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<i>Please forward to your colleagues...<br><br>
</i><b>New Report</b>: <i>The Relationship between Nontimber Forest
Product Management and Biodiversity in the United States</i>. March 2004.
Eric T. Jones, Rebecca J. McLain, Kathryn A. Lynch. Institute for Culture
and Ecology.
<a href="http://www.ifcae.org/projects/ncssf1/" eudora="autourl">http://www.ifcae.org/projects/ncssf1/<br><br>
</a><b>Abstract:</b> Nontimber forest products (NTFP) in the United
States are harvested for commercial and noncommercial purposes and
include thousands of wild or semi-wild species or parts of species used
for medicines, foods, decorations, fragrances, containers, dyes, fuel,
shelter, art, ceremonial purposes, and more. Despite the known and
substantial economic value of a few individual NTFPs, and the unknown,
but likely high economic value of NTFPs in aggregate, historically
managers have not included them as important factors in forest
management. Not only do NTFPs comprise a significant part of the
biological diversity of forest ecosystems, but given the lack of formal
NTFP research, the many people who harvest NTFPs part or fulltime have
the most knowledge about them. Consequently, efforts to conserve
biodiversity are unlikely to succeed unless knowledge about NTFPs, and
the effects on them of various forest management activities such as
timber removal, grazing, prescribed burning, and NTFP harvesting
practices, becomes an integral part of forest management. This
research project attempts to address these issues through achieving two
objectives: 1) to advance understanding of the role and impact of NTFP
management in forest ecosystem sustainability and biodiversity; and 2) to
support the ability of U.S. forest managers to assess NTFP
sustainability. We developed five interrelated components to meet
these objectives. The first component is an online species database
expanded from 857 to 1,343 entries. The database serves as an
initial tool for identifying NTFP species that currently or formerly
existed in their region and that can potentially be incorporated into
planning for biodiversity conservation, forest restoration, cultural use
patterns, and sustainable economic development. The second
component is an online bibliographic database expanded from 1,468 to over
2,600 entries. The database aids in identifying NTFP references of
books, journals, and gray literature. A large portion of the entries are
annotated. The academic publications included in the database are
drawn more heavily from the international NTFP arena, which is where the
majority of NTFP research has been done thus far. The third
component is a national survey of Forest Service Ranger District
employees and state forest managers for the purpose of examining NTFP
management in relation to biodiversity. The surveys include several
questions specifically addressing inventory and monitoring
activities. The fourth component is ethnographic fieldwork
throughout the lower 48 United States that entailed driving over 37,000
miles to meet harvesters and other stakeholders in their
communities. The fieldwork included formal and informal interviews
and participant observation with hundreds of NTFP harvesters and other
stakeholders including land managers, scientists, Native Americans,
commercial businesses, and environmental groups. The fifth
component is a series of four all-day multi-stakeholder workshops and a
three-day retreat of the seven member project team held to discuss the
possibilities for inventory and monitoring programs involving NTFP
harvesters. The results of these meetings including rationale,
harvester incentives, barriers, case studies, recommendations, and steps
for creating participatory inventory and monitoring programs are
incorporated into a companion document to this report. - Funded by
the National Commission on Science for Sustainable Forestry.<br><br>
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