The 140-year history of forest resource use and management on the Menominee Forest stands as a practical example of sustainable forestry -- forestry that is ecologically viable, economically feasible, and socially desirable. The Menominee concept of sustained yield management refers not only to forest products and social benefits, but also to wildlife, site productivity, and other ecosystem functions. Menominee sustained yield management represents sustainable forestry.

Sustained yield management as traditionally and currently practiced on Menominee pre-dates the sustainability concepts currently evolving in discussions among resource managers. The Menominee Tribe has inhabited the forests of this region for thousands of years. Over this time, the Tribe developed a sense about the forest and its various attributes. Tribal members became aware of the functions of the forest ecosystem and the effects that one component can have on the others. They understood that the whole resource was needed to protect any part. This heritage was passed from generation to generation.

The Tribe is also a part of the ecosystem and the Tribe's survival depends on managing and protecting the forest ecosystem. The Tribe's land ethic and management philosophy has always contained the three components of a sustainable system.

1. It must be sustainable for future generations. Chief Oshkosh's idea of cutting across the Reservation at such a rate that there would always be timber ready to cut defines this component.
2. The forest must be cared for properly to provide for the needs of people. Management must conserve the productive capacity of the land to produce forest products in order to sustain the Tribe's economy.
3. "Keep all the pieces" of the forest, to maintain diversity.

Interestingly, these concepts generally form the foundation of current ecosystem management theories. The Menominee Forest can provide benchmark criteria to evaluate the effectiveness of ecosystem management strategies.

The Tribe has found that utilizing the applied forestry principles of managing for long-term quality and quantity sawtimber production while maintaining native species diversity has resulted in a forest that is healthy, productive, and diverse. This diversity exists in forest species and tree ages across the Forest. Individual stands are very complex structurally, containing seedlings, saplings, and sawtimber trees, as well as dead material in various stages of decomposition.

Maintaining this forest diversity across the Menominee landscape maintains the diversity of functions performed by associated wildlife, invertebrates, and fisheries. The retention of functional processes maintains the adaptability of the Forest and minimizes the societal and ecological effects of an unpredictable future.

While the increasing growth and value of the Forest, the abundance of non-timber resources, and the quality of the environment are evidence that the three components of a sustainable system are being satisfied, the management of these ecosystems remains profoundly complex. Much information is currently lacking and as new pieces of the puzzle are found, refinements to management will be made.