Chetram Sanichar November 8th, 2021

GEOG*1220
Essay: Structural Outline
Introduction
Description of Location
Australia is a country located in the southern hemisphere between the Indian and Pacific Ocean, which
serves as the primary land of the Australian continent.
Description of Resource in the Location
 Australia's State of the Forests Report s2018
 Australia obtains approximately 134 million hectares of forest, which accounts for
approximately 17% of land area in Australia. The country has grouped their native forests into
eight distinct types, which include Acacia, Callitris, Casuarina, Eucalypt, Mangrove, Melaleuca,
Rainforest and Other native forest. Most forests in Australia are predominantly Eucalypt and
Acacia forest, which dominate 83% of Australian forest area.
Emergence of Human Activity and impact in Country
Salvage Logging in the Montane Ash Eucalypt Forests of the Central Highlands of Victoria and Its
Potential Impacts on Biodiversity
 Beginning in the in the 1930s after the occurrence of a natural disturbance, Australian forests
would undergo a process called salvage logging, which can proceed for multiple years after the
initial occurrence.
How does disturbance shape Canada's forests? (nrcan.gc.ca)
 Natural disturbances prompting salvage logging are caused by extreme weather conditions that
are quite difficult to predict, which harm a large majority of tree species, physically derange soil,
and kill healthy trees. These conditions can last for a minimum of a few hour to potential days or
weeks.
Extent of the Human Activity and impact in Country
 Salvage harvesting fire-damaged wet eucalypt forests in south-eastern Australia:some
ecological perspectives (D.B. Lindenmayer, J.F. Franklin and D. Foster)
o Salvage logging remains quite common in Australia to attempt to reduce the financial
loss following the disturbance of a forest by recovering timber and pulpwood and
eliminate the chances of insect outbreaks.
Severity of Human Activity and Impact in Country
 Salvage logging further amplifies the effects of a natural disturbance of forest contributing to
the rising severity of forest degradation and deforestation in Australia.
 Little left to lose: deforestation and forest degradation in Australia since European
colonization
o As of 2012, Australia has lost approximately 40% of their forests and the existing
vegetation is heavily fragmented.

Biophysical implications
The act of salvage logging in Australian forests contributes to the reduction of course woody debris, and
the removal of midstory trees impacting the biophysical environment by contributing to a loss of forest
biodiversity.
Socioeconomic implications
Salvage logging increases the severity of wildfires that directly harms Australians through creating
distress in a financial, social and physical manner and can be incorporated into the process of illegal
logging harming the socioeconomic environment of Australia.

Statement of Aim
The aim of this essay is to access the socioeconomic and biophysical impacts of salvage logging on
forests throughout Australia and suggest solutions to regulate various impacts

Description of the human activity and its impacts

Description of Human Activity
 Salvage Logging, Ecosystem Processes, and Biodiversity Conservation
o a form of logging that removes trees and other biological material from sites after
natural disturbance.
o This is particularly true in forest landscapes where salvage harvesting of disturbed
stands is widely practiced for such reasons as recouping economic losses before serious
deterioration of trees occurs (Ulbricht et al. 1999; Shore et al. 2003) and ostensibly
assisting ecosystem recovery (e.g., by speeding the reestablishment of forest cover)
o Salvage logging is conducted in disturbed ecosystems. In such ecosystems the organic
component of soils may have been burned or mineral soil exposed, which can make soils
vulnerable to additional impacts such as those associated with salvage logging
o Special environmental conditions may precede major natural disturbance events. For
example, extensive soil wetting occurs before the high winds associated with hurricanes
and cyclones (Elliott et al. 2002). Prolonged droughts and high temperatures are typical
before wildfires in some forest types (Bradstock et al. 2002), and these can exert strong
influences on many organisms (Rübsamen et al. 1984).
o Salvage logging sometimes takes place in ways that are more intensive or extensive than
traditional forms of logging (McIver & Starr 2000; van Nieuwstadt et al. 2001) or in areas
where traditional logging might not normally occur. For example, harvesting operations
may affect soils that have been previously altered by fire, cutover sizes can be larger
(Radeloff et al. 2000), and road networks more extensive.
o Salvage logging as the harvesting of trees and other biological material from areas after
natural, or sometimes human-caused, disturbance events. Salvage logging is practiced
after floods (Gregory 1997), volcanic eruptions (Franklin & MacMahon 2000), wildfires
(Stuart et al. 1993; McIver & Starr 2000; Nappi et al. 2004), insect attacks (Radeloff et al.
2000; Brooks 2001; Shore et al. 2003), and hurricanes, cyclones, and windstorms (Foster
et al. 1997; Elliott et al. 2002; Greenberg 2002).
o Salvage harvesting is widespread and occurs in temperate (Morissette et al. 2002) and
tropical forests (van Niewenstadt et al. 2001). It is most prevalent in ecosystems where
natural disturbances, particularly wildfires and insect attacks, are stand-replacing or
partial stand-replacing events

Biophysical Impact #1:

 Relevant characteristic of the biophysical environment: Course Woody Debris
 o Coarse woody debris is affected by the frequency and intensity of historical harvesting
and fire in an open eucalypt forest
 Coarse woody debris (CWD) comprised of fallen dead woody material
 habitat that supports biodiversity through structural complexity of
microhabitats and microclimatic niches
 influencing fire behaviour and emissions (Hollis et al. 2011b) and contributing to
carbon store and nutrient cycling on the forest floor (Woldendorp et al. 2002).
o Long-Term Effect of Prescribed Burning Regimes and Logging on Coarse Woody Debris
in South-Eastern Australia
 Fallen coarse woody debris (CWD) is an important habitat resource for a large
range of taxa, including small mammals, birds, reptiles, fungi, and invertebrates
[1,2]. CWD includes dead woody material in all stages of decay, resting on the
ground or partially buried [3–5]. Hollows in CWD are used as shelter and
breeding dens by mammals, amphibians, and reptiles [6,7]. Decayed CWD are
foraging sites for insectivores and fungivores [1,6], and CWD provides
movement pathways for mammals and reptiles [2]
 Impact of Human Activity on Relevant Characteristic (Major trends, components,
relationships): Reducing the inputs of course woody debris in resulting in a reduction of
diameter of material in decayed logs,
o Logging removes larger mature trees reducing the inputs of course woody debris in
resulting in a reduction of diameter of material in decayed logs, particularly impacting
hallow dependent reptiles, mammals, and litter-dwelling invertebrates
o Long-Term Effect of Prescribed Burning Regimes and Logging on Coarse Woody Debris
in South-Eastern Australia
 Fire plays an important role in the creation and destruction of CWD and hollows.
Injuries to trees as a result of prescribed burning or wildfire provide access for
termites and fungi to standing trees, allowing the process of hollow formation
to begin [11–13]. Importantly, the lack of vertebrate excavators (e.g.,
woodpeckers) in Australia, unlike many other regions of the world, means the
presence of fire and saproxylic organisms is essential for hollow formation [14].
Furthermore, fire can excavate and increase the size of pre-existing hollows
 However, the removal of large trees by logging may reduce inputs of CWD in the
future. Future CWD loads (particularly large CWD) will be highly dependent on
the dynamic between CWD loss (decomposition processes, fire consumption,
etc.) and creation (tree growth, tree collapse, limb breakage, etc.), the latter of
which may be hindered by the removal of existing large trees by the previous
logging.
 As a result, maintaining large volumes of CWD across different decay stages and
charring conditions is likely to allow for an abundant, and possibly more diverse,
community of fungi, thus supporting fungivorous invertebrates and vertebrates.
Furthermore, spatial patterns of decayed logs and uncharred logs may have
important implications for hollow-dependent mammals and reptiles, due to
changes Forests 2018, 9, 242 12 of 14 in the availability and quality of hollows
[2,7,50,51], and many litter-dwelling invertebrates [52]. Future research should
 focus on determining at what levels/availability these resources are limiting for
fauna and how the use of logs by fauna is affected by charring
 Standard logging practices can create a pulse input of CWD into a system when
unmerchantable timber (i.e., hollow or decayed trees) is left on the forest floor
 Examples of the impacts
o Jarrah forests of south-west Western Australia (Stares et al., 2018)
o Coarse woody debris is affected by the frequency and intensity of historical harvesting
and fire in an open eucalypt forest
 Seventeen percent of jarrah forest macrofungi fruit on wood (Robinson &
Williams 2011). Large logs, which are long-lasting and can progress through and
support a range of decay classes, sustain the succession of fungal species that
contribute to macrofungal biodiversity (Dix & Webster 1995; McMullan-Fisher
et al. 2002). Consequently, larger diameter logs can exhibit greater fungal
species richness than smaller diameter logs (Yee et al. 2006). One half of the 318
cryptogams species identified in jarrah forest used CWD as a substrate, and 40%
depended on it entirely (20% of all cryptogams; Cranfield et al. 2011). Little is
known of the specific substrate requirements of saproxylic cryptogams in the
jarrah forest, but large logs in advanced stages of decay are likely to support
unique species assemblages in the jarrah forest as they do in other forest
ecosystems (Pharo & Beattie 2002; Turner & Pharo 2005; Cranfield et al. 2011)

Biophysical Impact #2:

 Relevant characteristic of the biophysical environment: Midstory Trees
 Impact of Human Activity on Relevant Characteristic (Major trends, components,
relationships): Loss of plant species from physical uprooting from the removal of midstory trees
o Salvage logging affects early post-fire tree composition in Canadian boreal forest
 Salvage logging affects post-fire forest composition in three ways. First, the
removal of burned mature trees including their aerial seedbanks immediately
after fire, before the release of most of the seeds, decrease the quantity of
available seeds in the field
 Salvage logging is likely to have a direct impact on the site, especially by
reducing the thickness of the charred organic material and decreasing shade (as
burnt boles are removed). It has been suggested that salvage logging
accelerates soil drying due to snag removal (Purdon et al., 2004, Kurulok and
Macdonald, 2007), disadvantaging the seedlings of species that are less tolerant
to drought.
 A reducing food variability and availability effecting the ecological food chain
within forests
o Disturbance gradient shows logging affects plant functional groups more than fire
 
 Salvage logging had particularly noticeable impacts on otherwise common
midstory trees such as Bedfordia arborescens, Cyathea australis, Hedycarya
angustifolia, period of decades, which would be consistent with other studies
showing the impact of logging disturbance decline over time (Purdon et al.
2004, Lang et al. 2009). Each of these species was absent from salvage logged
sites but present on sites in all other disturbance classes. Even common ground
ferns like Blechnum wattsii that were present on all sites were absent from
areas subject to salvage logging. We suggest these results are due to the
physical uprooting of these species during logging, which then makes them
prone to desiccation or burning in postlogging regeneration burns
 Examples of the impacts
o Removal of midstory trees from logging in Mountain Ash forests in southeastern
Australia attributes to a reducing food variability and availability, due to the loss of plant
species from physical uprooting, particularly impacting persistent sprouting plants and
ferns such as Blechnum Wattsii (Blair et al., 2016)
o Disturbance gradient shows logging affects plant functional groups more than fire
 The frequency of occurrence of midstory tree species (which includes tree ferns)
exhibited a significant decline across the disturbance gradient (Fig. 6), with high-
severity burned sites supporting a greater proportion of midstory trees than
sites subject to either clearcutting (P = 0.0005) or salvage logging (P = 0.0001).
Salvage logged sites also supported significantly (P < 0.05) fewer midstory trees
than all other disturbance categories (other than sites which had been clearcut;
Fig. 3)
 Sites in non-logged disturbance classes (undisturbed, low-, and high-severity
burned) were characterized by a significantly (P < 0.0001) greater frequency of
occurrence of persistent resprouting species when compared to the two logged
classes (clearcut and salvage logged sites). Clearcut sites supported significantly
greater numbers of resprouting species than salvage logged sites (P = 0.003).
 Species richness declined across this gradient with salvage logging having the
most pronounced negative effect of all the disturbance types we examined. The
result was an overall simplification of the forest ecosystem due to logging and
salvage logging in particular.
 Resprouting species dominated undisturbed mountain ash forests, but declined
significantly across the gradient. Fern and midstory trees decreased significantly
in frequency of occurrence across the gradient. Ferns (excluding bracken)
 decreased from 34% of plants in undisturbed forest to 3% on salvage logged
sites.

Socioeconomic Impact #1:

 Relevant characteristic of the biophysical environment: canopy height, canopy base height, and
fuel strata gap
o Detecting the effects of logging and wildfire on forest fuel structure using terrestrial
laser scanning (TLS)
 These authors suggest that the dense, rapidly self-thinning regrowth after
wildfire or logging create a dense, vertically continuous fuel layer that allows fire
to easily spread into the canopy. The gap between the understory and canopy,
commonly known as the fuel strata gap, is an important determinant of canopy
fire (Cruz et al., 2004). As the trees grow taller, a gap usually forms between the
canopy and the understory fuel below, making the spread of fire into the
canopy increasingly less likely
 Relevant Characteristics of the socioeconomic environment: Increase economic loss, emotional
distress and increased homelessness
 Impact of Human Activity on Relevant Characteristic (Major trends, components,
relationships)
o Increase in vertical fuel connectivity from logging in Australian forests attributes to
higher fire severity harming the health of Australians through air pollution resulting in
smoke-related health complications or death, their financial state through property loss
resulting in homelessness, and mental state through social distress. (Kemter et al., 2021)
o Detecting the effects of logging and wildfire on forest fuel structure using terrestrial
laser scanning (TLS)
 These authors suggest that the dense, rapidly self-thinning regrowth after
wildfire or logging create a dense, vertically continuous fuel layer that allows fire
to easily spread into the canopy. The gap between the understory and canopy,
commonly known as the fuel strata gap, is an important determinant of canopy
fire (Cruz et al., 2004). As the trees grow taller, a gap usually forms between the
canopy and the understory fuel below, making the spread of fire into the
canopy increasingly less likely
 Our data indicated that the mechanism driving potentially higher fire severity in
recently disturbed forests is most likely to be a lower CH and CBH, and
consequently smaller FSG. A lower CH and particularly CBH potentially reduces
the flame height required for a fire to scorch or spread into the canopy. In this
instance, the smaller FSG appears to be a function of the CBH rather than the
UH. That is, our results did not indicate that disturbance was driving changes in
the understorey that may cause higher flame heights, but instead that a lower
canopy soon after disturbance was more likely to be exposed to fire. An
important distinction between the two forest types is that resprouting forests
also have a lower canopy cover after logging. This may have implication for the
capacity of fire to spread within the canopy (Lentile et al., 2006), as well as the
sub canopy micrometeorology
  Examples of the impacts
o Reduction in the canopy height, canopy base height, and fuel strata gap of forest trees
from logging in non-resprouting Australian forests contribute to increasing vertical fuel
connectivity by reducing the required flame height to spread into the canopy resulting in
higher fire severity that poses greater risks to loss of wildlife and disruption of forest
ecosystems. (Wilson et al., 2021)
o Disturbance gradient shows logging affects plant functional groups more than fire
 This is the result of greatest conservation significance as in such tall forests,
having midstory trees mostly absent creates a vertical gap between overstory
eucalypts (with canopies generally 40–70 m above the ground) and the shrub
layer (which is generally 5 m tall or less). It also reduces food variability and
availability.
o Cascading Hazards in the Aftermath of Australia's 2019/2020 Black Summer Wildfires
 Throughout the continent, the fires caused direct damages to humans and
ecosystems, including at least 33 directly fire-related deaths, 3,100 homes lost,
an area of at least 24 million hectares burned—the size of the United Kingdom
—, and never before seen air pollution levels in major cities (Davey &
Sarre, 2020; Hughes et al., 2020; Royal Commission into National Natural
Disaster Arrangements, 2020; Vardoulakis et al., 2020).
 The wildfires led to the formation of a record number of pyrocumulonimbus
clouds that reached the lower stratosphere over southeastern Australia
o The Summer 2019–2020 Wildfires in East Coast Australia and Their Impacts on Air
Quality and Health in New South Wales, Australia
 Health costs of population exposure to smoke particles from wildfire events in
Tasmania between 2010 and 2019 were estimated to be AUS$ 16 million
annually on average, but for extreme wildfires, this figure increased up to AUS$
34 million [18].
 In 2018, Knibbs et al. [17] showed exposure of NO2 in children results in
reduced lung function and in asthmatic conditions in susceptible children.
Increase in PM2.5 concentration was shown to have an impact on a number of
health endpoints of the exposed population, such as the increase in mortality
rate and respiratory and cardiovascular diseases hospitalizations [8].
 A review of the effect of wildfires on a number of health endpoints including
respiratory, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cardiovascular and
asthma hospital admissions was also published [8].
 During the summer 2019–2020 wildfires event, many people became anxious
and worried about the wildfires and made calls to the Lifeline crisis support
hotline. As a result of this increase in call numbers, a telephone line for people
affected by the bushfires was introduced to address the situation [6].
 The health impact due to persistent high particle concentration and exposure of
people in major population centers over a long period and large affected areas

Socioeconomic Impact #2:

 Relevant characteristic of the socioeconomic environment: Reduces the financial stability of
the forestry market
 Impact of Human Activity on Relevant Characteristic (Major trends, components,
relationships)
o Illegal logging of Australian forests harms the country’s economy through distorting the
market by reducing the cost of timber thus developing unjust competition harming the
legal domestic hardwood and softwood producers and domestic furniture producing
industry (Leipold et al., 2016).
o Salvage Logging, Ecosystem Processes, and Biodiversity Conservation
 Patterns of ecosystem recovery and revitalization, together with the recovery of
many elements of the biota within these ecosystems, are influenced by the
types, numbers, and spatial arrangements of biological legacies remaining
following natural disturbance (Lindenmayer & Franklin 2002). Biological legacies
are organisms, organically derived structures, and organically produced
 patterns that survive from the predisturbance system (Franklin et al. 2000). In
forests, biological legacies include intact thickets of understory vegetation
(Ough 2002), large living and dead overstory trees (Gibbons & Lindenmayer
2002), logs (Harmon et al. 1986), and patches of undisturbed or partially
disturbed forest (Delong & Kessler 2000). Biological legacies can be critical for
biodiversity and influence the rate and pathway of postdisturbance recovery
(Franklin et al. 2000) in many ways (Table 1).
 Among the factors that make recently disturbed forests biologically diverse are
a combination of surviving and pioneering species; diverse plant life forms and
structures, which provide habitat for many organisms; high availability of light
and moisture; and a variety of microclimates (Noss et al. 2006).
 Salvage logging by definition removes some or all of the biological legacies
created by natural disturbances and earlier mortality and patch dynamics,
therefore potentially diminishing the effectiveness of some or all of the
ecological roles listed in Table 1. Removal of biological legacies also simplifies
the structure of forest stands (Hutto 1995; Franklin et al. 2000), homogenizes
landscape pattern (Radeloff et al. 2000), and reduces connectivity between
unburned areas (Morissette et al. 2002).
 Dead and charred trees created by wildfires are key biological legacies lost or
depleted through salvage operations (Murphy & Lehnhausen 1998; Nappi et al.
2003). Others include malformed trees (Cooper-Ellis et al. 1999), large logs and
coarse woody debris (Minshall 2003), and tip-up mounds (Cooper-Ellis et al.
1999). The removal of large quantities of biological legacies can be followed by
prolonged periods of time before new ones are created. For example, the
removal of burned standing trees may preclude the recruitment of large pieces
of coarse woody debris to the forest floor and associated stream environments
for multiple decades (Minshall 2003).
 The depletion or loss of biological legacies through salvage has implications for
biota dependent on them (Hutto 1995, 2006 [this issue]; Saab & Dudley 1998;
Haggard & Gaines 2001; Morissette et al. 2002). For example, areas
 regenerating after fire can be rare habitats in many landscapes as a
consequence of long-term fire suppression and/or historical logging practices
 Salvage logging removes key structural and other attributes from these habitats
and may negatively influence species closely associated with them, thus
substantially altering assemblages and communities (Morissette et al. 2002).
These include taxa associated with charred standing trees and logs created by
fires such as woodpeckers (Hutto 1995, 2006; Murphy & Lehnhausen 1998;
Nappi et al. 2003), carnivorous mammals (Bull et al. 2001), highly specialized
beetles (Buprestidae and Ceramycidae) (Buddle et al. 2000; Grove et al. 2002),
and bryophytes (Scott 1985)

Evaluation of Solutions
Existing Solution in Country #1:
 Description of Solution
o Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna And Flora
(CITES) throughout Australia to guide the country in conducting international trade of
wildlife to not harm populations of animals and plants. CITES requires that signatories
designate authorities and legislation to implement the requirements helping ensure that
endangered plants species within the forest and other ecosystems are protected from
extinction. (Andersson et al., 2021)
o CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and
Flora) is an international agreement between governments. Its aim is to ensure that
international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten
the survival of the species.
o Levels of exploitation of some animal and plant species are high and the trade in them,
together with other factors, such as habitat loss, is capable of heavily depleting their
populations and even bringing some species close to extinction. Many wildlife species in
trade are not endangered, but the existence of an agreement to ensure the
sustainability of the trade is important in order to safeguard these resources for the
future.
o Because the trade in wild animals and plants crosses borders between countries, the
effort to regulate it requires international cooperation to safeguard certain species from
over-exploitation. CITES was conceived in the spirit of such cooperation. Today, it
accords varying degrees of protection to more than 37,000 species of animals and
plants, whether they are traded as live specimens, fur coats or dried herbs.
o CITES is an international agreement to which States and regional economic integration
organizations adhere voluntarily. States that have agreed to be bound by the
Convention ('joined' CITES) are known as Parties. Although CITES is legally binding on the
Parties – in other words they have to implement the Convention – it does not take the
place of national laws. Rather it provides a framework to be respected by each Party,
which has to adopt its own domestic legislation to ensure that CITES is implemented at
the national level.
 Impact of solution on mitigating the impacts of human impact
 o Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna And Flora
(CITES)
 Every country that is a Party to CITES must designate authorities to implement
the requirements of the Convention.
 The Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Water and the
Environment is Australia’s CITES Management Authority and CITES Scientific
Authority.
 The CITES Management Authority is responsible for implementing the
Convention. In particular it is the only body competent to grant import and
export permits on behalf of a country. The CITES Management Authority is also
responsible for communication with the CITES Secretariat and other countries
about CITES matters.
 The CITES Scientific Authority is responsible for providing technical and scientific
advice to its Management Authority. In particular the CITES Scientific Authority
determines whether the export of a CITES listed species will be detrimental to
the survival of the species in the wild.
 Member countries are responsible for enforcing CITES. In most countries,
customs officers enforce CITES regulations. Governments must also submit
reports, including trade records, to the CITES Secretariat. To ensure effective
enforcement at the international level, the Secretariat acts as a clearinghouse
for the exchange of information and liaison between the parties and with other
authorities and organisations. In Australia the Australian Government
Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment coordinates
enforcement matters. Most investigations are undertaken by the Department
and the Australian Border Force or the Australian Federal Police.
o International Trade in Endangered Species – Amendments
 More than 35,000 species of fauna and flora are currently protected by one of
the three appendices

 Strengths of solution in Country
o Helps to ensure the protection of different endangered tree species in Australia to help
prevent their extinction
o Prevent salvage logging in areas of Australia that contain the endangered species
o Bring awareness to different tree species at risk of endangered on an international and
domestic level
o Develops different agencies in Australia with the proper resources and personnel to help
preserve the biodiversity within the forests of Australia and prolong their sustainability
o Production of trades of wildlife including timber between Australia and other countries
 Weaknesses of solution in Country
o Does not focus on all species in forests; restricted to endangered species
o Organizations developed do not obtain a direct focus on the preservation of forests in
Australia
o Help animals that are in danger when they should do something about the habitat
 o Australia is not a Range State (a country in which a named species is found), for the
majority of the species covered by the 51 listing proposals. This means these species do
not naturally occur in Australia, nor does Australia have an industry in the international
trade of the majority of these species. As such, there will be no ramifications for
Australia of the listing amendments for the majority of these species

Existing Solution in Outside Countries #1:

 Description of Solution
o Forest certification involves the assessment of the quality of forest management in
terms of established standards of the environment and provides written confirmation
that a producer or product adheres to the standards required. Forest certification will
ensure producers conserve biodiversity, respect the rights, knowledge, and value of
Aboriginal peoples impacted, adhere to sustainable forest management through abiding
by all relevant laws and not completing unauthorized logging, and provide an annual
audit of surveillance. Forest certification helps to maintain the species diversity, prevent
illegal logging and degradation of forests. (Villalobos et al., 2018)
o Has Forest Certification Reduced Forest Degradation in Sweden
 Forest certification is a voluntary, market-driven instrument whereby an
independent third party (called a certifier or certification body) assesses the
quality of forest management in relation to a set of predetermined
environmental standards and gives written assurance that a product or process
conforms to the requirements specified in the standards (Rametsteiner and
Simula 2003).
 Impact of solution on mitigating the impacts of human impact
o Forest certification in Canada
 Canada has the largest area of third-party-certified forests in the world
 Since it emerged in the 1990s, forest management certification has been
adopted quickly across Canada, and now more than 75% of the
country’s managed forest land is certified. As of the end of 2020, Canada had
164 million hectares of independently certified forest land. That represents 36%
of all certified forests worldwide, the largest area of third-party-certified forests
in any country.
 Strengths of solution in Country
o Forest certification in Canada
 Consumers can consider certification in their buying decisions.
 Forest companies can use certification to show they are responsible resource
managers.
 The public can look to the value of certification in improving forest practices
around the world.
 The standards on which forest certification is based are not static. That’s
because expectations of what certification should demonstrate are always
changing. Certification standards are regularly revised to keep pace with new
knowledge and emerging concerns about sustainable forest management.
o Has Forest Certification Reduced Forest Degradation in Sweden?
  Forest certification has generated considerable attention in forestry as means to
address deforestation and forest degradation by promoting improved
environmental and in forest management criteria (Blackman and Rivera 2011;
Romero et al. 2013)
 Weaknesses of solution in Country
o Has Forest Certification Reduced Forest Degradation in Sweden?
 For example, studies indicate that forest certification has reduced deforestation
in timber concessions in Indonesia (Miteva, Loucks, and Pattanayak et al. 2015)
and Chile (Heilmayr and Lambin 2016). In contrast, no evidence of certification
reducing deforestation has been found under communal land management in
Mexico (Blackman, Goff, and Rivera Planter 2015), or under concessions in Peru
and Cameroon (Panlasigui et al. 2015).
 We observe that certified plots have a 3.7% lower probability of noncompliance
compared with noncertified plots, but this difference is not statistically
significant.
 our analysis shows no evidence to support the hypothesis that forest
certification increases the preservation of environmentally important areas
during felling. Furthermore, we find no difference between certification labels.
This might not be a surprising result, since the certification requirements by FSC
and PEFC are rather similar and the requirements of both FSC and PEFC coincide
with those established by the Swedish Forestry Act. This raises, however,
questions regarding the supposed added value of multiple certifications and
label competition for overall environmental protection
 Although the Swedish Forestry Act states that preservation of natural and
environmental values should be prioritized to the same extent as forest
production values, the lack of clear and quantifiable measures makes it difficult
for the certifiers to implement standards that are stringent enough and
legitimized by society.
 We conclude that although certification as a sustainable forest management
policy is rewarded with price premiums and improved market access, certified
forest owners are not significantly more likely to preserve areas of high
conservation value or to increase the magnitude of the areas that are set aside
for conservation purposes.
 Appropriateness of Solution in Selected Country
o

Recommendations and Conclusion

Recommendation of Viable Solution
 Components of an ecologically defensible salvage policy include the following measures.
 1: Exclude salvage logging entirely from some areas (Hutto 1995, 2006), such as nature reserves
and water catchments (e.g., Land Conservation Council 1994), extensive areas of old-growth
forest, and places with few or no roads (Trombulak & Frissell 2000). Sensitive sites such as steep
slopes and fragile or highly erodable soils also should be exempt from salvage harvesting
(Minshall 2003; Karr et al. 2004).
  2: Ensure that unburned or partially burned patches within the perimeter of a disturbed area
(e.g., see De Long & Kessler 2000) are either exempt from salvage or subject to low-intensity
harvesting with high levels of legacy retention.
 3: Ensure that certain biological legacies are retained in salvage-logged areas such as fire-
damaged trees (Hutto 1995; Nappi et al. 2004) and large (damaged or undamaged)
commercially valuable trees (Morissette et al. 2002). These often have either high habitat value
(e.g., for foraging by woodpeckers; Nappi et al. 2003) or a high probability of remaining standing
for a prolonged period (Gibbons & Lindenmayer 2002).
 4: Modify salvage policies to limit the amounts of biological legacies that are removed from
particular sorts of areas (Hobson & Schieck 1999)—such as from burned old-growth stands
within wood-production zones as currently occurs in some parts of northwestern North America
(e.g., Forest Ecosystem Management Team 1993).
 5: Schedule salvage logging so that effects on natural recovery of vegetation are limited (e.g.,
Roy 1956 in McIver & Starr 2000; van Niuewstadt et al. 2001). This suggestion is related to a
need to appraise the ability of disturbed stands to recover naturally (Cooper-Ellis et al. 1999)
and, hence, the ecological desirability of programs to replant fire-damaged areas (Noss et al.
2006).
 6: Related to the points above, ensure the future maintenance or creation of particular habitat
elements for species of conservation concern within burned areas potentially subject to salvage
logging, such as some woodpeckers (Hutto 1995; Smucker et al. 2005), rare forest carnivores
(Bull et al. 2001), cavity-using mammals (Lindenmayer & Ough 2006), invertebrates (Hoyt &
Hannon 2002), and plants (Scott 1985).
 7: Ensure adequate riparian buffers are in place to protect aquatic ecosystems within areas
where salvage-harvesting operations occur (Minshall 2003), and retain structures such as logs
and logging slash on the ground to limit soil erosion (Shakesby et al. 1993).
 8: The effects of ground-based logging on soil and water in postdisturbance environments can
be great; thus, this type of harvesting should be limited and, whenever possible, replaced with
cable or helicopter systems for removing fire-burned trees.
Conclusion