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FOREST SERVICE HANDBOOK
PACIFIC NORTHWEST REGION (REGION 6)
PORTLAND, OREGON
FSH 2409.17 – SILVICULTURAL PRACTICES HANDBOOK
CHAPTER - ZERO CODE
R6/PNW Supplement No.: 2409.17-2011-1
Effective Date: August 29, 2011
Duration: This supplement is effective until superseded or removed.
Approved: Nora B. Rasure
for the Regional Forester
Date Approved: 08/23/2011
Posting Instructions: Supplements are numbered consecutively by Handbook number and
calendar year. Post by document; remove the entire document and replace it with this
supplement. Retain this transmittal as the first page(s) of this document. The last supplement to
this Handbook was R6/PNW FSH 2409.17-2000-1 to Chapter 8, issued July 28, 2000.
New Document
2409.17-2011-1, Zero Code
Superseded Document(s)
by Issuance Number and
Effective Date
None
Digest: Formats previous Regional Supplement to correct standards.
8 Pages
R6/PNW SUPPLEMENT FSH-2409.17-2011-1
EFFECTIVE DATE: August 29, 2011
DURATION: This supplement is effective until superseded or removed.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................. 2
01 – Authority ................................................................................................................ 3
02 – Objectives .............................................................................................................. 3
03 – Policy...................................................................................................................... 3
03.01 - Silvicultural Prescriptions in Forest Plan Implementation ............................................. 3
03.02 - Silviculture and Landscape Analysis .............................................................................. 4
04 – Responsibility ........................................................................................................ 5
04.2 – Field Offices ................................................................................................................. 5
04.21 – Regional Offices ........................................................................................................ 5
04.22 – Forest Supervisors ...................................................................................................... 5
04.23 – District Rangers ......................................................................................................... 5
05 – Definitions .............................................................................................................. 5
R6/PNW SUPPLEMENT FSH-2409.17-2011-1
EFFECTIVE DATE: August 29, 2011
DURATION: This supplement is effective until superseded or removed.
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Technical descriptions of silvicultural treatments are found in FSM 2470 and in Agricultural
Handbook Number 445, Silvicultural Systems for the Major Forest Types of the United States,
1983. Consult the Forest or Regional Silviculturist for current references specific to Regional
and local conditions.
01 – AUTHORITY
02 – OBJECTIVES
03 – POLICY
03.01 - Silvicultural Prescriptions in Forest Plan Implementation
Silvicultural prescriptions are integral to implementing Forest Land and Resource Management
Plans and other management direction. Wherever the Desired Future Condition (DFC) depends
on manipulation of forest vegetation, use the prescription process as the roadmap to reach that
goal. Prescribe to develop the mix of vegetation conditions that shall promote resource values
featured in management direction. Recognize the dynamic temporal dimensions of forest
communities. A prescription may be appropriate to forestall undesired changes in vegetation as
well as to direct change.
Apply biological principles to evaluate present vegetative conditions and project future
development at appropriate geographic scales. Document this analysis in the silvicultural
prescription for individual stands or groups of stands. In the prescription, provide a schedule of
treatment and post-treatment evaluation that meet Forest plan management direction, and
achieve, or make progress toward achievement of the DFC.
This section guides silvicultural involvement, analysis, and documentation for planning and
implementing Plans within the Pacific Northwest Region.
1. Schedule and Budget. Participate in interdisciplinary teams to schedule and budget for
priority projects identified in watershed or ecosystem analysis. Prepare programs and budget
requests for silvicultural exam and prescription based on this step.
2. Environmental Analysis. Diagnose silvicultural treatment opportunities for stands
considered in alternatives. Evaluate available information from any previous analysis, such as an
integrated resource analysis. Identify additional data needs. Design stand examination to
achieve a sampling intensity commensurate with the data items and accuracy needed. Reference
section 8.1 for further guidance in conducting stand examinations.
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DURATION: This supplement is effective until superseded or removed.
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Determine and document the capability for stands in the project area to contribute to the DFC.
Provide findings for Line Officer determination of consistency with National Forest
Management Act silvicultural requirements. Participate in interdisciplinary analysis of
achievability of DFC for the project area, and recommending amendments of Forest Plan
Management Direction where DFC cannot be achieved as projected.
3. Project Design. Prepare prescriptions where silvicultural treatments are proposed in the
project decision. Reference section 8.3 for silvicultural prescription requirements.
4. Project Execution. Monitor the implementation of the prescription. Document
deviations from prescribed treatments that may result from unanticipated conditions or
operational complications.
5. Monitoring and Evaluation. Design and conduct post-treatment monitoring as specified
in the prescription; document results and evaluation. Evaluate treatment implementation, and
effectiveness. Monitor a sample of prescriptions for effectiveness. Use an adaptive management
process. Reference section 8.4 for specific guidance for prescription monitoring.
03.02 - Silviculture and Landscape Analysis
Ecosystem management is a guiding concept in National Forest management. Follow these
procedures to integrate ecosystem concepts into silvicultural prescriptions while Regional
guidance for ecosystem analysis is being developed. The concepts and procedures are based on:
Overbay, James C. 1992. Ecosystem Management. U.S. Department of Agriculture,
Forest Service. 12 p.
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Region. 1992. Our Approach to
Sustaining Ecological Systems. Missoula, MT. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest
Service, Northern Region. 22 p.
Oliver, Chadwick D.; Berg, Dean R.; Larsen, David R.; O’Hara, Kevin L. 1992.
Integrating Management Tools, Ecological Knowledge, and Silviculture. In: Naiman, R.;
Sedell, J.; editors. New Perspectives for Watershed Management. New York: SpringerVerlag.
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Region. 1992.
Uneven-aged Management Desk Guide. Portland, OR. U.S. Department of Agriculture,
Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Region.
Barrett, John W., edited by. 1995. Regional Silviculture of the United States. 3d ed. New
York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 643 p.
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Ecosystem analysis recognizes existing and desired future conditions through time, and at
multiple geographic scales. Use silvicultural data and analysis to provide information for
components of ecosystem analysis, including; landscape patterns and functions, stand structures,
conditions, and species composition. The elements of concern determine the level of
silvicultural information and involvement.
Use consistent geographical scales when describing existing and future conditions. Reference
the Definition section of this chapter for recommended scales and their definitions.
Participate in interdisciplinary teams to interpret/apply Forest Plan DFC to project analysis; use
quantitative terms for landscape and stand attributes. Determine the systems and treatments to
achieve those attributed in silvicultural diagnosis. For example, an uneven-aged structure is not
usually a meaningful stand objective. A more meaningful descriptor could be a stratified stand
with a range of species composition and condition in each layer. Silvicultural diagnosis would
determine which treatments and management regimes, possibly either even-aged or uneven-aged,
could achieve that desired structure and composition.
Many landscape pattern scenarios are produced when alternative silvicultural systems for each
stand are combined with those for every other stand. Project changes in landscape patterns over
time, recognizing both landscape functions and scheduling and locations of future treatments.
Determine the degree to which various scenarios achieve the desired future condition across the
landscape.
04 – RESPONSIBILITY
04.2 – Field Offices
04.21 – Regional Offices
04.22 – Forest Supervisors
04.23 – District Rangers
05 – DEFINITIONS
For purposes of this handbook, the following terms are defined to mean:
Adaptive Management. Planned continuous evaluation of future actions and desired future
condition. A set of evaluation and feedback practices/concepts used to respond to changed
conditions and new information.
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Cumulative Effects. The effects on the environment which result from the incremental
impact of a proposed action when added to other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable
future actions, regardless of what agency (Federal or non-Federal) or person undertakes
such other actions.
Desired Future Condition (DFC). A portrayal of the land or resource conditions which are
expected to result over a specified time period if goals and objectives are fully achieved.
Diversity. The distribution and abundance of different plant and animal communities
species, and genetic material within a specified area.
Ecosystem. A complete interacting system of organisms and their environment.
Ecosystem Management. The careful and skillful use of ecological, economic,
social, and managerial principles in managing ecosystems to produce, restore, or sustain
ecosystem integrity and desired conditions, uses, products, and services over the long term.
Forest Management Direction. A statement of multiple-use and other goals and objectives
with the associated management prescriptions, standards, and guidelines for attaining them.
Geographic Scales.
Point – A nonlinear feature which is too small to be mapped as an area according to
applicable minimum polygon criteria; for example, a spring; a sensitive plant colony.
Line – A linear feature with insufficient width to be mapped as a two-dimensional
area; for example, property lines, roads, a trail, or fireline.
Plant Aggregation – A delineated area within a stand with ecological attributes that
differ from the surrounding stand character; for example, a clump of hardwoods in a
conifer stand, a root disease pocket.
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DURATION: This supplement is effective until superseded or removed.
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Stand – A contiguous area of forested land with similar site and vegetation
characteristics such that natural development and response to disturbance is projected
to be similar. Forested land means land which at least ten percent is occupied by
forest trees or which formerly had such tree cover.
Landscape – An area composed of interacting and interconnected patterns of habitats
(stand, plant aggregation, line, and point features) that are repeated because of the
geology, land forms, soils, climate, biota, and human influence throughout the area.
More specific criteria for scales and boundaries of landscape level analysis may be
designated.
Guideline. An indication or outline of policy or conduct that is not a mandatory
requirement.
Habitat. The abode, natural or otherwise, of a plant or animal, considered in relation to all
the environmental influences affecting it.
Integrated Resource Analysis. An intermediate level of analysis such as sub-basin,
watershed, or ecosystem assessments between the Forest Plan and project environmental
analysis. The portrayal of ecosystem conditions and management opportunities for a
landscape becomes the basis for developing projects.
Landscape Function. Processes that regulate or influence the structure, composition, and
pattern of ecosystems.
Landscape Structure. The composite of patches (stands or sites), connections (corridors
and linkages), and the matrix; the arrangement of stands and/or sites across a landscape.
Objective. A concise, time-specific statement of measurable planned results that respond
to pre-established goals. An objective forms the basis for further planning to define the
precise steps to be taken and the resources to be used in achieving identified goals.
Silvicultural Diagnosis. The documented analysis of stand data that identifies and
prioritizes stand treatment opportunities.
Silvicultural Prescription. A document that describes management activities needed to
implement a silvicultural treatment sequence, in order to achieve a described future
vegetation condition.
Silvicultural Treatment. An activity or disturbance, such as prescribed fire, reforestation,
and stocking level control, carried out in an area with the intent or objective to affect or
influence the establishment, composition, constitution, or growth of forest vegetation,
including trees, shrubs, grasses, and forbs.
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DURATION: This supplement is effective until superseded or removed.
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Site. An area considered in terms of its environment, particularly as this determines the
type and biomass of vegetation the area can support.
Standard. A principle requiring a specific level of attainment.