FOREST ECOSYSTEMS 



ring in forest ecosystems. For in- 

 stance, we have no certain road to 

 regeneration of a forest after natural 

 or artificial removal, and many of 

 the problems that develop in man- 

 agement are still unpredictable. 



What We Need to Know 



An appraisal of present knowledge 

 about forest ecosystems leads to the 

 conclusion that we need to know 

 more about the following subjects 

 in order to understand these systems 

 more thoroughly and make reason- 

 ably accurate predictions. 



1. Details of many life forms 

 other than trees, especially 

 those using the soils as a hab- 

 itat; 



2. Competitive aspects of forest 

 life; 



3. Dynamics of forest popula- 

 tions; 



4. Stability of forest environ- 

 ments; 



5. Forest growth and forest en- 

 vironmental relationships; 



6. Potential utility of different 

 kinds of biomass produced in 

 forests; 



7. Total productive capability of 

 forests with improvements man 

 can add; 



8. Aesthetic management of for- 

 ests; 



9. Method of coordinating and in- 

 tegrating information collected 

 on forests to answer some of 

 the above questions and pre- 

 dict results of forest changes — 

 in other words, some kind 

 of workable forest-ecosystem 

 model. 



In a broad sense, lands devoted 

 to various forest uses are considered 

 to be within public control even 

 though operated by private individ- 

 uals. This seems to be particularly 

 true of relatively large ownership, in 

 contrast to the small acreages gen- 

 erally referred to as farm woodlots. 

 For example, game, fish, and recrea- 

 tion are considered to be public goods 

 on these private lands and, therefore, 

 subject to some public control and 

 management. In addition, of course, 

 the United States is blessed with large 

 areas of public forest land, managed 

 by various agencies for a variety of 

 purposes. 



In assessing the question of how 

 research can do more for the public 

 good in the management of these 



lands, we should probabl . look first 

 at the purposes for which the land 

 is to be used and the public good 

 to be served. If a real public need 

 is paper for education, or building 

 material to improve housing of a 

 large segment of the people, then one 

 can make a logical argument for 

 developing research programs that 

 would make at least some of our 

 forest ecosystems as productive in 

 wood fiber as possible. 



On the other hand, if the best 

 public need is served by setting aside 

 most of the areas for recreational 

 purposes, then we must develop pro- 

 grams that would enable these lands 

 to be used by large numbers of 

 people but still maintain the recrea- 

 tional and aesthetic aspect of the 

 forest ecosystem. This is a more 

 difficult task than most people realize 

 and one which has had little investi- 

 gation. For some reason, we have 

 assumed that describing an area as 

 a National Park or a Wilderness sets 

 it up for permanent maintenance of 

 its original state without undue prob- 

 lems. In one sense, the problems 

 imposed by large numbers of people 

 on delicate forest ecosystems are 

 more difficult to predict than uses 

 for wood or water. Therefore, we 

 must know enough about our forest 

 ecosystems to set up the proper public 

 use and then develop the information 

 to manage them for that purpose. 



A Note on Hubbard Brook 



The study of interrelationships of 

 forests, water, and minerals requires 

 a special study vehicle that allows 

 integration of information from sev- 

 eral separate fields. As of now, re- 

 search levels in the separate fields 

 of forest soils and hydrology are 

 reasonably adequate. Many forestry 

 and conservation schools and federal 

 and state agencies maintain person- 

 nel and research facilities suitable 

 to the study of these separate fields. 

 But truly integrative research, which 



welds the expertise of various dis- 

 ciplines and focuses it on a particular 

 ecosystem, is relatively rare. 



The Hubbard Brook Study 



The Hubbard Brook Ecosystem 

 Study was conceived and developed 

 as a multidisciplinary study of single, 

 well-defined watershed ecosystems, 

 including both natural and man- 

 manipulated ecosystems. The Hub- 



bard Brook Experimental Forest com- 

 prises about 7,500 acres in the White 

 Mountains of central New Hamp- 

 shire, operated and maintained by 

 the Northeastern Forest Experiment 

 Station of the U.S. Forest Service. 

 It is surrounded by a large, undis- 

 turbed tract of the White Mountain 

 National Forest, which consists of 

 a series of discrete watersheds with 

 similar northern-hardwood forest 

 vegetation and a homogeneous bed- 

 rock that forms an impermeable base. 



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