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Economic evaluation of restoring the shortleaf pine-bluestem grass ecosystem on the Ouachita National Forest

Informally Refereed

Abstract

The USDA Forest Service is restoring pre-European settlement forest conditions on about 10 percent (155,000 acres) of the Ouachita National Forest in western Arkansas. These conditions - characterized by large, scattered shortleaf pine and hardwoods maintained on 120-year rotations, with bluestem grass and associated herbaceous vegetation in the understory - are expected to re-establish a broad habitat type missing from the landscape, one suited to supporting the recovery of the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker (USDA Forest Service 1996a,199613). This study was designed to forecast the amount of timber harvest volume and revenue the Ouachita National Forest may forego by adopting the shortleaf pine-bluestem grass (or pine-bluestem) management system in lieu of traditional, even-aged management.

Citation

Huebschmann, Michael M.; Tilley, Daniel S.; Lynch, Thomas B.; Lewis, David K.; Guldin, James M. 2002. Economic evaluation of restoring the shortleaf pine-bluestem grass ecosystem on the Ouachita National Forest. Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS–48. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station. pp 471-472
https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/3149