative effort
between NA and States
The Northeastern Area
Mission: Lead and help support sustainable forest management and
use across the landscape to provide benefits for the people of 20
Northeastern and Midwestern States and D.C.
Sustainable Forest Management:
The Role of the
USDA Forest Service
Northeastern Area and
State Forestry Agencies
Implementation
 Criteria and indicators
framework
 Inventory and monitoring
 Align programs
 Education and communication
Sustainability
Assessment
Highlights for
the Northern
United States
Purpose:
Raise general awareness
of conditions in the
Northern United States
Summarize important
points from technical
report for policymakers,
managers, and other
stakeholders
United States
Department of
Agriculture
Available online:
Forest Service
State and Private Forestry
Northeastern Area
http://www.na.fs.fed.us/
sustainability
NA-TP-05-03
July 2003
Base Set of Forest
Sustainability Indicators
for the Northeastern Area
Development of Base Indicators
 Requested by the Northeastern Area
Association of State Foresters
 Base set of indicators developed by a C&I
work group:
• NA staff
• State forest resource planners
Development of Base Indicators
 Started with the Montreal Process indicators
 C&I work group also contributed potential indicators
 Indicator evaluation process, considering:
• Scale appropriateness
• Reliability
• Feasibility
• Ability to measure over time
• Ease of analysis/interpretation
• Usefulness to audience
 Selected to span the Montreal Process Criteria
Comprehensive
evaluation of
data available
USDA Forest Service, Northeastern Area and
Northeastern Area Association of State Foresters
Base Indicators of Forest Sustainability:
Metrics and Data Sources for
State and Regional Monitoring
United States
Department of
Agriculture
Forest Service
State and Private Forestry
Northeastern Area
NA/NAASF Base Indicators
Criterion 3: Maintenance of Forest Ecosystem Health and Vitality
7. Area and percent of forest land affected by potentially damaging
agents
Criterion 4: Conservation and Maintenance of Soil and Water
Resources
8. Soil quality in forested areas
9. Area and percent of forest land adjacent to surface water and area of
forested land by watershed
10. Water quality in forested areas
Criterion 5: Maintenance of Forest Contribution to
Global Carbon Cycles
11.Forest ecosystem biomass and forest ecosystem carbon pools
Reporting on the base
indicators of forest
sustainability
 State and regional indicator information on-line
 Regional assessment reports every 5 years
Sustainability Clearinghouse
Currently Available
To seek out and share information about:
 Sustainable forestry
 The use of C&I
 Ongoing NA/NAASF sustainability efforts
http://www.na.fs.fed.us/sustainability
Sustainability Clearinghouse
Products
 List of 60 State, regional, and national sustainability efforts
 Sourcebook on C&I
 Sustainability Assessment Highlights for the Northern US
 Publication on role of NA and NAASF in Sustainable Forest
Management
 NA/NAASF Base Indicators of Forest Sustainability: Metrics
and Data Sources for State and Regional Monitoring
NA Indicators Online Clearinghouse
 Database and Web application to store and report
indicator data and other information
 Up-to-date State to regional data in user-
friendly format (graphs, tables, maps)
 Induce States and others to consider sustainability
in their own forest planning and management
 Available by fall 2005
Draft Web Template—Home Page
Northeastern Area Forest Sustainability
Indicators Clearinghouse
Browse
Sustainability
Indicators to
Retrieve Data
Create State and
Regional Summary
Data Reports
USDA Northeastern
Area Sustainability
Clearinghouse
Links to Additional
Forest Sustainability
Resources
Managing forests sustainably involves recognizing interconnections among
Defining
ecological, economic, and social systems to preserve options for future
Sustainability
generations while meeting the needs of the present. Criteria define broad
categories of sustainability and indicators are specific measurements of each
category. Criteria and indicators are a valuable tool when used in assessment,
planning, and communicating with others.
This Web site provides information and data for 18 base indicators of
sustainability, which the USDA Forest Service Northeastern Area and the
Northeastern Area Association of State Foresters are committed to using for
ongoing monitoring.
Updated continuously, data reported here cover 20 States in the Midwest
and Northeast and are suitable for monitoring sustainability at State,
multistate, and regional scales.
Link to more information about the NA/NAASF base indicators development and use.
Link to Web site data liability/disclaimer notice.
This Web site is the result of a collaborative forest sustainability effort between (with links to each):
USDA Forest Service,
Northeastern Area
State & Private Forestry
Northeastern Area
Association of State
Foresters
Northeastern Forest
Resource Planners
Association
Date this Web page was last updated and link to contact for Comments, Questions, Web site problems
Draft Web Template—Indicator Page
Northeastern Area Indicators Clearinghouse
list of criteria
and indicators
next
indicator
Criterion 1. Conservation of Biological Diversity
NA/NAASF Base Indicator 1
Area of forest land relative to total land and
area of reserved land
Percent of land forested across the 20 Northeastern States
Percent forested
100
Total land
area =
413 acres
80
60
44
40
This is an example
43graph44
42
format,
not actual data
40
41
1987
1997
20
0
1953
1963
1970
1977
Year
Data Source: USDA Forest Service, 2004.
Coverage: all 20 States
Technical
Note
Select Scale
Save
Graph
Download
Data

Printer
Friendly
version
What is this indicator and
why is it important?
Forests provide a multitude of public
values such as water purification,
carbon dioxide removal, and
aesthetics. The presence and amount
of forests has a direct impact on a host
of ecological, social, and economic
factors such as wildlife populations,
quality of life, and potential economic
development. Certain wildlife species
are dependent on a contiguous
ecosystem or ecosystems of a certain
minimum size. In addition to
measuring forest land, this indicator
also shows how much forest land is
considered reserved…
Additional information & Web links
Retrieved from the NA/NAASF Forest Sustainability Indicator Database…
Short data disclaimer sentence with link to associated paragraph
Indicator Information
System Home
Comments,
Questions?
Technical note for this Indicator
National Sustainability Indicators
list of criteria
and indicators
next
indicator
5-Year Sustainability Assessment Reports
 Summarize base indicator information to support
the NA and NAASF strategic planning.
 Regional assessment of forest sustainability.
 Report the information indicator-by-indicator.
 Provide some analysis across the indicators for a
more complete sustainability assessment.
Upper Mississippi Regional Roundtable
Soil and Water Criteria comments:
 Scale of data collection
 Accessibility of data and cost of data collection
 Examine the impacts of forests on soil and water parameters
 Measure amount of forest management as unmanaged
forests have a greater potential for erosion problems
 Track changes over time
 Have goals to strive for otherwise how will we know when
we have enough data?
Upper Mississippi Regional Roundtable
Carbon Sequestraion Criteria comments:
 Education-landowners not very knowledgeable,
most information is too technical
 More than information, need specialists to work
with landowners
 Make the link between active management and
carbon uptake
 UM-floodplain processes, how does that impact
carbon uptake?
Summary
We recognize that criteria
and indicators are a useful
tool for monitoring forest
sustainability.
The USDA Forest Service
Northeastern Area & the State
foresters are using the Montreal
Process C&I framework for
sustainability reporting.
The Northeastern Area
worked with the 20 States
to develop a base set of
forest sustainability
indicators.
A vast array of NA regional and
State level data will be available
online for the base indicators
NA Sustainability Web site
http://www.na.fs.fed.us/sustainability
NA/NAASF Base Indicators
Criterion 1: Conservation of Biological Diversity
1. Area of forest land relative to total land area and area of reserved
forest land
2. Extent of area by forest type and by size class, age class, and
successional stage
3. Degree of forest land conversion, fragmentation, and parcelization
4. Status of forest/woodland communities and species of concern
(with focus on forest-associated species)
Criterion 2: Maintenance of Productive Capacity of
Forest Ecosystems
5. Area of timberland
6. Annual removal of merchantable wood volume compared to net
growth
NA/NAASF Base Indicators
Criterion 6: Maintenance and Enhancement of Long-term Multiple
Socio-economic Benefits to Meet the Needs of Societies
12. Value and volume of wood and wood products production,
consumption, and trade
13. Outdoor recreational facilities and activities
14. Public and private investments in forest health, management, research,
and wood processing
15. Forest ownership and land use (including acres of specially designated
land)
16. Employment and wages in forest-related sectors
Criterion 7: Legal, Institutional, and Economic Framework for
Forest Conservation and Sustainable Management
17. Existence, type, and monitoring of forest management
standards/guidelines
18. Existence, type, and frequency of forest-related planning, assessment,
and policy review