In parts of the Pacific Northwest, black bears emerge from winter dens with depleted fat reserves and feed on mature conifers by stripping bark and consuming sugar-rich sapwood. Peeling by bears affects commercial conifers through direct loss of the tree or degraded log quality at stand harvest. Bears generally peel trees from 15-30 years old in intensively managed forests until preferred foods such as fruits and berries are available, and a single bear can peel several trees per day. Dying trees have a signature red canopy and are detected in annual aerial forest health surveys; however, trees that scar over peeling are not detected by aerial surveys. Previous studies reported results of damage summaries for northwest Oregon from flights, adjusted for bias; however, they offered no estimates of economic impact. Using landowner survey data, another study estimated an annual timber loss to bears at approximately $11.5 million across part of western Oregon. While informative, these estimates used broad assumptions to derive primary impacts and did not address secondary impacts. We used aerial health surveys, the national land cover database, and the Regional Economic Models Inc. (REMI) PI+ model to estimate the primary and secondary (indirect and induced) impacts of bear peeling in western Oregon. Because the accuracy and precision of aerial estimates (i.e., percentage of dead trees/polygon) was unknown, we calculated 4 scenarios of loss: 1%, 10%, 30%, and 100% loss. Under these scenarios, black bear damage to commercial forests negatively impacted Oregon’s gross domestic product between $0.9-$89 million annually, and resulted in an annual loss of between 11 and 1,012 jobs in the state. We will explain our methodology in this study as well as current efforts to improve the accuracy and precision of damage estimates, and ultimately our understanding of the economic impacts of black bear peeling.

Urban forests are important components of societal interactions with nature. We focused on urban forest patches, a distinct and underexplored subset of the urban forest that spans land uses and ownerships, and requires silvicultural practices to address their unique biophysical characteristics and management regimes. Our goal was to elucidate multi-scalar urban forest patch governance arrangements as they translated to on-the-ground management in four urban areas (Chicago, New York City, Philadelphia, and Baltimore) within the eastern United States. A transdisciplinary knowledge co-production framework was used to guide identification of the prominent management challenge or dilemma motivating change to forest patch management in each location, and to describe the dynamic interplay of decision-making and governance processes across locations as they advanced toward desired forest conditions. A common management goal existed across all four locations: multi-age, structurally complex forests dominated by regionally native species. Ecological and social concerns affected by local context and city capacity served as starting points prompting management action and new collaborations. Disparate governance arrangements including top-down municipal resources, regional conservation facilitated by landowners, and grass-roots community-driven stewardship led to diverse support-building processes and innovative strategies that served as forces initiating and shaping new management actions. Science and iterative learning and adaptation influenced change in all locations, reinforcing new management arrangements and practices. Among the four study areas, the earliest management of urban forest patches started in the 1980 s, historically lacking embeddedness in urban forest management more broadly, and experiencing challenges with integration into existing governance infrastructure. Ultimately, new management and governance approaches to urban forest patches in all four study areas have evolved uniquely and organically, driven by place-based historical legacies and ongoing socio-ecological feedbacks. The generalization of findings for broader urban forest management guidelines, such as for trees and park, would lead to misguided outcomes.

We introduce a conceptual model of the urban forest patch as a complex social-ecological system, incorporating cross-scale interactions. We developed this model through an interdisciplinary process engaging social and ecological scientists and urban land management decision makers, with a focus on temperate forest social-ecological systems. In this paper, we place the production and management of urban forest patches in historical perspective, present a conceptual model of urban forest patches within a broader regional context, and identify a series of research questions to highlight future directions for research on urban forest patches. This conceptual model identifies how spatial and temporal social-ecological drivers interact with patch-level conditions at multiple scales. Our integrative approach can provide insights into the role of social-ecological drivers in shaping forest health, biodiversity, and benefits forest patches provide to people in urban and urbanizing regions, with direct implications for decision-making to improve management outcomes.