Forest Restoration

The Need for Forest Restoration

An extensive body of scientific evidence indicates that preservation of biological reserves is not enough to stem the current biodiversity crisis. While preservation of forests in parks, reserves, and wilderness areas is critical, these landscapes are too fragmented and too small in area. Restoration of degraded and damaged forests is necessary to enable humans to sustainably live and work in ecosystems. Restoration also provides buffers and corridors for added protection and migration of species within protected areas. Forest restoration contributes to poverty reduction and prevention through the protection of water resources, mitigation of soil erosion, and provision of natural resources. Furthermore, restoration of forest ecosystems and corridors will mitigate the impacts of global climate change by enabling forest systems to respond better to stress and change and provide increased carbon sequestration and storage.

Implementation of Forest Restoration

The goal of forest restoration is not to replicate historic forest structure and composition. Given the complexity of forest systems and the multitude of compounding human impacts, it is unlikely that forests can be fully returned to historical conditions. And this is not a desirable goal in the face of uncertainty in predicting the impacts of global climate change and the increasingly multifaceted demands on forest resources (e.g., conservation of biodiversity and poverty alleviation). Rather, the goal of forest restoration is broadly conceived as the restoration of ecological processes and functions that will enable forest recovery.

Jon Kyl (R-AZ), left, and Secretary of Interior Gale Norton view the 12-acre Gus Pearson Natural Area, August 8, 2001, in Flagstaff, Arizona. Both Kyl and Norton were surveying the experimental forest inside the Coconino National Forest to see firsthand the forest restoration techniques and how they might be implemented in other states.

Source: AP Photo/Matt York.

Forest restoration represents a long-term management commitment at multiple scales by numerous, often competing stakeholders. The most successful restoration projects fulfill social and conservation needs simultaneously, thereby ensuring the ongoing support needed to sustain the species and people dependent on the forest. Key elements of successful restoration typically include consensus planning, use of local knowledge, educating community members about environmental degradation and restoration, and ongoing monitoring. Forest restoration projects are more effective when they are considered components of continuing land management rather than isolated projects with definitive end points.

A Case Study of Forest Restoration

One of the longest-running and well-documented forest restoration projects exists in Redwood National Park in northwestern California. This national park was the first in the United States mandated to undertake an extensive forest restoration and rehabilitation program. Since 1978, Redwood National Park has used cutting-edge restoration techniques to protect its old-growth coast redwood forests and rehabilitate logged-over lands. Indeed, the national park has been at the forefront in the promotion and development of watershed-scale restoration, gaining international recognition for its forest restoration work.

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