Development and Implementation of Landscape Management System

Project ID: HAW013D02

Federal Agency: Bureau of Land Management

Partner Institution: University of Washington

Fiscal Year: 2001

Initial Funding: $50,000

Total Funding: $95,000

Project Type: Technical Assistance

Project Disciplines: Biological

Principal Investigator: Oliver, Chad

Agreement Technical Representative: Shapiro, Steven

Abstract: The Bureau of Land Management manages large areas of young forest that will probably not grow to desired structures without silvicultural actions. Individual stands could be treated in different ways – primarily through thinnings—to provide the desired structures; however, across the forested landscape different stands will need to be treated differently both to accommodate their present condition and to meet desired structures. These variations in treatments need to be well planned, but done expeditiously to avoid losing the thinning “window” of opportunity, beyond which the treatments will not be effective and the stands may well fall over with wind or snow. The Landscape Management System (LMS) being developed at the University of Washington College of Forest Resources in cooperation with the USDA Forest Service is a tool that allows rapid planning and implementation of a variety of silvicultural pathways to achieve multiple, diverse landscape objectives. The landscape management consists of a cores computer program and “companion” programs that allow the user to step through the “rational iterative” decision-making approach efficiently. The development is advanced enough that it can be demonstrated and refined on the BLM managed lands in Oregon.