Managing Forest Health through Collaboration on the Allegheny High Unglaciated Plateau

Abstract

Abstract Forests in the High Allegheny Unglaciated Plateau Subsection of Pennsylvania and New York, including the Allegheny National Forest, have been increasingly impacted by an array of native and introduced forest insects, pathogens, plants, and other disturbances for decades. An unbalanced age-class distribution, changing soil nutrient status, seedling establishment issues, droughts, and storm events also threaten forest health and structure. In 2017, the Allegheny National Forest convened a broad cross-section of forest stakeholders to collaboratively assess and prioritize these threats and develop effective strategies to address them. Relying on consensus and shared learning, the Allegheny Forest Health Collaborative assigned priorities and created working groups to address priority threats. This paper describes the collaboration and features a case study of followup, multilandowner work to assign treatment priorities to affected stands and develop silvicultural strategies for stands with poor and decreasing seed source.