| Abstract: |
This is a report on the state of the forests in the United States of America and the indicators of national progress toward the goal of sustainable forest management. Our goal is to provide information that will improve public dialog and decisionmaking on what outcomes are desired and what actions are needed to move the Nation toward this goal. We also intend to establish a baseline for future measurement of our progress. The indicators used reflect many of the environmental, social, and economic concerns of the American public regarding forests. While the report presents data primarily at a national or regional scale, it also provides a valuable context for related efforts to use the indicators to measure progress at such other geographic and/or political scales as ecoregions, States, watersheds, and communities. Scale represents the geographic area in which stakeholders operate. Action at all levels is vital to achieving sustainable forest management in the United States. Unless people at all geographical and political levels across the country conserve, protect, and use forest resources in sustainable ways, then what is said or done at the national level means little. |
