INTRODUCTION

Forest management has seen a gradual transition from focusing on few to focusing on multiple values. Early forestry operations focused on production of timber. As the need for sustainability of the timber resource became apparent, foresters began developing production and regrowth strategies that focused on perpetuating the fiber source. This approach of harvest and regeneration, with a focus on trees, became known as sustained yield forestry. Throughout the latter half of the twentieth century there emerged a growing societal demand that forests provide not only fiber, but also ecological and social values. So began the transition from sustained yield forestry (with a focus primarily on economics) to sustainable forest management (with a focus on economic, ecological, and social values). Embedded within this transition from sustained yield to sustainable forest management was the concept of adaptive management.

Adaptive management is a “formal process for continually improving management policies and practices by learning from their outcomes” (Taylor et al. 1997). Many companies and government agencies utilize some form of adaptive management in their decision-making process. Passive adaptive management or “trial and error” approaches are the most commonly used forms of adaptive management. A more strategic and defensible approach exists in the form of “active adaptive management” (Walters and Holling 1990; Taylor et al. 1997).

The term adaptive management describes an interactive process designed to improve the rate of learning about the management of complex systems (see Box 17.1).