Chapter 13 Land Resources

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Chapter 13 Land Resources
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Korup National Park

• Cameroon, Africa
• Very diverse
• World Wildlife Fund
• and government
• Local people given opportunities, employment
• Reduce poaching
• Encourage tourism, sustainable development

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U.S. Land Use

• Federal government owns 35 U.S. land
• Resource use, cultural significance, habitat
• Where is this land?
• Dept. of Interior
• BLM, FWS, NPS
• US Dept. of Agriculture
• Forest Service

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Selected Federal Lands
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Who Manages What?
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U.S. Land Use

• Provide ecosystem services
• Help determine human impact on ecosystems
• Recreational value
• Spiritual value

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Forests

• Less than 1/3 Earths area
• What do we use forests for?
• Ecosystem services
• Help regulate biogeochemical cycles
• Carbon sinks
• Release O2
• Protect watersheds
• how?
• Provide habitat

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Forests The Hydrologic Cycle

• Transpiration
• Water from soil absorbed from roots
• Transported through plants
• Evaporated from leaves and stems
• Biological cooling process
• Water returns to atmosphere

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Forests The Hydrologic Cycle
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Forest Management

• Traditional management
• Tree plantations
• Monocultures
• Support fewer organisms why?
• Low-diversity forests

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Forest Management

• Sustainable forestry
• Practices vary
• Environmentally balanced
• Maintain mix of trees
• Long-term conservation
• Wildlife corridors
• Connects areas
• Help some populations

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Harvesting Trees

• 2005 3.5 million cubic feet of wood harvested
• Some burned directly
• Charcoal production
• Paper and wood products
• Some wood ecologically certified

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Selective Cutting

• Mature trees cut individually or in small
  clusters
• Forest remains essentially intact

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Shelterwood Cutting

• Removal of all mature trees in an area over an
  extended period

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Seed Tree Cutting

• Almost all trees removed from an area
• Some left to provide seeds for regeneration

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Clear-cutting

• All trees in an area are cut
• Area reseeds naturally or planted
• Common and controversial

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Clear-cutting
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Deforestation

• Clearing large expanses of forests
• Most serious problem facing forests today
• Why is this occurring?
• Most in Africa and
• South America

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Results of Deforestation

• Decreased soil fertility
• Increased soil erosion
• Desertification
• Increased extinction
• Regional and global climate changes how?

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Deforestation Boreal Forests

• Alaska, Canada, Scandinavia, Northern Russia
• Extensive by late 1980s
• Used for wood, wood fiber
• Annual loss area twice as large as Brazils
  rain forests

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Tropical Rain Forests

• Central South America, Africa, SE Asia

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Deforestation Tropical Rain Forests

• Subsistence agriculture
• Farmers follow roads
• Slash-and-burn
• Later used for ranching
• Commercial logging
• Cattle ranching
• Dam building
• Mining

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Deforestation Tropical Dry Forests

• India, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Egypt, Brazil
• Fuelwood
• Charcoal production
• Very wasteful
• 4 tons wood ? run smelter for 5 minutes

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U.S. Forests

• Many expanding
• Secondary succession
• Commercial tree planting
• Government protection
• Who owns U.S. forests?
• Private owners under pressure to sell why?

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U.S. National Forests

• 155 national forests
• 191 million acres
• Where are these forests?
• What are they used for?
• Multiple-use lands
• Road building

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Rangelands

• Grasslands not intensively managed
• Livestock grazing
• Grasses, forbs, shrubs

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Rangelands

• Vegetation has fibrous root system
• Grazing
• Can be beneficial
• Carefully manage
• Can increase plant diversity
• Dont exceed carrying capacity

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Rangeland Degradation

• Desertification
• Progressive degradation
• Result of overgrazing and drought
• On the increase

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U.S. Rangelands

• 30 of U.S. lands 1/3 public 2/3 private
• Under increasing pressure why?
• Conservation easements
• Protect privately owned land from development
• Public rangelands
• Bureau of Land Management
• U.S. Forest Service

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Public U.S. Rangelands

• Condition slowly improving
• Taylor Grazing Act - 1934
• Federal Land Policy and Management
• Act - 1976
• Public Rangelands Improvement Act - 1978
• Better livestock management practices
• and scientific monitoring

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Public U.S. Rangelands

• Grazing permits
• Private livestock operators to use public land
• Low fees
• Limited access to permits
• Taxpayers responsible for damage - 67 million in
  2003
• Should grazing fees be increased?

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U.S. National Park System

• Created in 1916
• 388 sites (58 parks)
• 84.3 million acres
• Purpose
• Protect natural areas
• Education
• Recreation

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Popular Parks!
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Threats to U.S. Parks

• Too many visitors
• Crime, vandalism, litter
• Some access now limited

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Threats to U.S. Parks

• Wildlife imbalances
• Not enough predators
• Yellowstone
• Too many elk
• Wolf reintroduction
• has helped
• Surrounded by
• development

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Wilderness Areas

• No human development permitted
• Wilderness Act of 1964
• National Wilderness Preservation System
• Highest level of protection
• 702 areas
• 107 million acres
• NPS, USFS, FWS, BLM

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Problems For Wilderness Areas

• Some overused
• Invasive species
• Need for good management
• More areas needed in lower 48 states

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How Should Federal Lands Be Managed?

• Wise-use movement
• Lands are for resource use
• National forests should be logged
• Mining commercial
• development
• Unrestricted wetland
• development
• Sell some lands

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How Should Federal Lands Be Managed?

• Environmental movement
• Lands for protecting biodiversity
• No subsidies for resource use
• Hold those who damage land accountable

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What Should Be Protected?

• Many want more lands protected
• Ranking system
• Area lost/degraded since colonization
• Existing similar areas already protected
• Potential for future degradation
• Presence of endangered species

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U.S. Endangered Ecosystems
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Case Study Tongass National Forest

• SE coast of Alaska
• Temperate rain forest
• 17 million acres
• Prime logging area
• Permitted by contract
• Expired in 1990s
• Less being logged today

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Case Study Tongass National Forest

• Roadless Area Conservation Rule
• End of Clinton administration
• Protect areas from road building

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Case Study Tongass National Forest

• Roadless Area Conservation Rule
• 2001 rule blocked
• G. W. Bush administration wants more logging
• Still in doubt
• today