Medford Record of Decision and Resource Management Plan

Acronyms and Abbreviations

Glossary

Medford Record of Decision

Medford District Resource Management Plan Table of Contents:

- Tables

- Maps

- Appendices

Special Forest Products

Objectives

Manage for the production and sale of special forest products (SFPs) when demand is present and where actions taken are consistent with primary objectives for the land use allocation.

Use the principles of ecosystem management to guide the management and harvest of special forest products.

Land Use Allocations

No land use allocations are made specifically for special forest products.

Management Actions/Direction

Management Actions/Direction - Riparian Reserves

Where catastrophic events result in degraded riparian conditions, allow fuelwood cutting if required to attain Aquatic Conservation Strategy and riparian reserve objectives.

Management Actions/Direction - Late-Successional Reserves

Permit fuelwood gathering only in existing cull decks, in areas where green trees are marked by silviculturists for thinning, in areas where blowdown is blocking roads, and in recently harvested timber sale units where down material will impede scheduled post-sale activities or pose an unacceptable risk of future large scale disturbance. In all cases, these activities will comply with management actions/direction for late-successional reserves.

Evaluate whether special forest product harvest activities have adverse effects on late-successional reserve objectives.

Design the sale of special forest products to ensure the protection of other resource values such as special status plants or animal species.

Where special forest product activities are intensive, evaluate whether they have significant effects on late-successional habitat. Restrictions may be appropriate in some cases.

Management Actions/Direction - All Land Use Allocations

Allow harvest of SFPs throughout the district, but apply area and plant species/group restrictions as specified below.

Establish specific guidelines for the management of individual SFPs using interdisciplinary review as needed. Management guidelines would be based on the ecological characteristics of the SFP species and the requirements of associated plant, animal, and fungal species. Guidelines will include provisions that minimize changes in site productivity. Monitoring of harvest activities and the effects of harvest would be part of SFP management. Feasibility to harvest newly identified SFP species would receive interdisciplinary review.