Natural Resource Management

Managing Natural Resources

Natural resource management refers to the management of natural resources such as land, water, soil, minerals, trees, plants, fish, and animals.

The principle focus is on how management affects the quality of life for humans, wildlife, and ecosystems for present and future generations. Natural resource management corresponds with the concept of sustainable development, which is to say that efforts are made to provide recreation and resources from public lands for the present while conserving and preserving natural resources for the future.

Listed below are some of the resources that are managed on the National Forests and the methods of collecting information for managing those resources.

• Fire Management

• Forest Health Protection

• Invasive Species

• Naturally Occurring Asbestos

• Sensitive Animal & Plant Species

• Timber Management

• Water Quality Management

• Sierra Nevada Watershed Improvement Program (WIP)

• Rangeland Management

Some of the tools used to manage natural resources are vegetation and land classification and tree and vegetation inventories. The data from the classification and inventories is used to map and analyze the resources for fire control, resource utilization and conservation, wildlife and ecosystem preservation, and recreation use to name a few.