Pest impact assessment was a ‘hot topic’ a decade or two ago, but there are few recent research advances. However, there is a great need for new information. The economic loss that has resulted from recent bark beetle outbreaks in the western United States and Canada can be quantified/estimated only with great difficulty, if at all. Demands for sustainable management of water, recreation, wildlife habitat, and other non-timber ecosystem services continue to increase, and the ecological and socioeconomic impacts of insect outbreaks, diseases, and invasive plants have become increasingly completx (Lundquist and Ward 2004). Not all impacts are negative. Some impacts are important in sustaining ecosystems. Furthermore, human communities react differently to the same types and levels of forest disturbance. Most currently used assessment, costing, and valuation methods of pest impacts are based on timber production. Many new insights and valuation techniques have been developed for non-timber resources, but few of these have been adapted for pest impact assessments. The challenge is to adapt these techniques to forest insect pest assessment and invent not only new techniques, but also new ways of communicating new concepts and approaches associated with them. A synthesis linking this information is greatly needed.
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Pest impact assessment was a ‘hot topic’ a decade or two ago, but there are few recent research advances. However, there is a great need for new information. The economic loss that has resulted from recent bark beetle outbreaks in the western United States and Canada can be quantified/estimated only with great difficulty, if at all. Demands for sustainable management of water, recreation, wildlife habitat, and other non-timber ecosystem services continue to increase, and the ecological and socioeconomic impacts of insect outbreaks, diseases, and invasive plants have become increasingly completx (Lundquist and Ward 2004). Not all impacts are negative. Some impacts are important in sustaining ecosystems. Furthermore, human communities react differently to the same types and levels of forest disturbance. Most currently used assessment, costing, and valuation methods of pest impacts are based on timber production. Many new insights and valuation techniques have been developed for non-timber resources, but few of these have been adapted for pest impact assessments. The challenge is to adapt these techniques to forest insect pest assessment and invent not only new techniques, but also new ways of communicating new concepts and approaches associated with them. A synthesis linking this information is greatly needed.
