A half-century policy of forest exploitation and monoculture in China has led to disastrous consequences, including degradation of forests and landscapes, loss of biodiversity, unacceptable levels of soil erosion, and catastrophic flooding. A new forest policy had been adopted in China called the Natural Forest conservation Program (NFCP), which emphasizes expansion of natural forests and increasing the productivity of forest plantations. Through locally focused management strategies, biodiversity and forest resources will be sustained, and downstream regions will be better protected from flooding. This new policy is being implemented with a new combination of policy tools, including technical training and education, land management planning, mandatory conversion of marginal farmlands to forest, resettlement and retaining of forest dwellers, share in private ownership, and expanded research. These policy tools may have wider relevance for other countries, particularly developing countries.

Recent studies have related percolation theory and critical phenomena to the spatial pattern of landscapes. We generated simulated landscapes of forest and non-forest landcover to investigate the relationship betxveen the proportion of forest (Pi) and indices of patch spatial pattern. One set of landscapes was generated by randomly assigning each pixel independently of other pixels, and a second set <','as generated b\ randotnlv assigrfing rectilinear clumps of pixels. Indices of spatial pattern were calculated and plotted against Pl" The random-clump landscapes were also compared with real agricultural landscapes.The restihs support the use of percolation models as neutral models in landscape ecology, and the pcrformance of the indices studied with these neutral models can be used to help interpret those indices calculated for real landscapes.

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