Criteria and Indicators Building A Common Language for Monitoring Forest Sustainability in the Northeastern Area Terri Heyer, Watershed Program USDA Forest Service, Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry

NA/NAASF Criteria and Indicators Effort  Collaborative effort between NA and States  Use Montreal Process C&I framework  Developed a base set of indicators  Reporting on the forest sustainability indicators State and regional indicator information on-line State and regional indicator information on-line Regional assessment reports every 5 years Regional assessment reports every 5 years

Collaborative effort between NA and States

The Northeastern Area Mission: Lead and help support sustainable forest management and use across the landscape to provide benefits for the people of 20 Northeastern and Midwestern States and D.C.

The Role of the USDA Forest Service Northeastern Area and State Forestry Agencies Implementation  Criteria and indicators framework  Inventory and monitoring  Align programs  Education and communication Sustainable Forest Management:

United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service State and Private Forestry Northeastern Area NA-TP July 2003 Sustainability Assessment Highlights for the Northern United States  Raise general awareness of conditions in the Northern United States  Summarize important points from technical report for policymakers, managers, and other stakeholders  Available online: sustainability Purpose:

Base Set of Forest Sustainability Indicators for the Northeastern Area

Development of Base Indicators  Requested by the Northeastern Area Association of State Foresters  Base set of indicators developed by a C&I work group: NA staff State forest resource planners

Development of Base Indicators  Started with the Montreal Process indicators  C&I work group also contributed potential indicators  Indicator evaluation process, considering: Scale appropriateness Reliability Feasibility  Selected to span the Montreal Process Criteria Ability to measure over time Ease of analysis/interpretation Usefulness to audience

USDA Forest Service, Northeastern Area and Northeastern Area Association of State Foresters Base Indicators of Forest Sustainability: United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service State and Private Forestry Northeastern Area Metrics and Data Sources for State and Regional Monitoring Comprehensive evaluation of data available

NA/NAASF Base Indicators Criterion 3: Maintenance of Forest Ecosystem Health and Vitality 7.Area and percent of forest land affected by potentially damaging agents Criterion 4: Conservation and Maintenance of Soil and Water Resources 8.Soil quality in forested areas 9. Area and percent of forest land adjacent to surface water and area of forested land by watershed 10.Water quality in forested areas Criterion 5: Maintenance of Forest Contribution to Global Carbon Cycles 11.Forest ecosystem biomass and forest ecosystem carbon pools

Reporting on the base indicators of forest sustainability Reporting on the base indicators of forest sustainability  State and regional indicator information on-line  Regional assessment reports every 5 years

Sustainability Clearinghouse Currently Available To seek out and share information about:  Sustainable forestry  The use of C&I  Ongoing NA/NAASF sustainability efforts

Sustainability Clearinghouse Products  List of 60 State, regional, and national sustainability efforts  Sourcebook on C&I  Sustainability Assessment Highlights for the Northern US  Publication on role of NA and NAASF in Sustainable Forest Management  NA/NAASF Base Indicators of Forest Sustainability: Metrics and Data Sources for State and Regional Monitoring

NA Indicators Online Clearinghouse  Database and Web application to store and report indicator data and other information  Up-to-date State to regional data in user- friendly format (graphs, tables, maps)  Induce States and others to consider sustainability in their own forest planning and management  Available by fall 2005

Draft Web Template—Home Page USDA Northeastern Area Sustainability Clearinghouse Date this Web page was last updated and link to contact for Comments, Questions, Web site problems Northeastern Area Forest Sustainability This Web site is the result of a collaborative forest sustainability effort between (with links to each): USDA Forest Service, Northeastern Area State & Private Forestry Northeastern Forest Resource Planners Association Northeastern Area Association of State Foresters Create State and Regional Summary Data Reports Links to Additional Forest Sustainability Resources Updated continuously, data reported here cover 20 States in the Midwest and Northeast and are suitable for monitoring sustainability at State, multistate, and regional scales. Indicators Clearinghouse Indicators Clearinghouse Browse Sustainability Indicators to Retrieve Data Link to more information about the NA/NAASF base indicators development and use. This Web site provides information and data for 18 base indicators of sustainability, which the USDA Forest Service Northeastern Area and the Northeastern Area Association of State Foresters are committed to using for ongoing monitoring. Link to Web site data liability/disclaimer notice. Defining Sustainability Managing forests sustainably involves recognizing interconnections among ecological, economic, and social systems to preserve options for future generations while meeting the needs of the present. Criteria define broad categories of sustainability and indicators are specific measurements of each category. Criteria and indicators are a valuable tool when used in assessment, planning, and communicating with others.

Draft Web Template—Indicator Page Area of forest land relative to total land and area of reserved land NA/NAASF Base Indicator 1 What is this indicator and why is it important? Forests provide a multitude of public values such as water purification, carbon dioxide removal, and aesthetics. The presence and amount of forests has a direct impact on a host of ecological, social, and economic factors such as wildlife populations, quality of life, and potential economic development. Certain wildlife species are dependent on a contiguous ecosystem or ecosystems of a certain minimum size. In addition to measuring forest land, this indicator also shows how much forest land is considered reserved… Additional information & Web links Technical note for this Indicator National Sustainability Indicators Printer Friendly version Northeastern Area Indicators Clearinghouse next indicator Technical Note Download Data Select Scale Percent of land forested across the 20 Northeastern States Data Source: USDA Forest Service, Coverage: all 20 States Save Graph Criterion 1. Conservation of Biological Diversity list of criteria and indicators Total land area = 413 acres  This is an example graph format, not actual data Retrieved from the NA/NAASF Forest Sustainability Indicator Database… Short data disclaimer sentence with link to associated paragraph Indicator Information System Home Comments, Questions? next indicator list of criteria and indicators

5-Year Sustainability Assessment Reports  Summarize base indicator information to support the NA and NAASF strategic planning.  Regional assessment of forest sustainability.  Report the information indicator-by-indicator.  Provide some analysis across the indicators for a more complete sustainability assessment.

Upper Mississippi Regional Roundtable Soil and Water Criteria comments:  Scale of data collection  Accessibility of data and cost of data collection  Examine the impacts of forests on soil and water parameters  Measure amount of forest management as unmanaged forests have a greater potential for erosion problems  Track changes over time  Have goals to strive for otherwise how will we know when we have enough data?

Upper Mississippi Regional Roundtable Carbon Sequestraion Criteria comments:  Education-landowners not very knowledgeable, most information is too technical  More than information, need specialists to work with landowners  Make the link between active management and carbon uptake  UM-floodplain processes, how does that impact carbon uptake?

Summary

We recognize that criteria and indicators are a useful tool for monitoring forest sustainability.

The USDA Forest Service Northeastern Area & the State foresters are using the Montreal Process C&I framework for sustainability reporting.

The Northeastern Area worked with the 20 States to develop a base set of forest sustainability indicators.

A vast array of NA regional and State level data will be available online for the base indicators

NA Sustainability Web site

NA/NAASF Base Indicators Criterion 1: Conservation of Biological Diversity 1.Area of forest land relative to total land area and area of reserved forest land 2.Extent of area by forest type and by size class, age class, and successional stage 3.Degree of forest land conversion, fragmentation, and parcelization 4.Status of forest/woodland communities and species of concern (with focus on forest-associated species) Criterion 2: Maintenance of Productive Capacity of Forest Ecosystems 5.Area of timberland 6.Annual removal of merchantable wood volume compared to net growth

NA/NAASF Base Indicators Criterion 6: Maintenance and Enhancement of Long-term Multiple Socio-economic Benefits to Meet the Needs of Societies 12.Value and volume of wood and wood products production, consumption, and trade 13.Outdoor recreational facilities and activities 14.Public and private investments in forest health, management, research, and wood processing 15.Forest ownership and land use (including acres of specially designated land) 16.Employment and wages in forest-related sectors Criterion 7: Legal, Institutional, and Economic Framework for Forest Conservation and Sustainable Management 17.Existence, type, and monitoring of forest management standards/guidelines 18.Existence, type, and frequency of forest-related planning, assessment, and policy review