As a result, prescribed fire is used to reduce fuel loading and the threat of catastrophic wildfire. Salvage and sanitation harvesting have also been correctly identified as appropriate solutions to correct situations that adversely affect forest health and productivity. Also, the role of fire in maintaining the viability of certain forest ecosystems is better understood and appreciated. The Society of American Foresters endorses the concept of salvaging dead and dying timber resulting from catastrophic events consistent with forest management goals and land use categories. Such events include tornado and hurricane damage, insect and disease epidemics, an occasional volcanic eruption, and wildfire.
Salvage is, however, only a partial solution to a broadly defined forest health problem.
To be effective at a landscape level, salvage harvesting must be part of a multi-faceted approach to forest health restoration. SAF members advocate and practice land management consistent with ecologically sound principles. Threats to forest health have expanded in recent decades to place our nation's forests, both public and private, at greater risk. SAF encourages the wide dissemination of information about the extent and variety of forest resources destroyed by fire and other agents, the monetary and social costs of forest deterioration and loss, and the means to minimize both. Sanitation and salvage harvesting are two of many other silvicultural practices that can be used to restore and maintain healthy forests.