7: Legal, institutional and economic framework for forest conservation and sustainable management

Forest programs vary in their level of requirement. Voluntary programs depend on landowners compliance with guidelines and have low levels of requirement. Regulatory programs require certain activities or prohibit certain activities by landowners. There is little evidence that one approach is generally more effective than the other and it is likely that both are important in protecting forest lands and ecosystems.

Public forests are often put to multiple disturbing uses (e.g., recreation, logging, mining). Protecting these forests from certain or all extractive activities is more likely to result in provision of ecosystem services.

This indicator measures the extent to which laws, regulations, guidelines, institutions, and organizations provide opportunities for public access to information and public participation in policy and decision-making processes relating to rangelands. Public participation ensures that policy and programs are vetted by a cross section of the people who are affected. Public participation can foster political support for sustainable management. All steps in the management decision process – problem identification, data collection, analysis, alternative formulation, and choice – must be open to public participation. Public involvement is thus a complex, dynamic, interactive process of bargaining, negotiating, and mediation among and between constituents and managers. Engaging the public does not ensure sustainability in itself. It does, however, inform participants about the issues involved, conflicting laws, resource limitations, and what other people and groups want.

Reserved forest land is land that is protected from logging or other development activities in order to protect ecosystem services that the forest provides. Forest reserves are set up through land purchase by public entities, protective conservation easements, and voluntary set asides by landowners.

State forestry agencies hire employees from the same pool as private logging and consultant firms. To stay competitive, salaries and other compensations must be commensurate with the employment, or state employees will be hard to recruit and retain.

Recruiting and retaining employees in state forestry agencies is likely to contribute to sustainable forestry practice, assuming that regulations are present and enforced and the employees have training and expertise appropriate to understanding dynamic forest ecosystems and impacts of disturbance.

Adequately funding state regulation of forestry is more likely to result in forestry activities being legally executed and forests being sustainably used. Adequacy could be measured as the proportion of funding needed to carry out forest and forestry monitoring, to use information in decision-making, and to review decisions and he outcomes of decisions.

Assessments of forest holdings and conditions are critical for long-term strategic planning by state agencies. This could be planning for management of activities on state forests, or regulations to encourage sustainability on private lands.

Planning management activities on state forests and regulations affecting logging on private lands may improve the sustainability of these areas and the benefits they provide to the public.

Identify cost share and technical assistance programs that provide benefits to ranchers and describe the scope of their services and funding levels. CAL FIRE, the Department of Fish and Wildlife, University of California and NRCS all offer financial and technical assistance programs that can offset ranching operational costs and help implement practices that reduce potential impacts of ranching or increase environmental and ecological services. Local agencies such as land trusts and agricultural open space districts also help maintain ranching land uses, often through purchase of conservation easements. Documenting the services and programs available to ranchers and their geographical scope can provide insights into additional programmatic needs.