Landscape based forest management, a real world case study from Mexico

Landscape management denotes a forest management method that follows one specific interpretation of landscape ecology. This approach has been used to take advantage of conditions in western Mexico's temperate forests to develop a viable strategy to gradually move forest and stand level structures closer to natural conditions. Forest stands were reclassified according to their resemblance to specific stages in the successional sequence from initiation to mature stages. Other special conditions, such as roads, riparian strips, forest edges, and other structures, were explicitly considered in the forest plan, and special regimes have been prescribed to treat them. Harvest scheduling consists of a set of policies and algorithms designed to reduce fragmentation and edge effects, and increase connectivity. A case example from Jalisco, Mexico presents a summary of early results after 2 years of implementation of landscape management, which suggest that the method is operationally feasible, and that the resulting age (successional stage) distribution will display greater variability and balance in the future.