The past as key to the future: A new perspective on forest health

What exactly is forest health? How does one define it? Can it be defined? Is it something real, or is it just another “fuzzy concept?” (More1996). Would you recognize a healthy forest if you saw one? These are among the questions with which forest ecologists and managers struggle. Many are surprised when they realize that these apparently simple questions do not have simple answers. In spite of the widespread use of the term “forest health,” it means very different things to different people. While the notion of a healthy forest has universal appeal, different people have different reasons for needing to know if a given forest is healthy or not. To some, forest health means sustainable timber harvest; to others it means preserving biodiversity or restoring the forest to its condition prior to human disturbance. Definitions of forest health Forest health has been defined from a range of perspectives that can be categorized as either utilitarian or ecological (Kolb et al. 1994). Some of the key features of forest health that have been included by various authors include ecosystem “balance,” “resilience” to change, plant and animal community “function,” and sustainable productivity (Edmonds et al. 2000; Raffa et al. 2009). Given these diverse perspectives, and the disparate definitions arising from them, it is not surprising that many forest protection professionals find the concept confusing at best, and useless at worst.