Resource Management
Although the focus of forest management has traditionally been timber production, today there are a variety of important forest resources that require attention. In addition to high quality timber, the southern Appalachian region also provides plentiful, diverse wildlife and aquatic resources, watershed protection, recreational opportunities, nontimber forest products (such as medicinals, ornamentals, etc.), and intrinsic ecosystem values.
Because of its proximity to human population centers and the strong social/cultural heritage of rural and indigenous populations, the southern Appalachian region experiences significant pressure to provide this wide diversity of resource values. Forest managers are not only challenged to address these multiple clientele needs, but address them in the context of management tools that integrate biological, ecological, social, and economic factors.
- Timber : Practically all of the region's forests have been harvested at least once since the mid-1800s, and an industry based on sustained timber growth and production in second-growth forests thrives there today.
- Terrestrial Wildlife : Land managers often manage forest land for terrestrial wildlife, the large, primarily undomesticated (wild) vertebrate animals, the fauna, that live on the land.
- Aquatic Resource Management : The southern Appalachians have a bountiful supply of water that must be managed for multiple uses.
- Recreation
- Nontimber Forest Products
- Intrinsic Ecosystem Values
- Management Tools
Encyclopedia ID: p1366
