What is forest health?

Although the concept of a healthy forest has universal appeal, forest ecologists and managers have struggled with how exactly to define forest health (Teale and Castello 2011), and there is no universally accepted definition.

Most definitions of forest health can be categorized as representing an ecological or a utilitarian perspective (Kolb and others 1994). From an ecological perspective, the current understanding of ecosystem dynamics suggests that healthy ecosystems are those that are able to maintain their organization and autonomy over time while remaining resilient to stress (Costanza 1992), and that evaluations of forest health should emphasize factors that affect the inherent processes and resilience of forests (Edmonds and others 2011, Kolb and others 1994, Raffa and others 2009).

On the other hand, the utilitarian perspective holds that a forest is healthy if management objectives are met, and that a forest is unhealthy if these objectives are not met (Kolb and others 1994). Although this definition may be appropriate when a single, unambiguous management objective exists, such as the production of wood fiber or the maintenance of wilderness attributes, it is too narrow when multiple management objectives are required (Edmonds and others 2011, Teale and Castello 2011).

Teale and Castello (2011) incorporate both ecological and utilitarian perspectives into their two-component definition of forest health: first, a healthy forest must be sustainable with respect to its size structure, including a correspondence between baseline and observed mortality; second, a healthy forest must meet the landowner’s objectives, provided that these objectives do not conflict with sustainability.

Costanza, R. 1992. Toward an operational definition of ecosystem health. In: Costanza, R.; Norton, B.G.; Haskell, B.D., eds. Ecosystem health: new goals for environmental management. Washington, DC: Island Press: 239–256.

Edmonds, R.L.; Agee, J.K.; Gara, R.I. 2011. Forest health and protection. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press, Inc. 667 p.

Kolb, T.E.; Wagner, M.R.; Covington, W.W. 1994. Concepts of forest health: utilitarian and ecosystem perspectives. Journal of Forestry. 92: 10–15.

Raffa, K.F.; Aukema, B.; Bentz, B.J. [and others]. 2009. A literal use of “forest health” safeguards against misuse and misapplication. Journal of Forestry. 107: 276–277.

Teale, S.A.; Castello, J.D. 2011. The past as key to the future: a new perspective on forest health. In: Castello, J.D.; Teale, S.A., eds. Forest health: an integrated perspective. New York: Cambridge University Press: 3–16.