Tongass National Forest

Karst Standard and Guideline Updates

In 2002, the Tongass National Forest convened a panel of karst experts to independently evaluate the effectiveness of implementation of the current karst management standards and guidelines and to analyze the appropriateness of proposed changes to those guidelines. The proposed changes focused on clarification of the karst vulnerability assessment definitions, on the design and effectiveness of non-harvest buffers adjacent to karst features, sinking streams, etc., addressing wind-throw salvage and second-growth timber management, catchment area management, qualifications of inventory and resource specialists, and establishment of long-term monitoring sites. Most of these changes have been incorporated as additional mitigation measures for projects that have karst resources associated with them, using adaptive management procedures. Appropriate and extensive changes were made to the Karst and Cave Resources forest-wide standards and guidelines (Chapter 4) and to Appendix H - Karst and Cave Resources.

Work Product(s): The product for this work item was appropriate edits to the 1997 Forest Plan in Chapter 4 and Appendix H.