Forest Plans of North America

Forest Plans of North America presents case studies of contemporary forest management plans developed for forests owned by federal, state, county, and municipal governments, communities, families, individuals, industry, investment organizations, conservation organizations, and others in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The book provides excellent real-life examples of contemporary forest planning processes, the various methods used, and the diversity of objectives and constraints faced by forest owners.

Chapters are written by those who have developed the plans, with each contribution following a unified format and allowing a common, clear presentation of the material, along with consistent treatment of various aspects of the plans. This work complements other books published by members of the same editorial team (Forest Management and Planning, Introduction to Forestry and Natural Resource Management), which describe the planning process and the various methods one might use to develop a plan, but in general do not, as this work does, illustrate what has specifically been developed by landowners and land managers. This is an in-depth compilation of case studies on the development of forest management plans by the different landowner groups in North America.

The book offers students, practitioners, policy makers, and the general public an opportunity to greatly improve their appreciation of forest management and, more importantly, foster an understanding of why our forests today are what they are and what forces and tools may shape their tomorrow. Forest Plans of North America provides a solid supplement to those texts that are used as learning tools for forest management courses. In addition, the work functions as a reference for the types of processes used and issues addressed in the early 21st century for managing land resources.

• Presents 40-50 case studies of forest plans developed for a wide variety of organizations, groups, and landowners in North America
• Illustrates plans that have specifically been developed by landowners and land managers
• Features engaging, clearly written content that is accessible rather than highly technical, while demonstrating the issues and methods involved in the development of the plans
• Each chapter contains color photographs, maps, and figures

Jacek Siry is a professor of forest economics at the University of Georgia. He teaches forest economics, economics of renewable resources, and international forest business, and conducts research in applied forest economics with emphasis on timber markets, investments and finance, and forest management. Dr. Siry is also a co-author of two other books published by Academic Press, Introduction to Forestry and Natural Resources, and Forest Plans of North America.

Pete Bettinger is a professor of forestry at the University of Georgia. He teaches forest planning, forest measurements, and aerial photogrammetry; and conducts research in applied forest management with particular emphasis on harvest scheduling, precision forestry, and geospatial technologies. Dr. Bettinger has worked with the forest industry in the southern and western United States, and maintains this connection to forestry professionals through his leadership in the Southern Forestry and Natural Resource Management GIS Conference and other continuing education courses he offers. Dr. Bettinger is also a co-author of two other books published by Academic Press, Introduction to Forestry and Natural Resources, and Forest Plans of North America.

Krista Merry is a geographer and research coordinator in the School of Forestry and Natural Resources at the University of Georgia. She conducts research in applied forest management with an emphasis on remote sensing, geospatial technologies, landscape planning, and precision forestry. She received her bachelor's and master's degrees in geography from the University of Georgia. She has extensive experience in using geographic information systems (GIS), satellite imagery, and aerial photography, and has earned GISP certification from the GIS Certification Institute. She has published 35 peer-reviewed journal articles and is co-editor of Forest Plans of North America (Academic Press, 2015). She has acted as chair of the Proceedings of the Southern Forestry and Natural Resource Management GIS Conference four times (soforgis.uga.edu). She also has experience in developing online continuing education courses (introgps.uga.edu) and has led the data collection efforts for several human subject surveys.

Dr. Donald L. Grebner is a professor in the Department of Forestry, Mississippi State University. His areas of research specialization include forest management and economics, bioenergy, carbon sequestration, and forest protection. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses, both traditional and distance, in forest resource management, advanced forest management, and international forest resources and trade. Prior to his time at Mississippi State, he worked as an extension forester with the U.S. Peace Corps in Costa Rica and was a research analyst for Winrock International. He is very active in the Society of American Foresters as well as the International Union of Forest Research Organizations, Unit 4.02.00 Accounting and Managerial Economics Working Group. Dr. Grebner is a co-author of three textbooks entitled Forest Management and Planning, Introduction to Forestry and Natural Resources, and Forest Plans of North America.

Dr. Boston received a Bachelor's degree in forestry from Humboldt State University, and Masters and PhD degrees in forest engineering from Oregon State University. He obtained a JD from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon. Dr. Boston worked for the forest industry in the western United States, Europe and New Zealand. He was a principle in the GIS firm VESTRA Resources in 1988. Dr. Boston has published over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles and is a co-author of four books published by Academic Press, Forest Management and Planning, Forest Plans of North America, Mapping of Human and Natural Systems, and Introduction to Forest Management and two with Springer, Forest Operations in the Tropics and Forest Road Operations in the Tropics. Dr. Boston is an editor of Mathematical and Computational Forestry & Natural-Resource Sciences. To our knowledge, he is the only person who has received teaching awards from three different university forestry programs.