Restoration forestry is the art and science of returning degraded forest lands to health. Restoration assumes that the landscape has been disturbed or degraded from past events. These events often originate from human hands: past practices such as intensive agriculture, logging and mining. They also originate from other natural causes: wind, wildfire and insects. Whatever the cause, the health of the forest has been compromised; its resilience reduced.
This talk will explore the recent history of degradation and disturbance in Lake States forests, beginning with the recent Ham Lake Fire in Minnesota. It will proceed to outline three critical legs to forest restoration: Ecology - Economics - Culture. By piggybacking these elements, field practitioners and policy makers assure success in our forest restoration efforts.