Salvage harvesting – past lessons and future issues

Abstract

The increasing prevalence and/or increasing intensity of large-scale natural disturbance events in forests means that postdisturbance salvage logging is becoming more widespread. Salvage logging can have a wide range of environmental impacts, but some of these are not well known or not well understood by policy makers and natural resource managers. Some of these impacts are briefly summarized in this paper. Improved long-term forest planning needs to be embraced that takes into account the not only the environmental but also the social and environmental impacts of salvage harvesting. Past mistakes and future opportunities associated with salvage harvesting are illustrated by a case study from the Lower Cotter Catchment in south-eastern Australia.Key words: salvage harvesting, natural disturbance, environmental impacts, ecologically sustainable forestry, forest planning, long-term forest sustainability RÉSUMÉ La fréquence croissante ou encore l'intensité plus grande des perturbations naturelles à grande échelle au sein des forêts signifie que les opérations de récupération de bois après perturbation sont en train de devenir de plus en plus répandues. La récupération de bois peut générer une multitude d'impacts environnementaux, mais certains de ceux-ci ne sont pas bien connus ou bien compris par les décideurs et les gestionnaires de ressources naturelles. Certains de ces impacts sont décrits brièvement dans cet article. Une planification forestière à long terme améliorée doit tenir compte non seulement des impacts environnementaux mais également des impacts sociaux et environnementaux des opérations de récupéra-tion. Les erreurs du passé et les opportunités à venir associées aux opérations de récupération sont illustrées par une étude de cas en provenance du bassin versant du Lower Cotter dans le sud-est de l'Australie.Mots clés : opérations de récupération, perturbation naturelle, impacts environnementaux, planification forestière durabilité forestière à long terme

Deadwood anisotropic facilitation on seedling establishment after a stand-replacing wildfire in Aosta Valley (NW Italy)

“…seedlings established in the harsher early post-fire environment). The removal of dead or damaged trees by salvage logging strongly reduces the availability of biological legacies (Lindenmayer, 2006). Furthermore salvage harvesting can produce ground disturbance affecting vegetation development (Macdonald, 2007).…”

Singular and interactive effects of blowdown, salvage logging, and wildfire in sub-boreal pine systems

“…In contrast, the impacts of salvage logging have been minimal following moderate severity blowdown due to the lower cumulative disturbance severity experienced by salvaged sites in these systems relative to those in which this practice is applied following more severe natural disturbances, such as fire (Peterson and Leach, 2008a;Lang et al, 2009). Given the considerable debate worldwide regarding salvage logging (Dellasala et al, 2006;Lindenmayer, 2006), a better understanding of the conditions under which this management practice may compromise long-term ecosystem integrity is needed.…”

Limited Salvage Logging Effects on Forest Regeneration After Moderate-Severity Windthrow

“…The rationale is sound: forests and their component species are likely to have evolved abilities to cope with naturally occurring types, frequencies, and severities of disturbance. Yet there is concern (Beschta et al 2004, Foster and Orwig 2006, Lindenmayer 2006) that an increasingly common management activity, salvage logging after natural disturbance, may impose a repeat disturbance (sensu Paine et al 1998) whose cumulative severity is beyond the coping abilities of native species and ecosystems. Salvage logging (''salvaging'' or ''sanitary logging'') is the harvesting of commercially valuable timber from naturally disturbed stands such as fire or windthrow areas.…”

“…Several recent papers report on comparisons between sites with and without salvage logging after natural disturbances, mostly emphasizing the consequences of salvaging for reestablishment of forest structure and composition and long-term sustainable use. Thus far, nearly all the direct research into effects of salvaging has been in forests disturbed by wildfire (reviews in McIver and Starr 2001, Lindenmayer 2006, Lindenmayer and Noss 2006. Studies following the 2002 Biscuit fire in conifer forests of Oregon, USA, showed substantial reduction in initial regeneration in the salvaged areas (Donato et al 2006), although Newton et al (2006) point out that these findings need to be seen in the context of management objectives; if achieving the greatest total woody seedling density was not a primary management objective, then salvage logging might remain desirable even if regeneration density is reduced.…”