Region 5 Ecological Restoration Leadership Intent

The mission of the Forest Service is to sustain the 

health, diversity and productivity of the Nation’s 

forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present 

and future generations. It is our intent to establish a 

regional vision and corresponding goals for Ecological 

Restoration consistent with this mission and the laws, 

regulations and policies that guide National Forest 

management.

Our goal for the Pacific Southwest Region1

 is to 

retain and restore ecological resilience of the National 

Forest lands to achieve sustainable ecosystems that 

provide a broad range of services to humans and other 

organisms. Ecologically healthy and resilient landscapes, rich in biodiversity, will have greater capacity 

to adapt and thrive in the face of natural disturbances 

and large scale threats to sustainability, especially 

under changing and uncertain future environmental 

conditions such as those driven by climate change 

and increasing human use. Our goal is based on a 

commitment to land and resource management that 

is infused by the principles of Ecological Restoration 

and driven by policies and practices that are dedicated 

to make land and water ecosystems more sustainable, 

more resilient, and healthier under current and future 

conditions.

Ecosystem services are the goods and services 

that flow from wildlands and forests that are valued 

and used by people, and that directly or indirectly 

support human well-being. Wildlands and forests are 

valued for basic goods, such as wood, fiber, and water, 

but these ecosystems also deliver important services 

that are perceived to be free or limitless such as air 

and water purification, flood and climate regulation, 

biodiversity, scenic landscapes, wildlife habitat, and 

carbon sequestration and storage. The National Forests are important providers of ecosystem services to 

humans and to other inhabitants of our wildlands as 

well. Our commitment to restoration-based manage1 The Pacific Southwest Region (also known as Region 5) includes California, Hawaii and the 

Pacific Islands. It also includes small portions of the state of Nevada, managed by the Inyo 

National Forest, and the state of Oregon, managed by the Klamath National Forest. 

ment includes a commitment to a renewed focus on 

the sustainable delivery of ecosystem services.

In the 21st century, three major drivers of change 

define restoration needs on the National Forests of the 

Pacific Southwest Region: climate change and shifting 

hydrologic patterns; increasingly dense and unhealthy 

forests; and rapidly growing human populations. 

These synergistic sources of change are resulting in 

increasingly over-allocated and undervalued ecosystem services (especially water); a dramatic increase in 

disturbance events such as uncharacteristic large-scale 

wildfires, floods, and insect and disease outbreaks; 

new and growing threats from terrestrial and aquatic 

invasive species; and a growing need to revitalize 

rural economies in California, Hawaii and the Pacific 

Islands.

While sound restoration work is being conducted throughout the Region to increase forest and 

watershed resilience, important indicators suggest that 

disturbance impacts already outpace the benefits of 

this work, and that we will fall further behind over 

Meadow restoration in the Tahoe National Forest
Region 5 Ecological Restoration Leadership Intent

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time. Wildland fires in California are becoming larger 

and more frequent. Of greatest concern is a notable 

increase in the area of forestland burning at high 

severity over the last quarter-century. Fire exclusion 

over many decades, in conjunction with other forest 

management choices, has resulted in dense, middleaged forests over large areas of California. These 

forests are highly susceptible to severe wildfire, which 

fragments forests, emits carbon, increases erosion rates 

and sedimentation, negatively affects water quality and 

delivery, and damages old-growth forest habitats that 

sustain important components of the Region’s biodiversity. Dense middle-aged forests are also more susceptible to drought stress, large-scale insect outbreaks 

and disease epidemics.

The ability of the Region’s forestlands to 

sequester and store carbon has become a matter 

of national and international significance. Human 

additions of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere 

are altering the climate, and federal land management agencies like the Forest Service are expected to 

play a major role in U.S. adaptation and mitigation 

responses to global warming. Mitigation responses 

revolve around the maintenance and enhancement 

of carbon sequestration processes on forestlands. In 

the Mediterranean climate that characterizes much of 

California, annual summer droughts and frequent fire 

are the norm, retention of carbon in most of the forest landscape requires stand structures and compositions that are resilient to fire. Nearly a century of fire 

exclusion in California, coupled with other management decisions on both private and public land, has 

resulted in forests that are at an increasing risk of loss 

due to large scale disturbances. There is an additional 

crisis taking place in our Southern California Forests 

as an unprecedented number of human-caused fires 

have increased fire frequency to the extent that fireadapted chaparral can no longer survive and is being 

replaced with non-native annual grasses at an alarming rate. To counter these trends, forest managers will 

need to significantly increase the pace and scale of 

the Region’s restoration work. Only an environmental 

restoration program of unprecedented scale can alter 

the direction of current trends.

From this point forward, Ecological Restoration will be the central driver of wildland and forest 

stewardship in the Pacific Southwest Region, across 

all program areas and activities. Future Land and 

Resource Management Plans, other strategic plans 

and project plans will identify Ecological Restoration as a core objective. Our Ecological Restoration 

work will include coordination and support for all 

wildlands and forests in the Region to promote an 

“all lands” approach to restoration. It will lead to a 

new way of doing business with our partners and 

neighbors, to coordinate work and priorities across 

forests and wildlands regardless of ownership. Collaboration across ownerships and jurisdictions to 

achieve Ecological Restoration will require active use 

of Forest Service State and Private Forestry authorities; an expanded effort to engage tribes, partners, Seedling planted after a wildfire, Lassen National Forest.
Region 5 Ecological Restoration Leadership Intent

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and neighbors and to work in closer coordination with 

other agencies.

Resource program managers will have the 

responsibility for promoting Ecological Restoration 

activities including, but not limited to, management 

of vegetation, water, wildland fire, wildlife and recreation. Activities may include monitoring resource 

conditions; managing, restoring or enhancing terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems; or regulating human 

uses. Activities to be promoted include, among others, 

forest thinning and prescribed fire to decrease fuel 

loading and increase forest heterogeneity; meadow 

and riparian restoration to improve watershed function; environmentally and ecologically sensitive fire 

management practices; invasive species eradication; 

and wildlife and fish habitat improvement. Emphasis 

will be placed on expanding and developing partnerships to increase organizational capacity and the use 

of large-scale stewardship contracts operating at the 

landscape level to achieve restoration goals. We will 

expand and improve our consultation with tribal 

governments to utilize their traditional knowledge of 

stewardship and caring for the land. Emphasis will 

be placed on collaboration with stakeholders, communities, local government, volunteers, and citizens to 

facilitate dialogue and to decrease conflict in planning 

and implementing Ecological Restoration efforts. 

With Ecological Restoration as the driving force 

behind the Region’s work, and with a pace and scale 

sufficient to reverse current trends, it is our intent to 

accomplish the following in the next 15-20 years:

Work together to achieve a collaborative and financially supported effort among forest land management agencies, private land owners, and the public 

to implement a large scale restoration program to 

accelerate the scale and pace of forest restoration 

activities on both public and private lands.

Increase forest resilience through treatments (including prescribed fire and thinning) and wildfire, resulting in resource benefits to approximately 9 million 

acres on national forest system lands.

Restore at least 50% of accessible, degraded forest 

meadows to improve their habitat function and ability to hold water longer into the summer and deliver 

clean water when most needed.

Decrease the occurrence of uncharacteristically severe 

wildfires and their associated impacts through environmentally and ecologically sensitive vegetation 

treatments, fire management, and public education.

Work with key partners in Southern California to 

expand fire prevention efforts in order to retard the 

loss of native ecosystems like chaparral and coastal 

sage scrub.

Ensure vegetation and fire management efforts are 

grounded in concern for biodiversity and ecological 

process both before and after disturbances like fire.

Reforest after wildfire where appropriate and implement suitable stand maintenance activities that meet 

project goals and site conditions.

Ensure the retention and sustainability of forests, 

forest resources, and forest carbon over the long term, 

even as climates change.

Expand watershed improvement programs at the forest level (inventory, prioritization, and scheduling of 

restoration).

Target fuel reductions activities in key watersheds for 

protection of aquatic species and municipal watersheds.

Work with partners to increase restoration actions 

that will improve habitat connectivity.

Loggy Meadow Restoration Project on the Sequoia National Forest. 

The project stabilized stream banks and allowed the stream to access its flood plain, returning the area to a more natural condition. 
Region 5 Ecological Restoration Leadership Intent

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Decrease the impacts of invasive species through 

preventative practices, rapid response control, management, rehabilitation and restoration, emphasizing 

cooperative work with federal, state, and community 

partners.

Restore landscapes affected by unmanaged recreation.

Identify the minimum road system needed for safe 

and efficient travel for administration, utilization and 

protection of National Forest System lands; establish 

priorities and a time schedule to decommission or 

close unneeded roads.

Increase conservation education, interpretation and 

volunteer programs to promote understanding and 

support for restoration actions and increase understanding of the value of healthy watersheds and the 

ecosystem services that they deliver.

With a focus on Ecological Restoration, the following ecosystem services and community economic 

benefits will be enhanced:

Delivery of clean water and an improved flow regime 

that benefits people, fish, and wildlife

Fish, wildlife, and plant habitat, for both common 

and rare species

Maintenance of biodiversity

Forest resilience in the face of climate change and 

changing disturbance processes

Carbon sequestration

Air quality

Rural economic health

Outdoor recreation and scenic beauty

Landscapes for health and renewal

Wood products

Wood biomass for energy

Forage for wildlife and livestock

Green economic activity

As we work toward the goals outlined above, we 

will learn and adjust as we go. Over time there will be 

new science, new ideas, and new collaborations that 

will improve our understanding. With this new understanding, we will make course corrections in policy 

and practice and move even more efficiently toward 

our overall goal of resilient forests and wildlands.

The Student Conservation Association (SCA) is one of the many partners that help restore California’s National Forests. On the Angeles 

National Forest, SCA students restore a trail as part of a partnership 

called the “Angeles Wildfire Recovery Project.”

A wood chipper processes woody biomass from a restoration thinning 

project, Mt Hope Stewardship Project, Plumas National Forest.

The USDA Forest Service is an equal opportunity service provider and employer.

Printed on Recycled Paper R5-MR-048 March 2011