Joshua Oliver GHY543: Sustainable Planning & Development Dept. of Geography & Geology The University of Southern Mississippi

1. SUSTAINABLE FORESTRY:
THE PINE BELT AND
INTERNATIONALLY
Joshua Oliver
GHY 543
Spring 2016

2. OVERVIEW
• What is Sustainable Forestry?
• Elements of Sustainable Forestry
• Examples of Sustainable Forestry
Management
• Here in Mississippi
• De Soto National Forest
• Sandhill Crane National Wildlife
Refuge
• Aboard (Peruvian Amazon)
Misty Amazonian Morning, Madre de Dios, Peru
(Photo by Joshua Oliver, 2015)

3. WHAT IS SUSTAINABLE
FORESTRY?
“If we manage forests as closely as
possible to how nature would manage
them, then we should be able to ensure
continued growth”
-Forest Stewardship Council; 2013
Sustainable forest management, Georgia; 2014

4. WHAT IS SUSTAINABLE
FORESTRY?
Sustainable forestry
overarching goals:
• Environmental protection
• Socio-economical gain for
today’s needs
Cibola National Forest, NE New Mexico, USA
(Photo by Joshua Oliver, 2015)

5. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
• Sanction of land
• 155 National Forests
• 190m acres
• Protection from
development
• Protection of endemic
and naturally occurring
species
Winged Pitcher Plant, De Soto National Forest,
Mississippi (Photo by Joshua Oliver, 2015)

6. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
Management Practices:
• Thinning (selective cutting)
• Prescribed burning, pesticides, and
herbicides
• Restoration efforts
Proscribed burning in Thomas
Jefferson National Forest,
Virginia (top), Longleaf Pine
nursery, De Soto National
Forest, Mississippi (Left)
(Top- Joshua Oliver, 2013; Left-
Joshua Oliver, 2015)

7. SOCIO-ECONOMIC
• International Union for Conservation of
Nature
• Most National Forest are IUCN Category
IV
• Under Category IV
• Rights to make profits by
• Cutting timber
• Oil and natural gas collection
• Coal collection
• Water collection and hydro-electrical
power
Marcellus Shale Deposit in the Virginian Appalachians
(Map by Harper and Voros; 2012)

8. POTENTIAL EFFECTS
• Conservation vs
Preservation
• Should we allow
such activities in
National Forests?
• Outgoing effects of
doing so?
Clear cut off I-20 in Rankin
County, Mississippi (Left),
Paul Karason of Bellingham,
Washington (Bottom)
(Source: www.airphotona.com; 2014)
(Source: www.washingtonpost.com; 2008)

9. DE SOTO NATIONAL FOREST
• De Soto National Forest
• 518,587 acres federally
protected
• 284,357 acres under IUCN
category IV
• Three main ecosystems
• Maturing longleaf pine forests
• Successional rangelands
• Pitcher Plant bogs
De Soto’s Three Main Ecotones
(Photo by Joshua Oliver; 2015)
(Source: Google Earth, 2016)

10. DE SOTO NATIONAL FOREST
Management
Practices
• Prescribed burning
• Highly important
for Longleaf Pine
• “Off limits” Zones
• Within 100 meters
of the pitcher plant
bog
Prescribed burning of De
Soto National Forest in
Jackson County, MS (Left)
Regeneration of Longleaf
Pine after a fire (bottom)
(Source: www.natl.ifas.ufl.edu; 2009)
(Source: www. blog.gulflive.com; 2013)

11. SANDHILL CRANE NATIONAL
WILDLIFE REFUGE
• 26.7 mi² of fully
protected land
• Constructed in efforts
of protecting the
endangered Mississippi
Sandhill Crane
(Source: Google Earth; 2016)
Mississippi Sandhill Crane
(Source: www.whiteoakwildlife.org)

12. SANDHILL CRANE NATIONAL
WILDLIFE REFUGE
Management Practices
• Selective thinning
• Importance?
• Hydration of land to provide
important bog-like conditions
• Providing food and nursery to
the cranes
Selective thinning and bogs of SCNWR to provide the perfect
habit for the cranes
(Photo by Joshua Oliver; 2016)

13. MADRE DE DIOS, PERU
• 32,934.72 mi² in area
• ~25,000 mi² never seen by modern
society
• Las Piedras
• One of the largest headwater rivers of
the Amazon
• Home to thousands if not millions of
species of flora and fauna
(most are microbes)
Madre De Dios Region of Peru (red)
(Source: www.lahistoriaconmapas.com)

14. MADRE DE DIOS, PERU
Management Practices??
• Fighting the needs of development
• Extremely poor region of Peru
• ‘The Rainforest is there for the picking’
• Illegal gold and silver operation
• Deforestation of Rainforest and quality
of water
Police destroying a illegal gold operation
(Source: www.latinpost.com; 2015)

15. MADRE DE DIOS, PERU
Management Practices??
• Large tree species such
as Ironwood and Kapok
bring in thousands of
dollars per tree
• Selecting cut of these
trees in sight off the
rivers
STIHL Shop in Puerto Maldonado, Peru
(Top), Selected Cut of an Ironwood Tree
off the Las Piedras (Right)
(Photos by Joshua Oliver, 2015)

16. MADRE DE DIOS, PERU
Management Practice??
• Peruvian Gov’t sanctioned most of
undeveloped land within the Peruvian
Amazonian Rainforest in 2015
• Protection of species
• To be used in Ecotourism
• Giant step towards protecting this vital
ecosystem
(Photos by Will Dowd and Joshua Oliver; 2015)

17. CONCLUSION
• Providing sustainable
practices to forests in
the U.S. and aboard is a
difficult task
• Hopefully, with what our
societies have put in
place the next 10
generations can enjoy
the same places we can
stand in today
(Photos by Joshua Oliver; 2015-2016)