Forest Service Perspective on Ecosystem Management

The U.S. Forest Service was the first agency in the federal government to adopt an ecological approach to the management of public lands. In 1992, Chief F Dale Robertson stated that "an ecological approach will be used to achieve the multiple-use management of the national forests and grasslands." He went on to say that this means "that we must blend the needs of people and environmental values in such a way that the national forests and grasslands represent diverse, healthy, productive, and sustainable ecosystems." In the two years that I have been Chief, the agency has more fully embraced and built upon this concept of ecosystem management. In terms of the national forests and grasslands, an ecosystem is a place where human life and environment interact. In dealing with the resultant complexity, several principles must guide us. Ecosystems are constantly changing. Humans are part of and have influenced ecosystems and will increasingly do so. Ecosystems must be viewed from a variety of scales-from the very large to the very small and over a long time period. It may take years or decades for the effects of ecosystem management to be dramatically obvious. Simply stated, ecosystem management is the integration of ecological, economic, and social factors in order to maintain and enhance the quality of the environment to meet current and future needs. It is a holistic approach to natural resource management. To use it, we must step back from what foresters call the stand level and focus on the broader landscape. Implementation of ecosystem management will require the application of the best scientific knowledge and the best technology available. Applying ecosystem management involves collaboration of partners (those who make use of the land), land managers, and scientists, with the inclusion and consent of the public, particularly on the public lands. Because of the dynamic nature of ecosystems and our still rudimentary understanding of ecosystem form and function, adaptive management approaches are ideally suited to the learning environment in which we find ourselves. Ecosystem management, then, is a concept of management that is more inclusive of the variables that impinge on management, occurring at larger scales, and ,Zm's mmt tmtVzAU linmt WMz3NzMs ki\ \Ss k,tv Q'mw mon in the past. The move to ecosystem management concepts is an evolutionary process that has been underway for decades and is becoming more and more feasible with developments in science, technology, and philosophy. The fuller embrace of the concept of ecosystem management is correctly identified as evolutionary as opposed to revolutionary. Yet, it should be recognized that thinking and acting on an expanded scale in time and space, including an enhanced view of variables to be considered, may seem a bit of a challenge and therefore cause a certain degree of trepidation. Nevertheless, the evolutionary process continues unabated and will continue under whatever name seems appropriate and acceptable. The title could be " enhanced multiple-use planning" or some other title. But the concept continues to unfold. Over the last several years, the Forest Service has tested, adjusted, and adapted ecosystem management across the 78 million hectares of national forests and grasslands. While it is becoming the basis for all agency activities, our approach is not (and never will be) a complete and polished process ensconced in detailed manuals. Ecosystem management is and will always be "work in progress" that will undergo continual refinement and improvement as practitioners gain experience and knowledge, and as new technology provides tools to incorporate into the process. Implementation of this ecological approach has taken a variety of forms. At a strategic level, the Forest Service issued a publication in 1994 entitled "The Forest Service Ethics and Course to the Future," which placed priority on ensuring ecosystem sustainability so as to provide the foundation for all life. Ecosystem management is the means by which the agency will strive to achieve the goal of sustainability. Areas that define the management context and help focus priorities to provide sustainable benefits to the American people include (1) protecting ecosystems, (2) restoring deteriorated ecosystems, and (3) providing multiple benefits for people within the capabilities of ecosystems. Some critics have assumed that these pronouncements are an abandonment of the multiple-use mandates of the past. Not so. The protection and restoration of ecosystems is the means to assure that multiple uses can continue to be provided. Further, this is a means whereby even the mandates of the Forest Service's Organic Act can be fulfilled-protect the forest, provide for I Manuscript received 16 November 1995. 2 For reprints of this Forum, see footnote 1, page 692.