Making the Forest a Factory: The Nature of Sustained Yield Forestry in New Mexico

自从19世纪后期建立森林保护区以来，美国林务局的做法和政策极大地改变了新墨西哥北部黄松林的生态，也改变了依赖森林资源的农村的自给经济。这个研究项目的重点是在新墨西哥州卡森国家森林的El Rito地区实施一个可持续产量的木材生产单位。1947年，埃尔里托的护林员认为，用工业、可持续产量的林业取代自给自足的生产，将恢复过度放牧的范围，改善当地的生计。初步研究表明，这两种结果都没有发生。最近在生态学、范围科学和保护地理学方面的研究表明，人类对产生农业多样性景观的生态系统过程的干预可以在支持生物多样性的同时产生有益的当地经济成果。为了评估新墨西哥州北部工业林业的生态和经济影响，研究者将进行档案研究，重建联邦土地管理之前的历史生态，以及墨西哥当地土地授予的法律历史，这些土地在1848年吞并该领土后不被美国承认。这项工作提供了一种了解可持续产量林业所造成的经济和生态变化的手段。为了评估当前林业实践的生态和经济影响，研究者将进行森林和牧场管理的比较研究。新墨西哥州北部的一些土地在美国吞并后幸存下来，仍然用于维持生计的生产。这些比较将使研究者能够区分各种土地利用做法和政策之间的经济和生态结果。调查人员将通过对目前的范围管理、造林和木材采伐做法进行人种学研究，对这些地点进行比较。人种学方法包括访谈、调查和参与者观察。调查员将评估在各种管理制度下运作的当地用户所获得的经济利益。在经济研究的同时，将在2005年生长期进行生态评价和监测项目。比较研究的这一部分将比较林业局的管理制度和维持生计的制度。调查人员将评估各种管理战略的能力，以产生能够维持物种多样性的农业多样性景观，同时也为依赖的当地社区提供经济自给自足。该项目将有助于最近生态学理论的扩展，认识到社会生产的农业景观对生物多样性的好处。该研究将补充土地赠款研究中的实证研究，以及探索农业多样性提供的社会和生态服务的地理学中的人类环境研究。该项目将促进与新墨西哥北部森林各种管理制度的生态和经济影响有关的科学知识，重点是西南黄松林的生态和依赖森林资源的农村村庄的经济。该项目将影响替代管理战略，这些战略可能克服该地区近期棘手的环境冲突历史。

Since the establishment of forest reserves in the late 19th century, the practices and policies of the United States Forest Service both have dramatically altered the ecology of ponderosa pine forests in northern New Mexico and the subsistence economy of rural villages dependent on forest resources. This research project focuses on the implementation of a sustained-yield timber production unit on the El Rito district in New Mexico's Carson National Forest. El Rito rangers argued in 1947 that replacing subsistence production with industrial, sustained yield forestry would restore overgrazed ranges and improve local livelihoods. Preliminary research indicates that neither outcome has occurred. Recent research in ecology, range science, and conservation geography posit that human intervention in ecosystem processes that produce agro-diverse landscapes can serve to support biodiversity while also producing beneficial local economic outcomes. To evaluate the ecological and economic impact of industrial forestry in northern New Mexico, the investigator will conduct archival research to reconstruct the historical ecology prior to federal lands management and the legal history of local Mexican land grants that were not recognized by the United States following the annexation of the territory in 1848. Such work offers a means to understand the economic and ecological changes wrought by sustained yield forestry. To evaluate the ecological and economic impacts of current forestry practices, the investigator will conduct a comparative study of forest and rangeland management. Some land grants in northern New Mexico survived the U.S. annexation and are still managed for subsistence production. These comparisons will enable the investigator to differentiate both economic and ecological outcomes between various land use practices and policies. The investigator will compare the sites by conducting ethnographic research of current range management, silvicultural, and timber harvesting practices. Ethnographic methods will include interviews, surveys and participant-observation. The investigator will evaluate the economic benefits accruing to local users operating within various management regimes. Concurrent with the economic research, an ecological assessment and monitoring program will be conducted during the 2005 growing season. This component of the comparative study will evaluate Forest Service management regimes against subsistence regimes. The investigator will assess the ability of various management strategies to produce agro-diverse landscapes capable of sustaining species diversity while also offering economic self-sufficiency to dependent local communities.This project will contribute to recent theoretical extensions in ecology that recognize the benefits to biodiversity of socially-produced agricultural landscapes. The research will add to empirical research in land grant studies, and human-environment studies in geography, that explore the social and ecological services provided by agrodiversity. The project will contribute to scientific knowledge related to the ecological and economic impacts of various management regimes in northern New Mexico forests by focusing both on the ecology of Southwestern ponderosa pine forests and the economy of rural villages dependent on forest resources. The project will influence alternative management strategies that could overcome a recent history of intractable environmental conflict in the region.