INTEGRATED RESOURCE-MANAGEMENT IN BOREAL FOREST ECOSYSTEMS - IMPEDIMENTS AND SOLUTIONS

The goals of integrated resource management in boreal forests are sustainable production of commercial forest products and conservation of biodiversity. An appropriate approach to achievement of both goals is through maintenance of ecosystem types at the landscape level. Conservation of wildlife (defined as all organisms) through holistic ecosystem management is a relatively new discipline in Canada. Ecosystem management causes certain problems for agencies attempting to pursue these goals resulting from: poor autecological knowledge, conflict of habitat requirements with timber harvesting goals, legacy of past forest management, lack of management regimes, and few techniques that are applicable at the ecosystem level. Steps toward a more integrated approach to forest resource management include: recognition of institutional short-comings, development of predictive models using a common language for foresters and wildlife managers, re-tooling with GIS technology and decision support systems, and development of habitat models to be used within landscape-scale management plans.