1. Chapter 18 Land Resources

2. Overview of Chapter 18 Land Use Wilderness Park and Wildlife Refuges
World land use
US land use
Wilderness Park and Wildlife Refuges
National Parks
Wildlife Refuge
Forests
Forest management
Deforestation
Rangeland and Agricultural Land
Wetlands and Coastal Areas
Conservation of Land Resources

3. HUMAN IMPACTS ON TERRESTRIAL BIODIVERSITY
We have depleted and degraded some of the earth’s biodiversity and these threats are expected to increase.
Figure 10-2

4. Land Use- Worldwide

5. Land Use- United States

6. Forest Trends in US Most temperature forest are steady or expanding
Returning stands lack biodiversity of original forests
More than half of US forest are privately owned (right)
Forest Legacy Program
Conservation easement

7. Managing Public and Private Land
Public Planning and Land Use
Land use decisions are complex and have multiple effects
Must take into account all repercussions of proposed land use
Management of Federal Land
Wide-Use Movement
Environmental Movement

8. Wilderness Parks and Wildlife Refuges
A protected area of land in which no human development is permitted
Wilderness Act (1964)
Set aside federally owned land as part of National Wilderness Preservation System
No development permitted (including roads)
Managed by NPS, USFS, FWS & BLM

9. Wilderness
Some areas have a limited number of permitted human guests to reduce impact
Other problems include invasive species

10. National Park System Created in 1916 Currently includes 58 parks
Yosemite National Park
Created in 1916
Currently includes 58 parks
Primary goal
Teach people about the natural environment, management of natural resources and history of a site

11. National Park System Threats to U.S. Parks Natural Regulation
Crime & Vandalism
Traffic jams
Pollution of the soil, water and air
Originating both inside and outside the park
Resource violations
Natural Regulation
Policy to let nature take it course
No culling wildlife
No suppressing wildfire

12. Wildlife Refuges National Wildlife Refuge System (1903)
Represent all major ecosystems founds in the US
Mission
To preserve lands and waters for the conservation of fishes, wildlife and plants of the US
Recreation (including hunting and fishing) are permitted
Cannot impede conservation efforts

13. Forests Role in Hydrologic Cycle (right) Forest Management
Deforestation
Forest Trends in the US
Trends in Tropical Forests
Boreal Forests

14. MANAGING AND SUSTAINING FORESTS
Forests provide a number of ecological and economic services that researchers have attempted to estimate their total monetary value.
Figure 10-4

15. Types of Forests
Old-growth forest: uncut or regenerated forest that has not been seriously disturbed for several hundred years.
22% of world’s forest.
Hosts many species with specialized niches.
Figure 10-5

16. Types of Forests
Second-growth forest: a stand of trees resulting from natural secondary succession.
Tree plantation: planted stands of a particular tree species.
Figure 10-6

17. Forest Management Traditional Forest Management
Low diversity- monocultures (right)
Managed for timber production
Ecological Sustainable Forest Management
Environmentally balanced
Diverse trees
Prevent soil erosion
Preserve watersheds
Wildlife corridors- unlogged

18. Harvesting Trees
Building roads into previously inaccessible forests paves the way for fragmentation, destruction, and degradation.
Figure 10-8

19. Harvesting Trees

20. Harvesting Trees - Clearcutting

21. Harvesting Trees
Effects of clear-cutting in the state of Washington, U.S.
Figures and 10-11

22. Deforestation
Temporary or permanent clearance of large expanses of forest for agriculture or other use
World forests shrank 90 million acres from 2000–2005
Causes
Fire
Expansion of agriculture
Construction of roads
Tree harvest
Insect and disease

23. Global Outlook: Extent of Deforestation
Human activities have reduced the earth’s forest cover by as much as half.
Losses are concentrated in developing countries.
Figure 10-7

24. Solutions We can use forests more sustainably by emphasizing:
Economic value of ecological services.
Harvesting trees no faster than they are replenished.
Protecting old-growth and vulnerable areas.
Figure 10-12

25. Types and Effects of Forest Fires
Depending on their intensity, fires can benefit or harm forests.
Burn away flammable ground material.
Release valuable mineral nutrients.
Figure 10-13

26. Solutions: Controversy Over Fire Management
To reduce fire damage:
Set controlled surface fires.
Allow fires to burn on public lands if they don’t threaten life and property.
Clear small areas around property subject to fire.

27. Solutions: Controversy Over Fire Management
In 2003, U.S. Congress passed the Healthy Forest Restoration Act:
Allows timber companies to cut medium and large trees in 71% of the national forests.
In return, must clear away smaller, more fire-prone trees and underbrush.
Some forest scientists believe this could increase severe fires by removing fire resistant trees and leaving highly flammable slash.

28. How Would You Vote?
To conduct an instant in-class survey using a classroom response system, access “JoinIn Clicker Content” from the PowerLecture main menu for Living in the Environment.
Do you support repealing or modifying the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003?
a. Yes. Local officials and scientists are probably most qualified to manage their local forests.
b. No. The initiative favors the timber companies rather than effectively protecting and managing the forests.

29. US National Forests Managed for multiple uses
Timber harvest
Livestock forage
Water resource and watershed protection
Mining, hunting, fishing, etc.
Road building is an issue
Provides logging companies with access to forest
Clearcutting is an issue

30. CASE STUDY: FOREST RESOURCES AND MANAGEMENT IN THE U.S.
U.S. forests cover more area than in 1920.
Since the 1960’s, an increasing area of old growth and diverse second-growth forests have been clear-cut.
Often replace with tree farms.
Decreases biodiversity.
Disrupts ecosystem processes.

31. Controversy over Logging in U.S. National Forests
There has been an ongoing debate over whether U.S. national forests should be primarily for:
Timber.
Ecological services.
Recreation.
Mix of these uses.
Figure 10-14

32. Case-In-Point Tongass National Park
One of world’s few temperate rainforests
Prime logging area
Modified 1997 Forest Plan
Roadless Area Conservation Rule (2000)
Politics rules government agencies

33. Trends in Tropical Forests
Tropical rainforests (below) and tropical dry forests

34. Disappearing Tropical Rain Forests
Population growth
Cannot account for all of it
Immediate causes
Subsistence agriculture
Commercial logging
Cattle ranching
Other causes
Mining
Hydroelectric power

35. Why Should We Care about the Loss of Tropical Forests?
About 2,100 of the 3,000 plants identified by the National Cancer Institute as sources of cancer-fighting chemicals come from tropical forests.
Figure 10-18

36. Causes of Tropical Deforestation and Degradation
Tropical deforestation results from a number of interconnected primary and secondary causes.
Figure 10-19

37. Sustaining Tropical Forests
Solutions
Sustaining Tropical Forests
Prevention
Restoration
Protect most diverse and endangered areas
Educate settlers about sustainable agriculture and forestry
Phase out subsidies that encourage unsustainable forest use
Add subsidies that encourage sustainable forest use
Protect forests with debt-for-nature swaps and conservation easements
Certify sustainably grown timber
Reduce illegal cutting
Reduce poverty
Slow population growth
Reforestation
Rehabilitation of degraded areas
Concentrate farming and ranching on already-cleared areas
Figure 10.20
Solutions: ways to protect tropical forests and use them more sustainably. QUESTION: Which three of these solutions do you think are the most important?
Fig , p. 207

38. Disappearing Tropical Dry Forests
Primarily destroyed for fuelwood
Used for heating and cooking

39. Kenya’s Green Belt Movement: Individuals Matter
Wangari Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement.
The main goal is to organize poor women to plant (for fuelwood) and protect millions of trees.
In 2004, awarded Nobel peace prize.
Figure 10-10A

40. Boreal Forests World’s largest biome Extensive clearcutting
Primary source of world’s industrial wood and wood fiber

41. Rangeland and Agricultural lands
Land that is not intensively managed and is used for grazing livestock

42. Rangeland Degradation and Deforestation
Overgrazing leaves ground barren
Animals exceed their carrying capacity
Land degradation
Natural or human-induced process that decreases future ability of land to support crops or livestock
Desertification
Degradation of once fertile land into nonproductive desert

43. Rangeland Trends in US Make up 30% of total US land area
2/3 privately owned
Pressure from developers to subdivide
Public rangeland managed by:
Taylor Grazing Act (1934)
Federal Land Policy and Management Act (1976)
Conditions of public rangeland are slowly improving
Grazing fees is an issue

44. Agricultural Land US has 300 million acres of prime farmland
Much is being overtaken by suburban sprawl
Parking lots
Housing developments
Shopping malls

45. Wetlands
Lands that are usually covered with water for at least part of the year
Have characteristic soils and water-tolerant vegetation
Benefits
Habitat for migratory waterfowl and wildlife
Recharge groundwater
Reduce damage from flooding
Improve water quality
Produce many commercially important products

46. Wetlands Human activity that threatens wetlands
Drainage for agriculture or mosquito control
Dredging for navigation
Construction of dams, dykes or seawalls
Filling in for solid waste disposal
Road building
Mining for gravel, fossil fuels, etc.
Shrinking 58,500 acres per year

47. Restoring Wetlands No Net Loss of Wetlands:
Development of wetlands is allowed if corresponding amount of previously converted wetland is restored
Not all wetland restorations are successful

48. Coastlines Coastal wetlands
Provide food and habitat for many aquatic animals
Historically regarded as wasteland
US starting to see importance of protecting this environment
Retaining seawalls (right)

49. Coastal Demographics Many coastal areas overdeveloped United States
3.8 billion people live within 150km of coastline
6.4 billion people will likely live there by 2025
United States
14 of 20 largest US cities along coast
19 of 20 most densely populated countries along coasts

50. Conservation and Land Resources
All types of ecosystems must be preserved
Four criteria of importance:
Areas lost or degraded since European colonization
Number of present examples of a particular ecosystem (or the total area)
Estimate of the likelihood that a given ecosystem will lost a significant area or be degraded in next 10 years
Number of threatened and endangered species living in the ecosystem

51. Conservation and Land Resources

52. SOURCE