In Canada, maps developed by Laura Gray, a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Renewable Resources at the U of Alberta, provide projections of climatically suitable habitat for tree species based on climate predictions for the 2020s, 2050s and 2080s.
A recent state-by-state study finds that U.S. urban trees store carbon and provide billions in economic value. America's urban forests store an estimated 708 million tons of carbon, an environmental service with an estimated value of $50 billion, according to a recent Forest Service study. The annual net carbon uptake by these trees is estimated at 21 million tons and $1.5 billion in economic benefit.
Researchers say growing trees on formerly non-forested land can accumulate soil carbon that helps offset carbon emissions and climate change. In most forests, the amount of carbon held in soils is substantially greater than the amount contained in the trees themselves.
Wildfires in the U.S. will be at least twice as destructive by 2050, burning around 20 million acres nationwide each year, according to a federal report released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Scientists found regions such as western Colorado — which already experienced its most destructive wildfire in history last summer — will face an even greater risk. Those regions are expected to face up to a five-fold increase in acres burned by 2050.
Smithsonian scientists have embarked on an ambitious journey and none of them will be around to see the results. A century from now researchers will gather data from a forest in Maryland to see how, during the previous 100 years, varying levels of species diversity affected its development and how the forest reacted to climate change.
Last week, NASF submitted comments to the USDA regarding their efforts to adapt to a changing climate as laid out in its 2012 Strategic Sustainability Performance Plan.
Last week the Maryland General Assembly passed HB 706, more commonly referred to as the Forest Preservation Act of 2013. State Forester Steve Koehn was integral facilitating the process that provided the General Assembly with the background and information to support the passage of the Forest Preservation Act of 2013.
The National Fish, Wildlife and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy is a comprehensive, multi-partner response to the threat of climate change in the United States. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the New York Division of Fish, Wildlife, & Marine Resources (representing state fish and wildlife agencies more broadly) co-led development of the Strategy.
