PART I: WHAT IS A FOREST?
Can the Notion of a Forest Be Contained in a Definition?
Unpredictability 4
Long-Term Trends
Diversity
Interrelated Processes
All Elements Are Neutral
A Flexible, Timeless Continuum of Species
Landscape Pattern
The Longest Living Being on Earth
A Unique Entity
Self-Sustaining, Self-Repairing
PART II: AS WE THINK, SO WE MANAGE
Forestry Past, Present, and Future
Some Causes of Trouble in the Forestry Professsion
The Economic Myth of Forestry
Foresters of Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
The Cycle of an Agency
The Inception and Function of an Agency
We Are the Agency
Stages in the Cycle of an Agency
Dysfunction
Homeostasis
Boundaries
Coping Mechanisms
Breaking the Dysfunctional Cycle
Conflict Is A Choice
The Enemy in the Courtroom
Change: The Universal Constant
The Dynamics of Change
Changes We Can Control
Changes We Cannot Control
Change in Human Terms
Can We Stop Change?
I Cannot Change Circumstances; I Can Only Change Myself
PART III: PLANNING: THE BRIDGE FROM CONFLICT TO VISION
Vision: The Frontier Beyond Conflict
Collective Vision: A Lesson from Insects
Rational Thought: A Requirement for Rational Planning
Rational Planning Requires Our Total Presence
Modifying Our Belief Systems
decisions, Decisions, DECISIONS
PART IV: FUNDAMENTAL ISSUES: THE SILENT DILEMMA
Technology, Science, and Uncertainty
Lessons from History
What Will History Record About Us?
Short-Term Economic Expediency
Greece
Mediterranean
Middle East
Forest Decline
Recent Experience
Sustainable Forests = Sustainable Harvest
Forest-Dependent Industries
Why Old Growth?
The Value of Old Growth
Old Growth as a Living Laboratory
Genetics, Adaptability, and Climate Change
Genetic "Improvement"
Climate
The Untested Product
The Value of Native Forests
A Question of Affordability
A Forest Is a Living Organism, Not a Machine
A Forest Is Cyclic, Not Linear
Cyclic Forests and Linear Models Do Not Match
Biological Sustainability Is Cyclic
Faster Is Not Necessarily Better
The Invisible Makes the Difference
Defile Not the Land
Air: The Global Commons
Water: An Inescapable Necessity
How We Think About Watersheds
Roads and Water
Balancing the Stresses
Planning with Half-Used Data
Use All Available Data
There Is No Magic Hinge
Forestry Practices Affect the Ocean
By Chris Maser and James R. Sedell
The Forest as a Living Trust
PART V: SUSTAINABLE FORESTRY
Where Are We Headed?
What Is Natural?
When Is a Native a Native?
A Reassessment of Our Control of Nature
Sustainable Forestry as Conscious Evolution
The Questions We Ask
The Hope We Plant
Sustainable Forestry Through Adaptive Ecosystem
Management Is an Open-Ended Experiment
By Chris Maser, Bernard T. Bormann, Martha H. Brookes, A. Ross Kiester, and James F. Weigand
Rationale Behind the Experiment
Framing the Experiment
Conducting the Experiment
Today's Decisions, Tomorrow's Consequences
Appendix: Common and Scientific Names
Endnotes
References
Index
