Treesearch

Scientific uncertainty regarding the potential effects of climate change on natural ecosystems will make it increasingly challenging for the National Wildlife Refuge System to fulfill its mission to conserve wildlife and fish habitat across the diverse ecosystems of the United States. This is especially true in the contiguous 48 states, where 70 percent of the land and water resources are in private ownership. One answer is to employ science-driven landscape planning and design, establish refuge boundaries defined by those of major watersheds or ecological regions, and then use our...

Natural ecosystems like forests and wetlands provide a suite of water-related services that are increasingly critical for communities as the impacts of climate change intensify. Yet, these natural ecosystems are increasingly lost or degraded. In the face of growing water-related challenges in an age of fiscal austerity, investing in the conservation, restoration, and management of these ecosystems can represent a low cost alternative or complement to concrete-and-steel built infrastructure options and serve as part of a viable adaptation strategy. However, as they must with other forms of...

This chapter addresses the societal and the environmental impacts of climate change related to increasing surface temperatures on air quality and forest health. Increasing temperatures at and near the earth’s surface, due to both a warming climate and urban heat island effects, have been shown to increase ground-level ozone concentrations in cities across the U.S. In terms of forest health, elevated surface air temperatures and increased water stress are raising the possibility that forests world-wide are increasingly responding to warming climate conditions,which may lead to widespread...

Wildfire intensity in the Southwestern United States has increased over the last decade corresponding with dense fuels and higher temperatures. For example, in New Mexico on the 2011 Las Conchas fire, intense fire and wind-driven fire behavior resulted in large areas of moderate and high severity burn (42 percent of burned area) with roughly 65,000 acres (26,300 ha) left largely without green trees or seed sources. Monsoon rains fell in several drainages that sustained high severity burn, and these moderate rainfall events triggered massive debris flows. Debris from one canyon deposited 70...

The recognition of climate change issues facing tribal communities and indigenous peoples in the United States is growing, and understanding its impacts is rooted in indigenous ethical perspectives and systems of ecological knowledge. This foundation presents a context and guide for contemporary indigenous approaches to address climate change impacts that are comprehensive and holistic. Tribal communities and indigenous peoples across the United States are reenvisioning the role of science in the Anthropocene; working to strengthen government-to-government relationships in climate change...

Our native trees are much loved and valued components of our forests and fields, towns and cities. For a host of reasons - conservation, landscape, shade, and their sheer visual glory, we want our trees to grow big and old. But it takes time - often several centuries - from planting a tree to the desired outcome. This means that we need to choose trees today, which can grow successfully long into the Anthropocene era. In forest conservation, the standard view is that only locally native trees will deliver the objectives of conservation. The examples of Eastern Hemlock and Scots pine...

Anthropogenic and other climate changes, land use changes, forest structure changes, and introduced organisms are difficult to isolate with respect to their cumulative consequences. Similar changes have occurred before with undesirable effects and the currently high human population could suffer greatly if they happen again. Active forest management can help avoid dramatic, unfavorable changes. We can anticipate some effects from current geographic and weather patterns and forest ownership sizes, species compositions, and age class distributions. Less known are what foreign species might...

The Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative (Y2Y) was established over 20 years ago as an experiment in large landscape conservation. Initially, Y2Y emerged as a response to large scale habitat fragmentation by advancing ecological connectivity. It also laid the foundation for large scale multi-stakeholder conservation collaboration with almost 200 non-governmental organizations working together. In recent years, the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative has taken on the issue of climate adaptation as climate impacts span large landscapes. Yet, these impacts are highly variable...

Natural resource managers need concrete ways to adapt to the effects of climate change. Science-management partnerships have proven to be an effective means of facilitating climate change adaptation for natural resource management agencies. Here we describe the process and results of several science-management partnerships in different forested regions of the United States (U.S.), including the Pacific Northwest, interior West, Pacific Southwest, and Upper Midwest and Northeast. Led by U.S. Forest Service scientists, these partnerships were developed to adapt resource management in...

Vulnerability assessments (VA) have been proposed as an initial step in a process to develop and implement adaptation management for climate change in forest ecosystems. Scientific understanding of the effects of climate change is an ever-accumulating knowledge base. Synthesizing information from this knowledge base in the context of our understanding of ecosystem responses to natural/historical climate can be challenging. Little attention has focused on how information gathered in the vulnerability assessment phase actively facilitates the implementation of adaptation actions, that is,...