Title: Spatial impact assessment of conifer stands in the Hoosier National Forest

Author: Thurau, Richard; Wayson, Craig; Weigel, Dale; Ehman, Jeff.

Year: 2011

Publication: In: Fei, Songlin; Lhotka, John M.; Stringer, Jeffrey W.; Gottschalk, Kurt W.; Miller, Gary W., eds. Proceedings, 17th central hardwood forest conference; 2010 April 5-7; Lexington, KY; Gen. Tech. Rep. NRS-P-78. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station: 227-236.

Abstract: Forest management decisions on Federal lands must be administered at many spatial and temporal scales. Forest condition, size class, and cover type at the stand level determine how silvicultural practices today will impact management area and overall forest goals in the future. The Hoosier National Forest (HNF) Land Resource Management Plan lists eight goals for guiding management decisions on the HNF to meet the needs of the people of Indiana and the rest of the United States. Nonnative conifer species were introduced in the HNF in the 1930s-1950s to reclaim abandoned agricultural lands, but perpetual non-native forest stands are in direct conflict with some current goals. The objective of this study is to assess the impact of existing conifer stands on management goals outlined in the HNF Plan. This assessment ranks HNF stands by forest goal values and the relationships with conifer stand cover. The impact of conifer stands on HNF goals was measured at the stand level by examining the relationship between forest goal values and conifer fraction. Forest goal indices are inversely correlated with conifer fraction within Tell City Management Unit stands. Th is analysis demonstrates how forest goals, and therefore management strategies, vary over both time and space.