Forestry adaptation and mitigation in a changing climate - A forest resource manager's guide for the northeastern United States

A coordinated response to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will not be adequate to prevent unprecedented climate change resulting from the elevated levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) already in the atmosphere. Climate adaptation management strategies are essential if landowners and managers are going to have plans that help them achieve their objectives in the face of uncertainty (e.g., revenue, silviculture, retain third-party forest certification). Strategies are also needed if northeastern US forests will continue to play a mitigating role in addressing greenhouse gas emissions. In this report, we lay out a framework for understanding potential impacts of climate change on forestry. This framework draws on a review of recommended actions from forest managers and scientists throughout Canada, the US, and Europe. We then present a toolbox of practices that forest managers in the northeastern US might apply to reduce exposure to the immediate and long-term risk from climate change. The toolbox approach incorporates three broad strategies of Resistance, Resilience, and Response. A Resistance strategy is a set of short-term approaches to address immediate threats and focuses on minimizing the impacts of disturbance regimes that are exacerbated by climate change. Resilience can be seen both as a short-term and a long-term strategy. Resilience strategies address the capacity of a stand or community to recover from a disturbance and return to a reference or desired state. The primary purpose of a Response strategy is to facilitate the movement of species over time. This strategy encompasses the most costly practices and requires acceptance of a level of uncertainty that many landowners and managers will likely not choose.