Tag: caring for forests

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Silviculture and Climate Change

Written by Ronald Mahoney

Silviculture deals with management decisions in ecosystems dominated by trees. But other organisms and ecosystem components besides trees are affected by climate change. Trees are the most visible barometer of change, and because they are usually the dominant organisms in forests, changes in trees have many ecological as well as economic consequences. Most temporary changes as well as long-term changes are beneficial to some organisms and detrimental to others.

Silviculturists, other natural resource professionals, and landowners …

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Urban Forests and Climate Change

Adapted from: McPherson, E.G., J.R. Simpson, P.J. Peper, and E. Aguaron. 2008. Urban Forestry and Climate Change. Albany, CA: USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station. http://www.fs.fed.us/ccrc/topics/urban-forests/

Urban forests can be useful both in mitigating climate change and in helping cities adapt to higher temperatures and other impacts of climate change. Urban trees reduce the amount of greenhouse gases in the air by sequestering carbon dioxide and by reducing the amount of energy needed to heat and cool buildings. These …

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Managing for Biodiversity Loss from Climate Change

Adapted from: Manley, P. 2008. Biodiversity and Climate Change. (May 20, 2008). U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Climate Change Resource Center. http://www.fs.fed.us/ccrc/topics/biodiversity.shtml

Managing for biodiversity and the potential loss of species due to a changing climate poses several challenges toward the management of natural resources. The loss of keystone species, species redundancy, and/or unique species may lead to loss of specific ecosystem services and processes as well as less overall plant and animal community resilience to environmental stressors. Identifying …

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Climate Change Adaptation for Forests

Image:Master forest owners.jpgTo help forests adapt to changes in climate, landowners must consider several aspects of land management.

 

Adapted from
Millar, Constance I., Nathan L. Stephenson, and Scott L. Stephens, 2008. (Feb. 5, 2008) Climate Change Resource Center. Re-Framing Forest and Resource Management Strategies for a Climate Change Context PDF U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service.

 

Figure 1. Adapting to climate change requires the cooperation of a variety of landowners, natural resource specialists, and local citizen groups to tackle the many
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Increasing Afforestation to Increase Carbon Storage

Excerpt from: Ryan, M.G., M.E. Harmon, R.A. Birdsey, C.P. Giardina, L.S. Heath, R.A. Houghton, R.B. Jackson, D.C. McKinley, J.F. Morrison, B.C. Murray, D.E. Pataki, and K.E. Skog. 2010. A Synthesis of the Science on Forests and Carbon for U.S. Forests. Issues in Ecology, Report Number 13, Spring 2010.

We define afforestation as both reestablishing forests on land that has been without forest cover for some time and the establishment of forest on land that has not previously been forested (note …

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Monitoring Woodlands for Climate Impacts

A forest in northern Ohio.
Figure 1. Monitoring your forest starts with walking through it.

Written by Eli Sagor, University of Minnesota

Importance of forest health monitoring

Early detection of new local forest health threats will be important. A changing climate will make trees and woodlands more stressed, and that stress will make them more vulnerable to widespread mortality from insect and disease threats.

Because the specific insects and diseases likely to invade are not always known, it’s important that woodland owners carefully monitor conditions …

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Promote Resilience to Change

Adapted from: Millar, Constance I., Nathan L. Stephenson, and Scott L. Stephens, 2008. (February 5, 2008). Reframing forest and resource management strategies for a climate change context. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Climate Change Resource Center. Media: millar020508.pdf

Figure 1. Thinning of overly dense pine stands can promote resilience to wildfire and, thus, to climate change, as confirmed by research in California’s Blacks Mountain Experimental Forest. After the pine stand (left) underwent mechanical thinning followed by a prescribed

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Calculating Carbon Drawdown by Trees

Adapted from: McPherson, E.G.; J.R. Simpson,; P.J. Peper; and E. Aguaron. 2008. Urban Forestry and Climate Change. Albany, CA: USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station. Available at: http://www.fs.fed.us/ccrc/topics/urban-forests/

The Center for Urban Forest Research (CUFR) provides a tool for assessing the greenhouse gas drawdown in urban forests, the CUFR Tree Carbon Calculator (CTCC). It is the only tool approved by the Climate Action Reserve’s Urban Forest Project Protocol for quantifying carbon dioxide sequestration from greenhouse gas tree-planting …

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