A framework for addressing forest health and productivity in Eastern Oregon and Washington

Healthy forests and rangelands are resilient to disturbances within a certain range of variation. In eastern Oregon and Washington, USA, ecosystems have evolved in the presence of sporadic disturbances such as fire, floods, and insect and disease outbreaks. Ecological and human factors have combined to change disturbance regimes, structure, and patterns resulting in declining health and productivity in forest and rangeland ecosystems. We expect that with improved understanding of disturbance processes and careful management of the drivers of disturbance it is possible to enhance ecosystem resiliency. As an aid to managers in determining actions that may be successful in restoring resilience to ecosystems, we describe linkages among components that may enable managers to harness beneficial effects of disturbances while minimizing the adverse effects. A conceptual framework presented here identifies relations among factors that managers can influence, and that are important to ecological processes and outcomes. Integrating social and economic components helps managers to balance what the land will allow, what people want, and what society can afford. Influence diagrams help identify important linkages and the areas where research may help to weigh tradeoffs.