Abstract:
This study outlines a procedure to review and identify the
current forest management situation and techniques employed on
the Alsea District of the Siuslaw National Forest (SNF) in
Western Oregon and compare them to the situation and techniques
employed on the Bimbo-Lobaye Forest District (BLFD) in the
Central African Republic (CAR). On the Alsea District,
specialized tasks associated with forest management, timber
harvesting, wildlife management, forest fire management and
recreation are efficiently performed. In the CAR government,
policies envision those ends, but the means to achieve them are
inadequate.
The objectives of this study are (1) to review forestry in
the CAR and the BLFD on one hand, and the US, with special
emphasis on the SNF and the Alsea District, on the other; (2) to compare current policy and practices of forestry in the CAR with
those of the SNF, in order to identify both similarities and
differences; (3) using information from objective 1 and 2, to
develop a management system for the forests of the CAR which
incorporates those elements of the Alsea District strategies which
are useful and attainable in the CAR.
This study also expresses how multiple-use decision-making
under the interdisciplinary concept is employed in the well
managed forests of the Alsea District. These lessons in turn
will be compared with current and potential problems in the BLFD
of the CAR.
In the CAR, forestry management agencies lack trained
manpower, good organizational structure, and decision-making
processes necessary to achieve sustained forest yield, and to
prevent damage to the forests. Accelerated development of forest
policies and organizational capabilities is necessary if we are
to mitigate the destruction of these forests.
Six weeks of observation on the Alsea District, course work
at Oregon State University, and previous experience from forestry
in the CAR, constitute the source of information used in this
analysis. An attempt is made to develop improved management
techniques that could be employed in tropical forests of the CAR.
