Forest Sustainability—
Taking Measures Now to Ensure Healthy Forests for the Future
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USDA
Forest Service Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry NA-MR-02-03 |
Forests are critical to America's environmental, social, and economic vitality. Many of the goods and services that Americans depend upon have their roots in forests.
What does the future hold for our forests? Will they remain healthy and continue to protect water and support jobs? Will we lose more land to development? In short, are forests managed sustainably, that is, are they currently used in ways that meet today’s needs without sacrificing the needs of future generations?
Assessing Forest Sustainability
The United States is assessing sustainability and the effects of forest management using an internationally recognized monitoring system. The system addresses seven criteria that outline important ecological, social, and economic values of forests.
State Foresters in the 20 Northeastern and Midwestern States and the USDA Forest Service have adopted the seven criteria as sustainable forest management goals to help guide program and policy decisions.
The seven criteria are:
Conservation of biological diversity—maintaining a variety of plants and animals, and their environments. Diversity helps plant and animal populations adapt to change.
Maintenance of productive capacity of forest ecosystems—assessing the extent of forests and whether they can produce wood as well as nonwood forest products such as mushrooms, maple syrup, and berries.
Forest ecosystem health—evaluating forest and tree health, considering the effects of insects and diseases, tree age, storms, fires, and air pollution.
Conservation of soil and water resources—determining whether soil is being managed to hold nutrients and prevent erosion, and if the water we depend upon is adequately protected.
Maintenance of forest contribution to global carbon cycles—estimating how much carbon is held in forests and harvested wood. Actively growing trees remove carbon from the atmosphere as they take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen, which reduces the greenhouse effect (the gradual heating of the world’s atmosphere).
Maintenance and enhancement of long-term multiple socio-economic benefits to meet the needs of society—measuring the direct benefits that forests produce: forest recreation, wood products, and other products such as maple syrup, Christmas trees, and medicinal plants.
Legal, institutional, and economic framework for forest conservation and sustainable management—reviewing laws and regulations, urban and rural development patterns, demographic changes, international trade, and similar factors to see if they tend to support or detract from forest sustainability.
