2010 Resources Planning Act Assessment

The 2010 Resources Planning Act Assessment and its mid-cycle update provided a snapshot of U.S. forest and rangeland conditions on all ownerships, identified drivers of change for natural resource conditions, and projected the effects of those drivers on resource conditions 50 years into the future. This assessment used a set of future scenarios that influence the resource projections, allowing its users to explore a range of possible futures for U.S. renewable natural resources. Report authors used future scenarios to analyze the effects of human and environmental influences on forests and rangelands, including population growth, domestic and global economic growth, global wood energy consumption, land use change, and climate change. The 2010 Assessment expanded analysis of climate effects from previous versions by directly incorporating climate variables into several resource analyses, including forest inventory projections, rangeland productivity projections, wildlife habitat stress projections, outdoor recreation participation, and water.

Four key themes emerged from the findings: 

• Land development will continue to threaten the integrity of natural ecosystems. 
• Climate change will alter natural ecosystems and affect their ability to provide goods and services. 
• Competition for goods and services from natural ecosystems will increase. 
• Geographic variation in resource response to drivers of change will require regional and local strategies to sustain natural resources.