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Welcoming and Opening Remarks
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Jose Salinas and Chip Cartwright
Jose Salinas ...
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We have people representing several Regions.
Our presenters include research, Forest Service
managers, program leaders, people with specific
expertise, academia, members of other agencies,
people representing tribal governments, members of
the ranching community, and private industry. And
the list goes on and on.
The agenda consists of scientific papers, papers on
human and social relationship within the p-J
ecosystem. We also have a series of presentations of
on going projects. Plus, we have several posters on
display and a couple of videos on p-J.
Based on the information I have shared with you,
I think all of you will agree with me that the title of
the symposium-Desired Future Conditions for
Pifton-Juniper Ecosystems-is very appropriate.
So why are we all here this week? For one thlng,
not all is well with our p-J woodland ecosystems.
There are over 7 million acres of P-J on national lands
in the Southwestern Region alone. But the real
concern is that nearly 50% of this land base represents
watersheds in unsatisfactory condition. This
condition is not unique to this region nor to the Forest
Service. For the same condition exists on other federal
lands, Indian land and private lands. This condition
also extend to all the states surrounding us, including
Mexico.
Our p-J ecosystem was never in this type of
condition-in other words, these unsatisfactory
conditions are not natural. We, man, through our
past management practices, have created
unbalance among the components of the
ecosystem-the biological, the physical and the
human aspects. We can no longer continue to
contribute to the problem. We must work
together-the research scientist, the land manager
and the user-be state, federal or private, we must
work together in seeking solutions. This may
include joint projects under partnership or it could
mean technology transfer. It may include changing
present land management practices. It will mean
being more responsive to the needs of the land and
the people who are part of that ecosystem.
Good Morning! I am pleased to join the rest of the
speakers this morning in welcoming each of you to
this week's 1994 Pifton-Juniper Symposium-Desired
Future Conditions for Pifton-Juniper Ecosystems.
I, too, want to thank our co-sponsors:
• Northern Arizona University
• University of Arizona
• Bureau of Indian Affairs, Phoenix Area
Office
• Society of American Foresters
Equally important, I want to thank Doug Shaw
and the Steering Committee that coordinated this
symposium. Doug has been coordinating the p-J
Initiative for a little over two years.
I want to thank the other agency coordinators
also.
There are always behind-the-scene players that
are part of a successful program. I want to recognize
my Regional office watershed staff:
• Penny Luehring
• Debby Potter
• Chic Spann
• Wayne Robbie
• Penny Fabian
• Barney Lyons
And two staff people who helped with
symposium but stayed in Albuquerque to keep the
office in operation-Gena Velasquez and Theresa
Sanchez.
A key partner and supporter in the p-J watershed
restoration program is Gerald Henke, Regional
Director for Range Management.
Of course, we are very pleased to have our
Regional Forester, Chip Cartwright, with us this
morning. Chip will be properly introduced in a
moment.
I also want to thank the Coconino National Forest
for hosting us as well as for hosting our field trip.
I understand more than 200 people signed up
for this symposium. I think this in itself is a success
and we have not even begun!
1 Director, Watershed Management and Air Management, USDA
Forest Service, Southwestern Region, Albuquerque, NM.
2 Regional Forester, USDA Forest Service, Southwestern Region,
Albuquerque, NM.
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First ecosystem management as we know it is
ada ptive to changes in our knowled ge about the
system. Second humans and their interactions with
the other ecosystem components are part of
ecosystem management, and we are stressing
involvement of all stakeholders in management.
Third, ecosystem management is based on sound
science, and forth ecosystem management must
involve strong partnerships.
The Pifton-Juniper is vast; it stretches in some
form from _west Texas to the Santa Ynez Mountains
of Southern California and from Oregon deep into
Mexico. The story of these woodlands extends back
through historic, prehistoric, and geologic time.
The history of the Pifton-Juniper is a documentation of humanities' changing relationship with its
environment. It starts with a relationship in which
human fate was determined by the bounty of its
un-manipulated environment, and
extends
through relationships in which people dramatically
modify their environment to meet the needs and
wants of growing populations.
The purpose of this symposium is to share
information that will be useful in directing human
relationships with this ecosystem in the future. Our
goal for this relationship should be ecosystem
sustainability. We understand no ecosystem is a
simple thing, but p-J, with so many links to people
and cultures, is particularly complicated. Ron
Lanner describes this complexity well in the
introduction to his book on the Pinon Pine, "Every
tree, like every other living organism, is at the
center of its own four-dimensional spider web: tug
on this strand or that and see what quivers, what
falls, what comes in or goes out, what lives or dies,
what grows fat-and when."
Much has been said in the last decade or so
about managing Pifton-Juniper. Bill Hurst, Regional
Forester from 1966-1976, said there were more
symposiums about-but less done about-P-J, than
on any other species he could remember. Why do
we continue to talk a lot and 'act little? Perhaps it is
because we don't understand or take seriously the
importance of this ecosystem to current human
needs and past and current human beliefs and
perceptions. Or perhaps we cannot reach a
common agreement on how to manage an
ecosystem that is so highly variable and has so
many ties to so many different cultures.
Societal values and perspectives about the
environment change and evolve continuously. The
human domination era, of most western societies,
was replaced early in the 20th century by the
conservation and multiple-use era. Some societal
values and perceptions are shifting again, as we
Definitely, a scientific-based ecosystem management program is the appropriate approach.
Deteriorating watersheds are not a problem
that belongs to the project leader in a remote
Ranger District. It is your problem. It is my
problem. It is a social and economic problem. It is
our problem-yours and mine together.
I am proud to announce that the Southwestern
Region has increased its funding for watershed
restoration work in the last two years by more than
38%. I am proud to announce that every Forest in
the Region has a p-J demonstration project. And I
am proud to announce nearly all of the 69 Ranger
Districts in the Region have identified some kind of
watershed restoration demonstration project.
There has been a tremendous amount of commitment by our field personnel and our partners. Our
management practices are being reassessed to be in
balance with the watershed capability. We are
making better use of our soil inventory data as well
as research data. We are all doing a good job-but
we must do better if we are to get in front of the
many pressures, problems and issues facing our p-J
ecosystems.
When it is all done, water quality and soil
productivity will be the determining factors to the
health and well being of our nation or any nation.
We have a lot at stake if we are to remain a strong
nation and one of leadership and balance between
people and the environment.
If I could have only one outcome from this
symposium, it would be that our partnerships in PJ watershed restoration would increase in number
and strength. These partnerships could be based
on technology transfer, research, joint projects, and
promotion of ecosystem management principles.
In summary, I encourage each of you to
participate in symposium as much an possible. And
to have an enjoyable and productive week Thank
you.
******
Chip Cartwright. ..
Welcome to this 1994 symposium on PiftonJuniper management. I'm glad you are here to
share information about these important
southwestern ecosystems. Being new to the
Southwestern Region, I'm glad to be here to learn a
little about how we are implementing ecosystem
management principles in the Pifton-Juniper. I
want to stress a few points about ecosystem
management in these brief opening comments.
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us." Still others have a long tradition of using p-J
for daily needs such as cooking and heating.
We also have the needs of the biological part of
this system to understand, how much can we
harvest with out adversely affecting the needs of
the Pinon jay? And the physical part must be
integrated. How do we protect or restore soil
productivity, a basic consideration to all other
needs?
We must look to the people for answers to these
and many other questions. We know people want
to be involved, but we also know people must be
sensitive and knowledgeable to be effectively
involved. It is a basic human dimension principle
that sustainable ecosystem management requires
an ecologically knowledgeable population.
We also look to scientists for answers. Scientific
information helps us better understand the range
of choices for actions and the consequences of
following one path instead of another. Scientists
can provide the citizen-manager partnership with
some of the information required to make
informed decisions. Research will assist in better
understanding ecosystem functions and interrelationships and all scales and times. Research will
also assist in better understanding stakeholders
and the values and motives that drive their
behavior. We must seek a more complete
understanding of the social and cultural
dimensions of ecosystems, including the changing
perceptions, needs, and values of people.
Adaptive management is a term currently used
to describe an evolving management strategy for
ecosystems. In such a strategy ecosystems like the
P-J and related ecosystems will be managed
according to a working hypothesis which continues
to change and adapt to new information and
experience. To make this management strategy
effective we must monitor and evaluate
management to see if we are achieving the desired
results and if the results we originally desired are
still desired.
The p-J is vast and the problems are wide
spread in the Southwest. We have goals for the
National Forest part of p-J that include maintaining
or improving soil productivity, meeting water
quality standards, maintaining or improving visual
and biological diversity, protecting habitat needs
for threatened and endangered species, and
historic and prehistoric cultural values. But our
goal also includes management that is sensitive to
lifestyles as well as ecosystem needs. But the p-J
involves more than just National Forest. All the
stakeholders in this vast system must join in
partnerships to describe and move toward shares
enter the 21st century. In response to this shift the
Forest Service is looking more holistically at natural
systems as systems that integrate biological,
physical, and human dimensions. We have a
heightened concern for the long term sustainability
of systems, not just the multiple-uses that can be
realized from these systems. This evolving
approach to land stewardship is frequently
referred to as "ecosystem management".
Along with the evolution of attitudes about
ecosystem management is an increased sensitivity
to the importance of stakeholders in the
management of public lands.
The Region recently completed work to help
us define principles for ecosystem management. A
human dimension study group is publishing a
short document containing eight human
dimension principles for ecosystem management.
A scientific study team recently published a
document titled, ''l\n Ecological Basis for Ecosystem
Management" which contains six guiding
principles for ecosystem management.
Both documents have the following common
principle, "Humans are an integral part of today's
ecosystems and depend on natural ecosystems for
survival and welfare; ecosystems must be sustained
for the long-term well-being of humans and other
forms of life". In the past, our efforts to assess the
physicaVbiological aspects of ecosystems have been
separate from our efforts to assess the human
dimension aspects of ecosystems. We are working
hard to understand how these two aspects can be
integrated.
According to Eugene Odum, "Ecology is the
study of the structure and function of nature, it
being understood that mankind is part of nature".
The culture, family heritage, lifestyles and
live lyhood s of people are linked with the
ecosystems of which they are a part. Peoples past,
present, and future values and desires influence
ecosystems. Ecosystems affect people's physical,
mental, spiritual, social, cultural, and economic
well-being. Understanding these relationships
establishes a basis from which integrated
ecosystem management can contribute to
sustaining human life as well as healthy
ecosystems.
As I mentioned earlier we are becoming much
more sensitive to the needs of stakeholders in our
efforts to implement ecosystem management. How
do we integrate the needs of such a diverse
spectrum of people into an ecological approach to
Pinon-juniper management. Some people consider
the p-J "public enemy number one", while others
consider the P-J as "our very life! They are part of
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responsibilities for bring those visions into
realization.
I hope this symposium is successful in sharing
the latest in scientific information. I also hope this
symposium is successful in bring together
stakeholders in a way that will lead to partnerships
and most important sustainable ecosystem
management in the p-J.
VISIOns and goals. We are actively seeking such
partnerships. We have a partnership with two
great universities, a professional society, and
another agency to organize this symposium. But
our partnerships must expand to include others
that have entirely different visions for the P-J. Our
partnerships must change to collaborative
partnerships with shared visions and also shared
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