Does forest management have a long history?
Humans have always used their knowledge about trees and forests to obtain products and services from the forest. Forest management has a long history that predates the industrial or capital-intensive forest management systems which are now dominant. There are many records of traditional and ‘indigenous’ forest management systems with which people have managed forestlands sustainably for centuries. Indigenous systems vary depending on the type of forest (tropical or temperate being the most common), the climate, slopes, markets for forest products and the cultural significance of forests. Some systems are integrated with farming systems (see ‘Agroforestry’ below), some are designed purely for timber production, and some provide a wide range of products and services. Some of these systems are still actively practiced and others can only be reconstructed from historical evidence. Most of these management systems were not recognized by the conventional forestry profession until very recent
