The objective of this module is to introduce you to the complexity of sustainable forest management. You need to understand how forest ecosystem management balances ecological, social, and economic demands with the capacity of forest resources to provide for present and future values. The objectives described below are closely linked to the competency requirements that have been identified for foresters by the Canadian Forestry Accreditation Board, which is the most rigorous set of requirements for forestry training available.
Relevant Components
- Criteria and indicators for sustainable resource management.
- Global perspective of forestry issues and challenges.
After taking this module, you should be able to:
- Describe the variety of values and competing interests in a forest.
- Identify and describe the range of values (timber and non-timber) in a forest.
- Identify the interests and rights present in a forest including Aboriginal Peoples’ rights, claims and interests in forests and the importance of implementing processes to determine and address them.
- Describe the requirements of and interaction among these values.
- Describe the effect and implications of decisions aimed at a given set of objectives.
- Describe how values and competing interests are or can be weighed/balanced in decision making.
- Discuss forest management concepts.
- Explain various management approaches and situations where they might be used.
- Describe risk and uncertainty in forest management options.
- Describe the application, design and function of adaptive management.
- Discuss the cumulative impacts of forestry and other land use practices (e.g. oil and gas, urban development) on various forest resources.
- Describe the role and application of monitoring in forestry.
- Describe how global trends drive and influence forest management.
- Identify global trends.
- Explain the influence of global trends on regionally specific forest management.