Program on the Environment

Historically forests across the globe have been degraded due to forestry practices that did not prioritize the health of forests. These practices tended to include operations where there was no attempt to regenerate the forests after use or the methods over-simplified forest structure and composition. Mismanagement like this will ensure quicker degradation of resources and services as well as increase the impacts of climate change. The purpose of this study was to understand how forestry has evolved and changed since these more rudimentary practices and particularly how the forestry in the Pacific Northwest has been shaped by its European origins. To accomplish this task, I interned with the Northwest Natural Resource Group (NNRG) on a project that worked to adapt forests to climate change, as well as I conducted extensive literature review and carried out informal interviews. From my research, there has been a growing trend of shifting forestry objectives towards increasing the health of forests by increasing forest complexity. I was able to see this firsthand in the project I worked on for NNRG which is studying the impact of small patch cuts and thinning in a forest in order to increase snow accumulation (and therefore water supply). These methods, which originate from earlier European silviculture methods, are practiced in such a way that it adds complexity to the forest structure. Continuing this shift towards valuing forest complexity is going to be the key to sustaining and maximizing healthy forests.