Suchergebnisse

As management priorities for federal forest lands have shifted, it has become clear that different strategies for harvest and forest regeneration are needed. The DEMO experiment arose in response to this need, with leadership provided by a consortium of university and Forest Service scientists and federal forest managers. With specific congressional direction (included in federal appropriations for the Forest Service), the initial planning for an experiment in retention harvest strategies began in 1992. Initial planning efforts were hampered by competing research objectives and disagreements over experimental design, shifts in program leadership, difficulties in transferring funds to the appropriate entities, and conflicts related to the Federal Advisory Committee Act. In 1994, once these challenges were overcome, the experiment began. DEMO is not only an experiment in retention harvesting, but also in collaboration between research and management, as well as federal and state governments and the university community. The scope and intensity of collaboration have been demanding, requiring effective communication and coordination across institutional lines. The early history of DEMO has taught us that experiments of this kind require: (1) a coordinated legislative package and multi-year budget commitment, (2) a well-developed management structure, (3) an efficient process for planning, (4) commitment of lead scientists to the coordination and planning of disciplinary and interdisciplinary research activities, (5) effective collaboration between research and management, and (6) a well-developed outreach program. Other large-scale silvicultural/ecological experiments with characteristics similar to DEMO are underway at several locations around the world. These will offer additional learning opportunities for large-scale, interdisciplinary research ; Franklin et al "The history of DEMO: An experiment in regeneration harvest of northwestern forest ecosystems." Northwest Science. 1999; 73(SPEC. ISSUE): 3-11