The Role of Science in Collaborative Forest Management

Abstract

Forest health in the United States has been suffering due to threats such as climate change, wildfire, and human development. As a result, efforts are being undertaken to restore natural processes, improve health, and foster resilience in forested systems. Such efforts involve diverse stakeholders, land management agencies, scientists, and the public, who work together collaboratively to find common goals and agreeable solutions. Central to collaborative forest management is an emphasis on using science to inform decision-making. Yet there are many challenges to applying science in decision-making and developing actionable scientific information for management. Many of the efforts to better align science and decision-making have focused on climate research, and additional empirical evidence is needed to provide context-specific recommendations for connecting science and decision-making in different areas of natural resource management. To that end, this dissertation provides an assessment of the role of science in collaborative forest management. The central question that unifies this work is: how is science applied in decision-making for collaborative forest management, and in what ways can the use of science for decision-making in this context be improved? The first two appendices address this within the context of the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program (CFLRP): Appendix A examines the role of science in the CFLRP; and Appendix B assesses how science informs decision-making in the CFLRP. Appendix C addresses the application, development, and communication of scientific information to support resilient forest management. This dissertation illustrates the importance of common goals, in-person interactions, and sustained communication between scientists and decision-makers in order to integrate science into the forest management process.