Today, faced with competing demands, new pressures on the land and greater challenges than ever before, resource management has become more contentious and more heated. We in this room can help to change that. I call this commitment of working with people to maintain and restore the health of the land, collaborative stewardship. Forest Health in the United States While our forests are generally healthy, past timber practices such as selective removal of pine overstory in the Inland West with the subsequent ingrowth of fir understory and the elimination of fire from these fire-dependent ecosystems have increased the risk of catastrophic wildfires, and increased the severity of drought, insect infestation, and disease. Serious forest health problems do exist and forest management practices must be improved based on the best available science.
Most people support the goal of sustaining healthy forest ecosystems.
To so do we must abide by three principles. Second, restoring forest health is not simply a forestry issue. A healthy forest is one that maintains the function, diversity, and resiliency of all its components, such as wildlife and fish habitat, riparian areas, soils, rangelands, and economic potential and will require active management. We must use all available tools and continue our search for new ones. Third, we must more effectively communicate the many environmental and economic benefits of restoring forest health as well as the consequences of inaction.