The tool provides a rapid and simple process to assess forest resiliency. This publication contains background information on important characteristics of resilient and healthy forests and examples of potential adaptation strategies. It is accompanied by a scorecard to be used in the field to evaluate the resiliency of a forest.
In this report, we describe several climate-driven problems that are projected to affect, or are already affecting, particular wildlife species and ecosystems, and solutions that conservation groups are implementing to help plants and animals respond and adapt. These projects are tangible examples of climate-informed conservation, and can serve as inspiration for others grappling with similar issues.
The sugar maple tree’s limited distribution is affected by high temperatures, low rainfall, and unseasonable variation in the onset of spring warming events. Climate change can impact the production of maple syrup.
Forests are a defining landscape feature across the footprint of the Northern Forests Climate Hub, which spans the Midwest and Northeast Regional Climate Hubs. Northern forests contain 42% of all US forests, 32% of US timberlands, and 41% of the US population, and are central to ecological, economic, and cultural values in the region. These ecosystems are already responding to changing conditions, and climate change is anticipated to have a pervasive influence on forests and wildlife over the coming decades.
Forests and other ecosystems act as carbon sinks, and they sequester carbon dioxide through plant growth, removing it from the atmosphere. The Forest Service is a leader in developing tools for carbon assessment, management, and forest carbon cycle science.
The Climate Smart Land Network (CSLN) provides forest landowners and managers with direct access to the forest and climate experts at Manomet, and the opportunity to benefit from other forest landowners in the Network. Bulletin series on climate change issues in forest management for forest landowners.
The USDA Forest Service has created comprehensive climate change education modules to help land managers better understand the basic climate change science, the effects of climate change on forest and grassland ecosystems, how we can respond to climate change with management and forest carbon science, policy, and management. Start here to learn about climate change, how it may influence land management, and what options are open to natural resource managers for responding to these changes.
EcoAdapt's collection of various resources that can help practitioners navigate climate change vulnerability through to adaptation. The Adaptation Starter Kit is divided into six parts:
The urban forest of the Chicago Wilderness region, a 7-million-acre area covering portions of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin, will face direct and indirect impacts from a changing climate over the 21st century. This assessment evaluates the vulnerability of urban trees and natural and developed landscapes within the Chicago Wilderness region to a range of future climates. We synthesized and summarized information on the contemporary landscape, provided information on past climate trends, and illustrated a range of projected future climates.
