North American Test of Criteria and Indicators of Sustainable Forestry

Appendix F

Form 2: Field Test Responses – Detailed Testing

Date:

Consultant's Initials:

Source:

Identification No. in source: Use all refs:
Final Identification No.

(as reported in final list)

Class:

1=Ecological/Biophysical, 2=Social, 3=Economic, 4=Forest management planning and policy, 5= Yield and harvest, 6= Did not fit

Recommendation (after field testing) Yes or no

Revised Indicator Suggested? #

 

Box A: Enter the selected indicator and its associated Principle and Criterion as stated in the source document in this space:

Principle -

Criterion-

Indicator -

Box B: Definition – This should be the definition that comes from form 1.

 

Box C: Purpose of Indicator – What is actually being measured.  

Box D: Attributes

Please use a scale of 1-5 when answering, where 1=no/bad/unimportant and 5=yes/good/important

Precisely defined? (clear)

Useable?

Is it applicable to other areas/ecosystems? (robust)

Sensitive?

Easy to detect, record and interpret?

Is it applicable to all landowners?

Yes

No

Box E: Applicability to Different Landowners. Explain any differences

 

Box F: Overlap. Please name (give the reference of) the indicators that overlap (come closest) to the indicator that has been selected for evaluation:

CIFOR

CIFOR - BAG

CCFM

Idaho

GFE

 

Box G: Geo-Political Scale. Evaluate the geo-political scale on which the criterion or indicator operates. Multiple-entries are possible but care should be taken to determine the primary thrust of the criterion or indicator.

Global

North America

Intermountain

West

Study area

Tenure

Site

Notes:

 

Box H: Indicator Characteristics. Indicate (with a check) whether the criterion or indicator is diagnostic, predictive or both?

Diagnostic

Predictive

Both

Notes:

 

Box I: Indicator Function. Classify criterion or indicator according to whether it refers to the structure of the system (biophysical, social or management), function of the system, describes its composition, or describes perturbations to the system.

Structure

Function/Process

Composition

Perturbation
Not Applicable

Notes:

 

Box J: Underlying Concepts – What are the theoretical or practical assumptions underlying the selection of this indicator? Please reference statements where possible.

 

Box K: Relevance to Sustainable/Unsustainable Management – Why, or why not, is this measure a useful appropriate assessment gauge for sustainable management?

 

Box L: Measurement Methods – What measurement methods are available for the test? Are there standard methods? Are some methods better than others? Is there need for development of new methods?

 

Box M: Data Required – What kinds of data are required for this indicator? Comment on data availability if known. For example are these data generally available for forested lands in North America? Are their particular issues surrounding the collection and management of these data (i.e. privacy, accuracy, reliability)?

 

Box N: Data Used for the North American Test – What data were used in the Boise test? Where did they come from? Give a brief description of the methods used. If not available, is there a proxy measure?

 

Box O: Example Results – Present key results in a very simple and short format (i.e. map of forest fragmentation or trend of forest employment). 

 

Box P: Assessing the Practicality – In a practical sense, can this indicator be tracked over time, or measured repeatedly? Is it too costly or difficult? Does it require special institutional arrangements?

 

Box Q: Assessing the Information Value – Will this indicator provide information that is useful to managers and other stakeholders? Information is a step above data, where data are assessed into more useful, more value-oriented categories. If the information value is low, can it be improved?

 

Box R: Overall assessment – Accepted or rejected – why? What are the strengths and weaknesses?

 

Box S: Did you rewrite or revise to a new indicator. If so what?

 

Box T: References

 

Appendix:

Please record your notes on evaluating the indicator here. (Method(s), thoughts, inspirations). This is not the same as Box L.