The Scientific Basis of the Wildlands and Woodlands vision
The Wildlands and Woodlands vision was developed at the Harvard Forest by eight scientists - a paleoecologist, a forester, a botanist, a community ecologist, a freshwater ecologist, and three forest ecologists - and an environmental historian.
The authors' expertise encompasses:
- Forest ecosystem response to disturbances including climate change, hurricanes, fires, logging, cultivation, and invasive insects;
- Watershed management, water supply protection, and stream ecology;
- Rare species conservation;
- Wetlands and water resources regulation and protection;
- Land conservation;
- Timber industry economics and forestry policy; and a
- Wide range of human relationships with land and natural resources.
The Wildlands and Woodlands (W&W) vision is based on fundamental ecological understanding and ecosystem theory, including:
- Ecosystem exchanges of water, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and nutrients between forests, the atmosphere, and the land;
- Relationships between land area and the number of species in biological communities; and
- Edge effects on species composition and ecosystem function associated with habitat fragmentation.
The recommendations in the W&W vision are derived from conservation biology and landscape ecology as well as from information on the size of forested areas remaining in Massachusetts. The recommendations are also consistent with the information provided by numerous groups and agencies in the development of the Massachusetts Statewide Land Conservation Plan . The W&W recommendations represent the authors' best professional judgment of what is necessary to ensure that forest ecosystem functions that benefit human society will be preserved into the future.
