Recently, Albania has had major transition from a state-controlled to a market economy. The economic reformation has led to widespread liberalization of prices, external trade, and domestic marketing. These changes have been positive for some segments of the economy, but to date the forestry sector has been negatively affected by the transition. The decline of forest resources accelerated and continues. Inefficiencies, price distortions, government fiscal austerity, rapid expansion of livestock, and illegal harvesting point to further deforestation. This study identifies the social and political factors leading to the decline of Albania's forest resource through an examination of relevant information. Then, using the process approach of policy analysis, it assesses the barriers and incentives that impede or distort the intended effect of the current policy implementation. Third, it suggests new policies and/or changes with the aim to manage the forests sustainability and to attract investments in Albanian forestry. Policy issues for areas and sectors important or related to forestry, including agriculture, livestock industry, tourism, and rural development are discussed. Successful implementation of forest policies will be achieved by encompassing all issues pertinent to rural development. The focus is on formulation of forest policy, the evaluation of the current forest law, the role of the statute in the policy process, and guidelines in the preparation of the laws. However, the enactment of laws alone cannot ensure the success of a policy. Special consideration is given to the implementation part of the process, especially interpretation, organization, application; tools (regulations, incentives, taxation), opportunities/constraints, priorities and suggestions for successful implementation. Finally, the topic of evaluation is addressed: its intention, possible analytical techniques and standards of performance, role and expectations of participants and analysts, and major obstacles to an effective evaluation. Recommendations include changes in existing policies to allow the transfer of some state land to private and communal ownership, the expansion of the national parks to include more old-growth forests, and the adoption of concessionaires for the management of the state forests. Other policy proposals, such as a massive reforestation effort, promotion of community-oriented forest management, and forest certification, follow. / Ph. D.

This study examined relationships between simulated logging disturbances and growth and spread rates of roadside cogongrass patches into adjacent forest stands. Effects of varying levels of imazapyr and surfactant were evaluated to assess cogongrass control. Determination of the optimal cogongrass treatment regime along with the monetary impacts of cogongrass on Land Expectation Values (LEV) are analyzed and discussed. Growth and spread rates of roadside cogongrass plots one growing season after simulated logging disturbance were significantly higher than undisturbed control plots. Rhizome biomass and level of disturbance were primary causal factors. Arsenal AC at 3.5 oz, Accord Concentrate at 14.7 oz, and 11.8 oz of surfactant applied in a volume of 35 gallons per acre provided higher levels of cogongrass control (76%) two years after treatment. The monetary cost of cogongrass was $69 per acre in after tax LEV with assumption of no decreases in seedling mortality or growth and yield.

The repeatability of stand measurements derived from LiDAR data was tested in east-central Mississippi. Data collected from LiDAR missions and from ground plots were analyzed to estimate stand parameters. Two independent LiDAR missions were flown in approximate orthogonal directions. Field plots were generated where the missions overlapped, and tree data were taken in these plots. LiDAR data found 86-100% of mature pine trees, 64-81% of immature pine trees, and 63-72% of mature hardwood trees. Immature and mature pine tree heights measured from LiDAR were found to be significantly different (α= 0.05) than field measured heights. Individual tree volumes and plot volume for mature pines were precisely predicted in both flight directions. The results of this study showed that LiDAR repeatability in mature pines can be accurately achieved. But immature pine and hardwood plots were unable to match the repeatability of the mature pine plots.

No description available.

Biodiversity of arthropods living in dead wood is often understudied despite their potential effects on ecological processes such as wood decomposition and nutrient cycling. More time-efficient and less destructive methods are needed to study these saproxylic organisms to fully understand their global diversity. Because ecoacoustic methods have never been applied to saproxylic communities before, field and analytical methods such as waveguides, and soundproofing were developed, tested, and optimized. After developed methods were implemented in the field, Pearson's correlation tests were conducted to compare ecoacoustic index performance to traditional biodiversity indices. We found five significant correlations, all of which occurred at our Mississippi site, and all but one of which were negative correlations. Ecoacoustic indices performed best when correlated with order richness. Significance present in our study shows potential for ecoacoustics as a non-destructive method to study saproxylic arthropods, but methods still have room for improvement to optimize field application.

Urban forest waste utilization has been identified as an essential component of the sustainable urban forest management system. To compile baseline data on generation and utilization of urban forest waste (UFW) in Virginia, 91 urbanized municipalities and 828 International Society of Arboriculture Certified Arborists operating privately in Virginia were invited to participate in a web-based survey. Results indicate that nearly three quarters (74%) of all respondents reported that their local operation generates UFW. For private arborists this included logs, brush, and chips generated by arboricultural practices, and for municipalities this included similar material generated by an in-house tree crew and similar material collected curbside from residents. Two-thirds (67%) of respondents could not estimate the amount of UFW generated by their local operations, but nearly half (47%) could report on its fate. The mean total amount generated was 315 tons/year/employee, or 945 tons/year for a typical tree crew. On average, both municipalities and private operations reported disposing less than 25% of their UFW at a solid waste facility. The majority of logs were utilized to produce firewood or lumber, while the majority of chips and brush were utilized to produce mulch or compost. Municipal operations utilized significantly more chips in-house compared to private arboricultural operations (p = 0.041). Regardless of operation type or UFW type, UFW is rarely left on-site, which indicates that UFW is being handled and transported in the majority of situations. If UFW is being mobilized, then perhaps there might be additional opportunities to divert materials into utilization streams rather than disposal streams. When characterizing the respondents' perceptions of urban forest waste utilization, two-thirds of respondents (65%) either agreed or strongly agreed that UFW utilization is a major issue for the urban forestry industry currently. An even higher percentage (76%) agreed or strongly agreed that UFW utilization will be a major issue for the urban forestry industry in the future. Results also indicate that the primary incentives to utilization were the avoidance of disposal fees and shipping costs. Municipal employees cited a lack of equipment as the primary barrier to greater waste utilization and frequently identified educational seminars or conferences as a technical assistance need. In contrast, private-sector arborists cited a lack of local processors as their primary barrier and frequently identified local facilities for receiving, sorting, and stockpiling UFW as a technical assistance need. These varying perceptions should be taken into account when developing future educational or technical programs aimed at increasing utilization in Virginia. / Master of Science

Federal and state income tax laws pertaining to forest landowners are examined. Income tax liabilities are calculated for hypothetical forest landowners in two income brackets across the 41 states in the U.S. which impose a comprehensive income tax. The income tax liability is calculated to illustrate the effects of differential state tax treatment on a representative forest landowner with two different income levels ($50,000 and $110,000) who harvests $200,000 worth of timber in a given tax year. After-tax land expectation values for a forest landowner are also calculated to illustrate the effects of tax planning on returns to timber investment over time. Twenty-eight states utilize the federal adjusted gross income (AGI) as their tax base. Thirty-three states provide a personal exemption in the form of a credit or deduction. A standard deduction is allowed in twenty-six states. The minimum tax rates range from zero percent in Delaware to six percent in Minnesota and North Carolina. Maximum rates range from 4.5 percent in Connecticut to 11 percent in Montana. Four states allow a capital gains exclusion while two others have maximum capital gains rates that are lower than the highest ordinary state tax rate. In the South, landowners have the lowest state tax liability in Louisiana and the highest liability in North Carolina for both income levels. In the Midwest and Northeast, landowners in the medium income ($50,000) level have the lowest tax liability in North Dakota and the highest in Minnesota. Landowners in the high income level ($110,000) have the lowest tax liability in Pennsylvania and the highest liability in Minnesota. In the West, medium-income level Idaho and Montana landowners have the lowest and highest state tax liabilities, respectively. High level income landowners have the lowest liability in Arizona and the highest liability in Montana. The effects of tax planning on a forest landowner's potential revenues are calculated using land expectation methodology. Six different scenarios are used to examine the effect of common omissions and mistakes made by a typical landowner. In each successive scenario, the landowners forego certain tax benefit(s) that, in turn, lower their LEV. Different representative state tax rates and discount rates are used as a sensitivity analysis to find a range of values that could potentially occur. The treatment of timber revenue as an ordinary gain provides the largest decline in land expectation value in most cases. / Master of Science

Based upon research in the state of Himachal Pradesh in the Western Himalaya of north India, this dissertation examines ways various people know, have access to and use forest resources. It examines knowledges which are privileged and those less so, and accompanying expressions of power in negotiating access to those resources. Here knowledge is seen as inextricably tied to maneuverable, situationally contingent enunciations of power. If exercises of power are understood as related to people's interpretations of the parameters of the "positions"--both social and geographical--that they operate within, then categories such as government official or villager, tribal or nontribal, women or men, townsfolk or forest communities, high caste or low are not seen as unified or fixed ones in terms of interpretations of or access to power. Since some institutionally defined positions are perceived as imbued with more or less inherent power, this combination of institutional as well as individual notions of power is examined as these relate to differently valued knowledges about forest resources. These shifting ideas about and expressions of power are additionally affected by literal movement across landscapes. Areas traversed, distances covered, length of time in a region and the appropriateness of such motion to particular positions all contribute to the valuation of different knowledges. Positionality and related knowledges are tracked through this literal as well as figurative movement, reflecting varying degrees of "room to move" through various social and physical realms for particular individuals. Methodological approaches include: participant observation, semi-structured interviews, cultivated and noncultivated plant matrices, plant list testing, map comparisons, discourse analysis of historical and contemporary documents, and travel and investigative questioning within the broader area of the Western Himalaya for regional contextualization. The dissertation shows that forest-related activities are directed by specific knowledges, and related notions of importance or value of those knowledges. The valuing of state knowledges over local use-knowledges prevents productive cooperation between various groups on forest related projects. The sometimes contradictory expressions of knowledge and exercises of power are a result of people responding to various inconsistencies in their lives related to the availability of forest resources. Corruption and subversion are two responses to such contradictions. Problems of diminishing forest resources, and limited access to them, must be, it is concluded, situated within these fields and relations of power.

published_or_final_version / Botany / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Systematic conservation planning (SCP) relies fundamentally on spatial information about the distribution of biodiversity, and applying the principles of conserving a representative sample of biodiversity pattern that can persist over time, and the translation of conservation objectives into explicit quantitative targets. My thesis focuses on the development of appropriate data sets to include Mpumalanga Province’s indigenous forests (South Africa) within a regional SCP. My aim is to investigate and describe forest pattern and ecological processes at appropriate scales to inform a provincial SCP assessment. A large data set consisting of 506 plots of 20 m x 20 m sampled the indigenous forests in and around Mpumalanga to inform the identification of SCP forest features and conservation targets. The current National Forest Classification (NFC) identifies forest types at a national scale, inappropriate for a regional assessment. I identified a hierarchy of forest subtypes, nested within the NFC based on Flexible beta (β = –0.25) clustering and Bray-Curtis resemblance measure. This classification procedure is selected after a detailed evaluation of available methods to identify a robust numerical classification technique, optimising on statistically identified faithful species. Fourteen forest subtypes are distinguished within three national forest types. I propose that the Wakkerstroom Midlands Forest Subtype be embedded within the Northern Highveld Forest Type, and not the Low Escarpment Mistbelt Forest Type as is currently recognised in the NFC. The proposed forest subtypes are described in terms of dominant plant families and genera, growth forms, seasonality or leaf retention characteristics, and the proportion of forest dependant species. A total of 125 plant families, 375 genera and 619 species are identified to occur in the Mpumalanga forests, with the most abundant species per family being Rubiaceae (33 plant species), Fabaceae (26), Celastraceae (25), Orchidaceae (23), Euphorbiaceae (22), Aspleniaceae (21) and Apocynaceae (20). 76% of all forest plant species are obligate forest species and 80% of all tree cover is evergreen. The identification and understanding of underlying ecological processes is informed by the analysis of three scales of environmental variables and geographic space on forest composition using variation partitioning and ordination. I propose the application of semivariogram analysis to categorise environmental variables into three scales of influence (local, regional and supra-regional scales). The largest fraction of variation is explained by the regional variables (45%), followed by the effects of supra-regional (21%) and local variables (19%). Using the full floristic data, both the environmental and geographic variable matrices accounted for 55% of observed variation. Geographic space (23%) partially explains the important role of dispersal in influencing variation in species patterns across all forest strata, even in the herbaceous stratum where the substantial contribution of dispersal is unexpected. My analysis provides insight into the relative contributions of environmental variables and the scale of their influence, and highlights the importance of dispersal in explaining forest vegetation patterns in Mpumalanga. The use of ecological processes within SCP is still in its infancy, particularly in light of the threat of climate change. I propose a new method based on graph theory that incorporates dispersal distance to identify connectivity importance values for each forest patch based on their contribution towards landscape connectivity. Minimum patch distance is informed through a dispersal range ensuring 75% of flora can disperse between patches. The connectivity analysis supports resilience and persistence in SCP scenarios. Finally I needed to set quantitative targets for the pattern and process features for their inclusion within a SCP. With an overarching goal of ensuring that at least 75% of all species are represented by at least one individual within each forest subtype in a SCP, I utilised the Species Area Relationship (SAR) to determine the slope of the relationship and to estimate the proportion of area required to represent 75% of species. The number of plots in my data set was low for certain forest subtypes, which necessitated an approach of utilising highest values from estimators of species richness and integrating forest subtype targets with those for forest types of a higher level in the NFC. I integrate forest connectivity into pattern targets as a precautionary approach given the vulnerability of naturally disconnected forest patches and the importance of emigration and immigration of plant diaspores in maintaining forest composition across a network of small forest patches. The resulting forest pattern targets ranged between 24.9% and 49.7% for forest subtypes, with a mean value of 34.8%. I also propose forest process targets for more spatially fixed processes, such as the important forest patches supporting connectivity, as well as the spatially flexible buffers around each priority forest patch. Spatially fixed forest process targets are set at 100% and for spatially flexible forest processes the targets are set at 60% of original extent. Consideration also needs to be given to design criteria that can assist in developing a framework for prioritising conservation actions based on vulnerability and irreplaceability.