Economic incentives fail deciduous forest birds, no substitute for eastern wilderness

Investigators test econometric land use model of deciduous forests for impacts on bird habitat.

The loss of forest birds habitats under different land use policies as projected by a coupled ecological-econometric model  by Frederic Beaudry et al., 2013. Biological Conservation, Volume 165, September 2013, Pages 1-9.

Charles C. Deam Wilderness, Hoosier National Forest, Indiana. Image by author 2012.

Public policies impact habitat conservation on both public and private lands. The outcomes are often deleterious for natural systems. There's only so much we can take from landscapes and still leave intact sustainable ecosystems for the future. Deciduous forests are increasingly vulnerable. Modeling and testing policy impacts on deciduous habitats not only suggests likely policy outcomes, it can tell us when no policy of exploitation can do everything we want to do.

"Coupled econometric-ecological models can be used to evaluate alternative incentive programs and to explore the complex interactions between policy, land use change, and broad spatial scale ecological processes that are highly relevant to conservation."

Multiple threats erode ecological systems supporting deciduous forest birds; urbanization, parcelization, and fragmentation diminish habitat and complicate forest planning. Demand for forest products is incentive for efficient industrial forestry practices. Intensive management of forests for commercial products impacts eastern U.S. forest ecosystems increasingly. Intensively managed even-aged stands just do not replace maturing uneven-age forest lands for long term ecosystem maintenance. Deep forest species like Wood Thrush, Scarlet Tanager, Worm-eating Warbler, Cerulean Warbler, and many more will continue to decline under intensive forest management systems.

An argument for designated wilderness

Designated wilderness and backcountry areas, few and far between in the eastern United States, may become a last bastion for deep forest ecosystems and the birds and other wildlife that flourish only in aging forest mosaics.

Eastern states urgently need core regions of designated wilderness and/or backcountry management areas. The Eastern Areas Wilderness Act enables designation of recovering wilderness areas on federal public lands. The federal system holds a backlog of proposed wilderness areas in the east, ask congress to act! Few states support state owned public wilderness areas, Ohio is one. Eastern states, including Ohio, will determine the future of most eastern wild lands and their capacities to recover and sustain biological diversity on wild lands. Biodiversity sustainability needs State Wilderness Recovery Systems to identify and protect essential core areas from ecosystem degradations, including intensive forest management systems.

What does it take to make a wilderness in an eastern state forest: just stop interventions, stop forest management practices, and close a few forest roads that bisect large regions of maturing forest mosaics that include all local terrain positions, a local watershed is a good start. Ecosystem functions renew when we leave landscapes to nature. Roadless areas or later road removals are better, but perfect cannot be the enemy of good enough! Gated roads can be maintained for emergency access only, while allowing recovering wilderness to mature into quality ecosystems for deep forest species. Eventual removal of roads and structures will deliver fully recovered wilderness for future generations while ensuring cleaner air and water, recovering soils, recovering biological systems including rare animals, big and small. This is a debt we owe to the future.

September declared National Wildeness Month, 2013

President Obama declares September National Wilderness Month as we begin the twelve month count down to the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Wilderness Act of 1964, September 3, 2014.                                                                                                                                                                          Join the celebration at Wilderness50th.org. Federal land management agencies have joined with NGO's and other groups to sponsor celebration events (there's even a nice tee shirt!). Wilderness is the grandest vision and highest calling in land stewardship, a cause for celebration.

NATIONAL WILDERNESS MONTH, 2013

- - - - - - -

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

In September 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Wilderness Act into law, recognizing places "where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain." Throughout our history, countless people have passed through America's most treasured landscapes, leaving their beauty unmarred. This month, we uphold that proud tradition and resolve that future generations will trek forest paths, navigate winding rivers, and scale rocky peaks as visitors to the majesty of our great outdoors.
My Administration is dedicated to preserving our Nation's wild and scenic places. During my first year as President, I designated more than 2 million acres of wilderness and protected over 1,000 miles of rivers. Earlier this year, I established five new national monuments, and I signed legislation to redesignate California's Pinnacles National Monument as Pinnacles National Park. To engage more Americans in conservation, I also launched the America's Great Outdoors Initiative. Through this innovative effort, my Administration is working with communities from coast to coast to preserve our outdoor heritage, including our vast rural lands and remaining wild spaces.
As natural habitats for diverse wildlife; as destinations for family camping trips; and as venues for hiking, hunting, and fishing, America's wilderness landscapes hold boundless opportunities to discover and explore. They provide immense value to our Nation -- in shared experiences and as an integral part of our economy. Our iconic wilderness areas draw tourists from across the country and around the world, bolstering local businesses and supporting American jobs.
During National Wilderness Month, we reflect on the profound influence of the great outdoors on our lives and our national character, and we recommit to preserving them for generations to come. NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim September 2013 as National Wilderness Month. I invite all Americans to visit and enjoy our wilderness areas, to learn about their vast history, and to aid in the protection of our precious national treasures.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirtieth day of August, in the year of our Lord two thousand thirteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-eighth.

BARACK OBAMA

The NWPS encompasses 109 million acres across 44 states and Puerto Rico, and each year more than 12 million people visit wilderness areas to hunt, hike, camp, fish, bird-watch, and otherwise experience our wild public land. The first wilderness areas were designated in 1964, and, nearly every year since, additional places have been recognized for their wilderness character and permanently protected.
Doug Scott of the Pew Environment Group’s wilderness program praised the collaboration and said: “The 1964 Wilderness Act is a groundbreaking American public law, ranked by historians with the Homestead Act and the National Park Act. Since Congress began implementing the Wilderness Act in 1966, every president has signed laws designating additional areas. President Jimmy Carter signed laws protecting the largest acreage, while President Ronald Reagan signed the greatest number.
“The work of preserving our wild heritage is bipartisan. Congress has pending 25 measures to designate public land across a dozen states, totaling more than 2 million acres.
- See more at: http://www.pewenvironment.org/news-room/other-resources/signing-ceremony-kicks-off-celebration-of-50th-anniversary-of-wilderness-act-85899413025#sthash.VbuZpW6L.dpuf

The NWPS encompasses 109 million acres across 44 states and Puerto Rico, and each year more than 12 million people visit wilderness areas to hunt, hike, camp, fish, bird-watch, and otherwise experience our wild public land. The first wilderness areas were designated in 1964, and, nearly every year since, additional places have been recognized for their wilderness character and permanently protected.
Doug Scott of the Pew Environment Group’s wilderness program praised the collaboration and said: “The 1964 Wilderness Act is a groundbreaking American public law, ranked by historians with the Homestead Act and the National Park Act. Since Congress began implementing the Wilderness Act in 1966, every president has signed laws designating additional areas. President Jimmy Carter signed laws protecting the largest acreage, while President Ronald Reagan signed the greatest number.
“The work of preserving our wild heritage is bipartisan. Congress has pending 25 measures to designate public land across a dozen states, totaling more than 2 million acres.
- See more at: http://www.pewenvironment.org/news-room/other-resources/signing-ceremony-kicks-off-celebration-of-50th-anniversary-of-wilderness-act-85899413025#sthash.VbuZpW6L.dpuf

Earliest use of beeswax, 40,000 BP

Beeswax collected and used by hunter-gather group 40,000 years ago...

Wild honeybee comb filled with honey. Photo by author, 2013

Investigators, digging for early evidence of modern human culture at Border Cave, an early occupation site in the ancient lands of South Africa's San people, have identified complex technologies supporting material culture dating to at least 44,000 years ago. Trace analysis of well preserved organic remains of tools demonstrates the first use of beeswax in adhesives for hafting stone points at least 40,000 BP.

Lead investigator Francesco d'Errico reported the oldest use of beeswax in a recipe for hafting based on residues identified on well preserved wood. The recipe included beeswax, Euphorbia resin, and possibly egg matter supporting vegetable twine likely made with stringy inner bark. Francesco d'Errico added: "This complex compound used for hafting arrowheads or tools, which is 40,000 years old, is the oldest known evidence of the use of beeswax."

Complex materials culture is a hallmark of modernity among ancient peoples. This find suggests the early San hunter-gatherers could find, identify, and assemble ingredients for preparing adhesive, making cordage, and joining flaked stone with carved wood for the manufacture of complex tools.

"This research, funded by an ERC Advanced Grant, is published in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. © F. d’Errico and L. Backwell"

Environmental History Timeline September 3, 1964

President Lyndon B. Johnson signs into law The Wilderness Act of 1964

Next year, September 3, 2014 is the 50th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act of 1964. The Wilderness Bill was first introduced to the Senate by Minnesota's Senator Hubert Humphrey in 1956. Post war American growth had made new inroads deep into wild spaces. Concern grew as careless use and exploitation spread through America's remaining pristine wilderness areas.

The 88th Congress, the "conservation congress," passed the Wilderness Act establishing a Wilderness Preservation System with an initial 9 million acres set aside to secure the ecological and social benefits of an enduring wilderness resource for the American people.

benefits of an enduring wilderness resource to the American people. - See more at: http://www.pewenvironment.org/news-room/other-resources/signing-ceremony-kicks-off-celebration-of-50th-anniversary-of-wilderness-act-85899413025#sthash.TSVhqsI2.dpubenefits of  for future generations a continuing resource of wilderness.

LBJ signs Wilderness Act of 1964 into law concluding an eight year debate, credits 88th Congress, labeled "conservation congress".

Excerpt from Remarks Upon Signing the Wilderness Bill and the Land and Water Conservation Fund Bill.

"Anyone that objectively studies the record of the 88th Congress I think would have to conclude that another historic era has begun this year. If the 88th had not earned already so many honorable titles, such as the education Congress, the health Congress, the full prosperity Congress, it would be remembered as the conservation Congress, because in addition to the measures before me this morning, Congress has wisely this year passed the Ozark Rivers National Riverway bill, which I signed last week; the Fire Island National Seashore bill, which is awaiting action; the Canyonlands National Park legislation, which I expect to sign shortly, creating our first new national park on this continent in 17 years. But Congress has done even more. Action has been taken to keep our air pure and our water safe and our food free from pesticides; to protect our wildlife; to conserve our precious water resources. No single Congress in my memory has done so much to keep America as a good and wholesome and beautiful place to live. I think it is significant that these steps have broad support not just from the Democratic Party, but the Republican Party, both parties in the Congress. For example, the wilderness bill has been before the Congress since 1957, but it passed this year 73 to 12 in the Senate, and 373 to 1 in the House. So it seems to me that this reflects a new and a strong national consensus to look ahead, and, more than that, to plan ahead; better still, to move ahead. We know that America cannot be made strong by leadership which reacts only to the needs or the irritations or the frustrations of the moment. True leadership must provide for the next decade and not merely the next day. That is the kind of leadership that this Congress is providing."

Lyndon B. Johnson: "Remarks Upon Signing the Wilderness Bill and the Land and Water Conservation Fund Bill.," September 3, 1964. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=26481.

Freshwater wonders, Pectinatella

Moss animals adrift.

Magnificent bryozoan Pectinatella magnifica Hoover Reservoir

A quiet stroll and careful observing along the suspended boardwalk over the shallow north extremity of Hoover Reservoir at Galena, Ohio on a calm-water day allows discovery of water life below the surface. More than Asian carp and bluegill ripple the mirrored surface. Periscoping softshelled turtles break the surface with the just the tips of their pointy snouts. Swimming water snakes spread serpentine ripples. And, most interesting, magnificent bryozoans, moss animals, bob near the shoreline and are seen attached to debris under the surface.

Magnificent bryozoan Pectinatella magnifica is native to North America east of the Mississippi River. They spread mysteriously, probably hitching rides on ducks' feet and on other waterfowl. They appear following warm weather as their plankton food, tiny free floating plants and animals, become abundant in the water column.

Magnificent bryozoans are colonial moss animals forming gelatinous masses attached to rooted plants and heavy debris under water, but larger masses break loose and bob in ripples as they move with the wind, collecting along leeward shores. The surface of a mass supports multitudes of tiny filter feeding animals called zooids. Clusters of animals can be seen in closeup images, a microscope is needed to see an individual zooid.

Pectinatella mass found forming on a holdfast, a flooded sapling.

Pectinatella closeup

Environmental History Timeline, December 3, 1960

The "Wilderness Letter" and America's "Geography of Hope"

Writer, conservationist, Wallace Stegner submits the "Wilderness Letter," written to the Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission, and later reproduced in his "Wilderness Idea," in The Sound of Mountain Water (1969).  Stegner's argument for wilderness as a natural resource and more is often credited with inspiring passage of the Wilderness Act of 1964. A wilderness bill had been before Congress for eight years. Stegner's words were timely and struck a cord with the 88th Congress. Stegner's letter was used to introduce the Wilderness Act which establishes the National Wilderness Preservation System.

Minnesota wilderness, Boundary Waters 2008

West Virginia Wilderness 2005

Stegner's inspiration resulted in preservation of what Stegner called, America's "Geography of Hope," America's wilderness.

Stegner wrote,

"Something will have gone out of us as a people if we ever let the remaining wilderness be destroyed; if we permit the last virgin forests to be turned into comic books and plastic cigarette cases; if we drive the few remaining members of the wild species into zoos or to extinction; if we pollute the last clear air and dirty the last clean streams and push our paved roads through the last of the silence, so that never again will Americans be free in their own country from the noise, the exhausts, the stinks of human and automotive waste. And so that never again can we have the chance to see ourselves single, separate, vertical and individual in the world, part of the environment of trees and rocks and soil, brother to the other animals, part of the natural world and competent to belong in it."

The full letter is reproduced at the Wilderness Society website.

Forest values, more than dollars makes sense

Is a mature public forest a savings bond at maturation, ready to cash out for spending money? Is a public forest more valuable than its present cash value?  Do we need intact mature public forest lands held inviolate?

Shawnee State Forest, Ohio's "Little Smokies"

Consider the following typology of forest values definitions. You decide.

Forest values:

Aesthetic value--Valuing forest for enjoying scenery, sights, sounds, smells, etc.

Recreation value--Valuing forest because it provides a place for enjoyable outdoor recreation activities.

Learning value--Valuing forest because in forest we learn about the environment through scientific observation or experimentation.

Life sustaining value--Valuing forest because it helps produce, preserve, clean, and renew air, soil, and water.

Climate mitigation value--Valuing forest because it helps mitigate climate change by removing and sequestering atmospheric carbon.

Biological diversity value--Valuing forest because it conserves genetic diversity, species diversity, and biological community diversity.

Wildlife conservation value--Valuing forest because it provides a variety of fish, game and non-game wildlife, insect life, and plant life, etc.

Economic value--Valuing forest because it provides timber, alternative forest products, fisheries, minerals, or tourism opportunities such as amenities and services including outfitting and guiding services.

Spiritual value--Valuing forest because it is a sacred, religious, or spiritually special place, or inspires feelings of reverence and respect for nature.

Intrinsic value--Valuing forest in and of itself for its existence, no matter what other people think about forest.

Historic value--Valuing forest because it holds places and things of human and natural history that matter to individuals, peoples, or nations.

Future value--Valuing forest because it will allow future generations to know and experience forest as it is at present.

Subsistence value--Valuing forest because it provides necessary food and supplies to sustain subsisting families.

Therapeutic value--Valuing forest because it inspires physical and mental renewal contributing to happiness.

Cultural value--Valuing forest because it is a place to continue and pass down to future generations wisdom and knowledge, traditions, and a way of life sustained by ancestors to the present generation.

The typology presented is modified from Brown, Gregory and Patrick Reed 2000. Validation of a Forest Values Typology for use in National Forest Planning. Forest Science 46(2).