most tribes are continuing to rehabilitate standing stock as well as the productive capabilities of their land, but many have been impacted by insects in the last ten years. Age Class Distributions Among Owners Other than in the Southwest, age distributions of forests on tribal lands are currently most like federal, state, and local governmental lands (Figure B.3) based on relative percentages of young, early seral conditions. Industrial and small private ownerships (other than the Lake States) have higher proportions of young stands reflecting more frequent harvests and/or natural disturbances. Tribes maintain a higher percentage of their lands in older stands, at or above that of the National Forests except for the Northwest (given the Northwest Forest Plan). More acres in older forests in the Southwest (60+% in stands >100 years) is likely related to a higher percentage of tribal lands managed with uneven- aged silvicultural approaches, which produce an “old” age class designation within these FIA data but represents a balanced age distribution (old and young trees within the same stand). Such stand conditions are maintained by regular, active management with high per-acre productivity and low insect/disease mortality. Stand disturbance patterns are fundamental to the age structure, productivity, and mortality patterns above. Except for the Southwest, harvesting on tribal lands has been sustained at 1-2% per year (Figure B.4), consistently lower than industrial lands but comparable to small private landowners and well above National Forest lands. Post-wildfire salvage is negligible
stalled. The planting backlog has doubled recently given large, high-severity wildfires, particularly in the West. Tribes report difficulty in obtaining planting stock given a surge in demand for seedlings without a corresponding investment in seed collection/storage and nursery operations. Regeneration success has fallen in the last decade due to the combination of increased weed competition from delayed planting, harsh post-fire environments, and prolonged drought associated with climate change across many regions; some tribes are testing the effectiveness of herbicides to increase regeneration success. Tribes utilizing uneven-aged management approaches and prescribed burning have not reported regeneration issues. Reforestation has averaged about 14,000 acres per year over the last 10 years and precommercial thinning has averaged 21,000 acres per year. This is a 10-year average of about 4% of the backlog for both reforestation and precommercial thinning.
across ownerships. Federal agencies have adopted policies of no or very little salvage (hazard trees) following wildfires while tribes have expressed interest in increased support from the BIA to allow more salvage and more quickly following disturbance. The mortality rate on tribal timberlands has been significant in the Pacific Northwest, like on National Forest lands, and 40% greater than the rate of harvest. These latter losses are comparable across landowner groups but lowest on industrial lands where management of forest health is most proactive (consistent with aerial detection data – Figure B.4). Backlog Trends for Precommercial Thinning and Planting The backlog of precommercial thinning operations planned for managing stand density and fuels has remained a fairly constant 500,000 acres in the decade between IFMAT III and IFMAT IV (Figure B.5). Although lower than the one-million-acre backlog in 2000, progress to reduce this backlog has largely
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Figure B.5. Planting and precommercial thinning backlogs reported to Congress (BIA 2021).
86 Assessment of Indian Forests and Forest Management in the United States
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