Testing Stewardship Concepts on Federal Land

Summary

The goal of this paper is to describe recent attempts to define the stewardship concept and to translate it into action on the ground. The focus is on national forest lands and the unique challenges federal land managers face in working with the public to implement a concept that has different meanings to a variety of stakeholders. Stewardship requires more flexibility than is often found under existing administrative authorities. Large, bureaucratic agencies face many barriers in applying creative and innovative solutions to existing problems, not the least of which are internal and external reward structures. While there exist some authorities that allow for the creative testing of stewardship contracting projects on the ground, a number of challenges remain. Two significant ones are: (1) the need for a clearer, consistent understanding (by both Forest Service employees and constituents) of the authorities that can be used to test stewardship concepts; and (2) a more broad-based agreement on the desired outcome of stewardship projects. Given the current lack of understanding and agreement on how to implement stewardship concepts, the most effective means of moving the issue forward will be to apply innovative tests of contracting methods under current or new temporary authorities. These tests should be designed, implemented, monitored, and evaluated using broad-based, inclusive, on-the-ground coalitions that create effective ties and linkages between local and national levels.     

河南省平原区林业生态屏障建设分析与评价

通过对河南省平原区林业生态屏障建设现状的调查,论述了林业生态屏障对平原区的重要影响,同时指出了目前林业生态屏障建设存在的主要问题,以期引起有关部门的关注。     

林用绞盘机的使用与维修

对两种林用绞盘机的结构、性能、使用和保养方法进行了深入研究，其中的使用和保养方法是多年生产实践经验的总结，对正确使用和保养林用绞盘机有重要的指导作用，同时对提高林用绞盘机的使用寿命也有一定的参考价值。     

我国林业外来有害生物的入侵与防范措施

主要是对当前我国外来有害生物的入侵并蔓延原因进行分析,并提出对外来有害生物的防范措施。     

切实加强森林资源管理 提高凭证采伐率

凭证采伐率是体现一个地方森林资源管理的重要指标，文章对重点林区凭证采伐率的现状及下降原因作了分析，提出提高凭证采伐率的对策，这对森林采伐限额管理有一定的参考价值。     

Resistance to foliage-feeding insects in conifers: implications for pest management

The ecological implications of insect resistance in conifers are rarely discussed. It is however a fairly straightforward plant-insect interaction and should be treated as such, making use of the increasing amount of information in this field. Work on tree breeding is usually carried out by silviculturalists who, not surprisingly, rarely consider the insect component of the environment in which the treess are growing. In all fairness, it must be stated that many entomologists, fail to consider the plant component of the interaction. Clonal forestry will almost certainly result in the loss of genetic variability. The use of clonal material has already been cited as a possible source for the diminution of the resistance against pests and diseases and if particular resistance mechanisms against forest pests are sought in the future the reduction in genetic material caused by clonal selection could have serious consequences. The ethics of clonal forestry have been questioned as have the ethics of biotechnological advances in the area of recombinant DNA molecules. The potential of both these techniques should be publicized and brought to the attention of the general public and the scientific community at large and evaluated. To improve our forest environment and to protect the environment as a whole, entomologists, geneticists, physiologists and silviculturalists must work together to produce better trees that require little, if any, chemical aid, be it insecticides, herbicides, fungicides or fertilizers. An increasing awareness of the environmental problems generated by large-scale insecticide applications to forest plantations, coupled with an increasingly chemophobic work-force and the difficulty in obtaining pesticide registration for use in forest environments, means that the forest industry world-wide must look to the use of integrated control measures with more diligence than has been shown in the past. Many recent outbreaks of pests and diseases have been linked with particular seed origins of tree crops. Host plant resistance as part of a suite of other proposed integrated control tools is thus an obvious candidate for development. Despite this, scientists concerned with tree improvement continue to select largely for silvicultural traits rather than for resistance to pests and disease. The different avenues open to plant breeders are examined and the potential of breeding trees resistant to insect attack highlighted. Using resistant trees as part of an integrated pest management system has five very important properties. Firstly, there is no additional pest control cost to the grower, secondly, it operates at all levels of insect incidence and not just when the pest is at high population levels, thirdly, it reduces the insect population cumulatively, fourthly it avoids toxic residues and environmental pollution and, finally, it usually interacts well with the other integrated pest management strategies in existence.     

Community Forestry and Sustainable Development in Rural Area

After analysis on the current situation of international forestry, this paper proposes that integration, coordination and sustainable development will be the general developing trend of forest in China, and commercial forest, ecological forest and community forest should be organically combined with integrative development and sustainable development in rural areas. This paper focuses especially on clarifying the importance of community forest to the social development or rural areas, and emphasizes that the key point of forestry should be turned from biological and technical aspects to humane and social aspects.     

论乡村林业──中国乡村林业经营模式及其实施措施

乡村林业从它的生产场地和生产内容上看，是当前在中国农村兴起的庭园经济林的同义语，是农村建设的“绿色致富”工程．乡村林业的实施采用立地经营模式，因地制宜，建立商品基地；大力发展产品加工业，提高经济效益；建设好社会化服务体系，推进乡村林业依靠科技进步，向前发展。     

退耕还林政策实施对退耕者经济纯效益的影响评价——以甘肃4个退耕还林试点县为例

在总结前人对退耕还林政策实施效果评价的基础上,从退耕者所得到的经济效益角度,评价退耕还林政策的方法,并以甘肃4个退耕还林试点县为例进行实证研究.具体步骤为:首先,构建评价所需的指标体系,然后通过实地调查得到所需指标数据,再运用费用效益法估算政策实施前后退耕者所得纯经济效益.最后,运用比较分析法对比政策实施前后退耕者所得纯经济效益的大小,从而实现退耕还林政策对退耕者经济纯效益的影响评价.     

Promoting and preserving biodiversity in the urban forest

Efforts at mitigating global biodiversity loss have often focused on preserving large, intact natural habitats. However, preserving biodiversity should also be an important goal in the urban environment, especially in highly urbanized areas where little natural habitat remains. Increasingly, research at the city/county scale as well as at the landscape scale reveals that urban areas can contain relatively high levels of biodiversity. Important percentages of species found in the surrounding natural habitat, including endangered species, have been found in the urban forest.

This contribution concisely highlights some examples of urban biodiversity research from various areas of the world. Key issues involved in understanding the patterns and processes that affect urban biodiversity, such as the urban–rural gradient and biotic homogenization, are addressed. The potential for urban areas to harbor considerable amounts of biodiversity needs to be recognized by city planners and urban foresters so that management practices that preserve and promote that diversity can be pursued. Management options should focus on increasing biodiversity in all aspects of the urban forest, from street trees to urban parks and woodlots.