Social and economic debates over allocation of old-growth forests have
spawned conservation strategies that are aimed at protecting sensitiv
e wildlife species while allowing limited timber harvesting. We are in
terested in improving the scientific underpinnings for such conservati
on strategies. because doing so might both minimize costs of resource
development and provide more reliable protection. Here, we discuss pot
ential consequences from inductive inferencing systems used to develop
technical support for protecting wildlife in temperate forests. For e
xamples, we refer to recent conservation strategies for Northern Spott
ed Owls (Strix occidentalis caurina) and Red-cockaded Woodpeckers (Pic
oides borealis). Soft inferencing systems could result in conservation
strategies that fail to meet intended goals, thereby exacerbating for
estry-wildlife debates. Greater emphasis should be placed on hypotheti
co-deductive inferencing processes that vigorously employ adaptive man
agement principles. Such processes simultaneously test alternative lan
dscape patterns and forestry options as rigorous management experiment
s, and thus could incrementally predicate forest policy upon an experi
mental basis.