Decades of reduced harvest and aggressive fire suppression, coupled with drought and invasive species eruptions, have left millions of acres of federal forestlands in unhealthy conditions. Many of our public forests provide little wildlife habitat diversity, increase risk of severe wildfires, and threaten watersheds that provide drinking water to millions of Americans. A Special Session at the 81^st North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference will explore the past and current situation regarding forest management on public lands and address needed administrative and legislative reforms to improve active forest management policy and better address multiple objectives on public forest lands. 2020 Vision: Federal Forest Management into the Next Decade is one of four concurrent Special Sessions to be held on Wednesday, March 16, 2016 from 10:00am-12:00pm at the Wyndham Grand Hotel in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The current level of active management on federal forest lands is insufficient to address the scope and scale of forest health issues and fuel reduction. In addition, the majority of the U.S. populace resides east of the Great Plains, as does the majority of our federal elected officials, often creating a disconnect and different values for our federal forestlands. The future for forest ecosystem management is now uncertain based in part on the lack of current and improbable future social consensus concerning desired outcomes for public forestlands; the need for significant financial investment in forest ecosystem restoration; a lack of integrated planning and decision tools; and a disconnect between the existing planning process, congressional appropriations, and complex management and restoration problems.

There is clear scientific evidence indicating that the ecological integrity of our nation's public forest lands and the social fabric of nearby rural communities are imperiled. It is essential to make federal forest land management policy relevant to all interests so that the necessary statutory, regulatory, and fiscal fixes can be applied. Can we move beyond the rhetoric ("mandated timber harvest targets", "benign neglect", "stripping environmental regulation", "analysis paralysis", "unnecessary litigation") and address this reality? Balanced, common sense legislation and administrative processes that allow for science-based active management of our public forestlands to conserve wildlife, enhance forest health and protect water quality while meeting society's needs and interests is a lofty but achievable goal.

Co-chaired by Dan Dessecker with the Ruffed Grouse Society and Tom Franklin with the National Bobwhite Conservation Initiative, 2020 Vision: Federal Forest Management into the Next Decade will provide different perspectives on the broad reach of current forest management policies. Opening speakers Robert Bonnie, Undersecretary for Natural Resources and Environment with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and John Hayes, Dean of the Warner College of Natural Resources at Colorado State University, will focus on the past, present and future of forest conditions and management on public lands as well as an overview of what forest science is telling us about the condition of our forests. This will be followed by a panel on balancing forest management through policy reform that can meet multiple objectives. Speakers on the panel include Paul Wilkins, Chief Conservation Officer, Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership; Lorin Hicks, Director, Fish and Wildlife Resources, Plum Creek Timber Company; Chris Topik, Director, Restoring America's Forests, The Nature Conservancy; and Becky Humphries, Chief Conservation Officer, National Wild Turkey Federation.