(1) public involvment. 



(2) resource inventory and valuation studies. 



(3) data evaluation. 



This approach is intended to satisfy information 

 needs at the local level and higher organizational 

 levels where comparisons of program alternatives 

 must be made. 



Tools for quantifying some social effects are also 

 being tested. These include techniques for quantifying 

 estimates of quality, for assigning monetary values 

 to market and some nonmarket products, and for 

 estimating money flows, employment, and other local 

 impacts. 



The two keys to dealing with physical and resource 

 use interactions are an understanding of ecology and 

 having techniques to simulate and predict physical 

 changes resulting from various management alterna- 

 tives. ECOSYM, which was discussed earlier, provides 

 an inventory technique for organizing resource infor- 

 mation so that it can be used to simulate physical 

 changes. 



The procedures and tools being developed and 

 tested in this effort should improve local level 

 planning. This, in turn, should strengthen the linkage 

 between national assessments and local level planning 

 and decisionmaking. 



Work is also underway in the Washington Office 

 of the Forest Service to develop and test a model 

 to estimate multiresource use interactions. It is 

 expected that this model will make it possible to 

 describe the complex relationships among forest and 

 range land resource uses over time and space. In 

 addition, it will be possible to assemble information 

 on these interactions under alternative management 

 strategies as a basis for future assessments. 



Surveys of Product Use 



In response to the needs for better information on 

 the use of forest and range land products that were 

 identified in the 1975 Assessment, the Forest Service 

 expanded its National Timber Requirements Program 

 and centralized this program at the Forest Products 

 Laboratory at Madison, Wis. Some progress has 

 been made in getting new information on wood used 

 in housing and nonresidential construction, highway 

 construction, farm structures, and mobile homes. An 

 update on wood used in manufacturing from the 

 previous 1965 report is also underway in collaboration 

 with the Washington Office and the Forestry Services 

 Laboratory at Princeton, W. Va. 



Development of a model for estimating demand for 

 timber products is now well underway. This will 

 provide a means of rapidly preparing alternative 

 estimates of timber demand. 



With respect to wildlife, nationwide computerized 

 data banks have been constructed for each timber 

 type and range type within each State. Included 

 are: 



1. Complete lists of resident and common 

 migrant vertebrate and selected inverte- 

 brate species. 



2. Identification of species listed as threat- 

 ened or endangered by the Federal or 

 State governments, those species that 

 are sensitive to standard land and water 

 management practices, and those species 

 of recreational and commercial impor- 

 tance. 



3. The generalized habitat requirement of 

 each species expressed in terms of data 

 compiled in timber (size class) and range 

 (condition class) inventories, to the ex- 

 tent possible. 



The data base also includes information provided 

 by the Fish and Wildlife agencies of each State 

 concerning the consumptive uses and harvest and 

 population levels of individual species, from the 

 mid-1950's to the mid-1980's. 



As a result of this work, management-level infor- 

 mation has increased dramatically in terms of quantity 

 and quaHty of data. Perhaps the most significant 

 gain has been due to computerizing this informa- 

 tion so that it is more readily available to land 

 and water managers. 



A nationwide outdoor recreation survey of private 

 owners of forest and range land has been com- 

 pleted. It describes the private sector resources, 

 owner motivation, and recreation supply potential. 

 This survey provides, for the first time, a measure 

 of the existing nationwide recreation resource supply 

 on forest and range lands of the private sector 

 by region, the availability of forest and range lands 

 for general public recreational use by region, and 

 assesses existing and desired recreation-supply rela- 

 tionships between the pubHc and private sector. This 

 survey also complements the recently completed 

 inventory of recreation enterprises conducted by the 

 National Association of Conservation Districts. 



Improving Techniques for Data Collection 



In addition to the information needs, there is a 

 related need to develop techniques for collecting in- 

 formation on forest and range land resources. 

 Progress has been made in this area, although some 

 of the results must still be tested. The ECOSYM 

 approach is intended to provide a method for classify- 

 ing basic land resources which could be used as a 

 framework for data collection. The South Carolina 



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