Forestry will be truly sustainable when forest practices do not damage any of the complex functions of a watershed, keeping trees, water, fish and wildlife healthy and in balance.

Appropriate zoning is needed to protect the most sensitive parts of the forest landscape, particularly the riparian zones around streams. The trees in the riparian zone play a critical role in shading, food production and streamflow regulation.

An ecosystem approach to forest management recognizes the essential connectivity of the entire stream drainage system in a watershed. Streams, lakes and estuaries provide essential habitat at different stages of the salmon life cycle. This requires full no-harvest protection for all of a stream's floodplain. Many scientists believe that at least two tree-heights distance should be protected.

• the rate of cut must be based on ecosystem needs, not harvest quotas
• the entire hydroriparian zone around a stream system must have special protection as a no-harvest zone with little or no road building
• an integrated forestry planning process, with public input, determines the rate of the annual harvest over time and identifies where logging can and cannot occur
• no-harvest forest reserves, based on credible biological criteria, are set aside before harvest areas are mapped
• important forest habitat structures, like snags and downed wood, are preserved
• tree retention in sensitive areas may need to be as high as 70 percent, with variable retention rates in the watershed based on ecosystem needs
• roads must be minimized and bridges designed to prevent impacts on streams.