ASSESSMENT OF STRUCTURAL DYNAMICS IN FOREST LANDSCAPE MANAGEMENT

Developing and implementing landscape management planning is an import ant step towards shifting the traditional focus of forest management f rom managing resource flows, such as timber and wildlife habitat, to m anaging forests. This paper describes and applies a forest landscape m anagement design process with a GIS-based landscape management model ( LANDMAN) that incorporates harvesting intervention patterns and perfor mance indicators using spatial structure measurements. In a case study , one small landscape was identified and quantified using the spatial structure measurements. The structural effects of four different harve sting patterns (scatter, negative edge distribution, edge progressive, and nuclei progressive) on landscape fragmentation were explored. Per formance indicators quantified structural changes over time. Degree of structural change varied greatly among the four harvesting patterns. The scatter harvesting pattern created fragmented landscapes, while th e nuclei progressive pattern significantly reduced fragmentation. Like wise, the negative edge distribution and edge progress harvesting patt erns also tended to reduce fragmentation and mimic patterns of natural disturbances such as fire and insects. In any event, the case study d emonstrated that geographically based harvesting patterns and performa nce indicators could provide an opportunity to design management for t he creation of alternative forest landscapes. The paper concludes that forest landscape management, with its spatial structure focus, is a d esirable evolution.