Factors Influencing Adaptive Capacity in the Reorganization of Forest Management in Alaska

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Several studies of U.S. National Forests suggest that declines of their associated forest products industries were driven by synergistic changes in federal governance and market conditions during the late 20th century. In Alaska, dramatic shifts in the economic and political settings of the Tongass National Forest (Tongass) drove changes in governance leading to collapse of an industrial forest management system in the early 1990s. However, 15 years since collapse, the reorganization of Tongass governance to reflect 'new' economic and political realities has not progressed. To understand both the factors that hinder institutional change (inertia) and the factors that enable progress toward reorganization (adaptation), I analyzed how Tongass forest management, specifically timber sale planning, has responded to changes in market conditions, local industry structure, and larger-scale political governance. Inertia was evidenced by continued emphasis on even-aged management and large-scale harvesting, i.e., the retention of an industrial forestry philosophy that, in the current political situation, yields mostly litigation and appeals, and relatively few forest products. Adaptation was evidenced by flexibility in harvest methods, a willingness to meet local demand instead of political targets, and a growing degree of cooperation with environmental advocacy groups. New partnerships, markets, and political leaders at state and national levels can frame a new blueprint for reorganization of Tongass management toward a more sustainable future.

Understanding Adaptive Capacity in Forest Governance: Editorial

“…The paper illustrates that resilience, here perceived in terms of both the sector and its role in employment, may in this case be supported by providing timber access to smaller-scale companies. However, the paper also notes the focus on large-scale mills within the sector, and thereby highlights the changing and increasingly large-scale structures within forest industry, similar to papers by Lundmark et al (2010), Moen and Keskitalo (2010) and Beier (2011). The paper thereby illustrates the changing and increasingly large-scale system conditions for both resilience and adaptation within the forest sector, as well as impacts locally in the case.…”

“…In relation to the focus on long term viability of systems, the contribution 'Factors Influencing Adaptive Capacity in the Reorganization of Forest Management in Alaska' (Beier 2011) reviews the changes in governance that led to the collapse of the forest management system in the Tongass National Forest in Alaska in the 1990s. The study focuses on identifying institutional adaptive capacity, viewing "evidence of adaptation to change as a positive proxy of adaptive capacity, i.e., as an indicator of a better institutional fit" (Beier 2011:2).…”

“…Adaptation was seen as flexibility in harvest methods and an increased focus and cooperation on the local level and with environmental organizations which helped limit conflict. In the study (Beier 2011), institutional adaptive capacity is thus seen as related to concepts akin to adaptive governance, with a focus on the ways in which the ecological, economic and social cooperation aims can be achieved with regard to the management of a natural resource. The author notes that the future development in the case study region will partially depend on whether the political and ideological differences which lead to the litigious environment can be changed, for instance through building trust among those involved.…”

“I know, therefore I adapt?” Complexities of individual adaptation to climate-induced forest dieback in Alaska

“…A controversial 50-year boom-bust cycle of industrial logging in the latter 20 th century primarily targeted spruce and hemlock species for pulp production (Nie 2006, Beier 2011. Yellow-cedar has since increased in economic value, and currently holds the highest market value of any Alaskan tree species (Beier 2011). Yellow-cedar losses, therefore, may have important ecological, economic, and cultural implications, with resulting human-system responses.…”

“…For millennia, Native people of the Pacific Northwest have used these trees for clothing, shelter, tools, and transportation, as well as for artistic, ceremonial, and spiritual activities (Stewart 1984). A controversial 50-year boom-bust cycle of industrial logging in the latter 20 th century primarily targeted spruce and hemlock species for pulp production (Nie 2006, Beier 2011. Yellow-cedar has since increased in economic value, and currently holds the highest market value of any Alaskan tree species (Beier 2011).…”