11. Eastern

Continued

The Promise of the Eastern Forest and the Threat of Forest Management

In addition to being the most important carbon sink in the country, eastern forests are mostly young or middle aged (between 50-100 years old), having attained only about 50% of their carbon sequestration potential. This means that there could be an increase of 100% over current biomass stocks by 2100 – if we let the forests continue to grow naturally through proforestation. Birdsey et al. (2023) calculated that eastern forests could continue to sequester and store carbon for decades fulfilling an urgent current need, within a fast-closing window for action, to address climate change and biodiversity decline. Halting the harvest of these temperate continental forests today, could increase sequestration by 20 Teragrams of Carbon per year (TgC yr−1) by 2050. In addition, if we halted logging processes across the 73 million ha of middle-aged eastern forests which were studied by Birdsey et al., we would avert 117Mg CO2 per year until 2050, because logging is very emissions intense. (Just think how many tons of emissions we could avoid if we halted logging across the 304 million ha of forests across the country!)

Global Climate Models predict an intensification of current precipitation and temperature trends: Western, boreal, and tropical forests are increasingly exposed to drought, making them more vulnerable to pests, pathogens, and fire. Eastern forests on the other hand, are becoming increasingly moist and dense due to increased precipitation and warming temperatures. This shift in temperatures and moisture has triggered a process of mesophication: the capacity of forests to self-perpetuate, through a positive feedback loop, based on rich seedbeds, moist and fertile soils from decomposing duff, and shade tolerance.

This development is desirable for many reasons: Mesophytic forests, because of their moist microclimates and closed structure, are more resistant to pests and fire as long as they are not compromised by humans. Hence, while more fires are ignited in the East due to a higher population density, the total area burned per year is much smaller in the East than in the West. Case in point: in 2022, just over 20,000 wildfires burned approximately 5.8 million acres in the West, compared to over 48,000 fires burning just over 1.8 million acres in the East. While wildfire is a natural and largely necessary disturbance for all forests, eastern mesic forests are less vulnerable.

In addition to being self-perpetuating and more resistant to disturbances than other forests, eastern forests’ stand out for their impressive biodiversity. A broad variety of flora including tree species, shrubs, mosses, flowers host and support mammals, birds, fish, herpetofauna, invertebrates, funga, protists, bacteria and so much more, making eastern mesophytic forests a true biodiversity hotspot teeming with life. All that nutrient cycling and moisture also make these forests champions in generating fertile soils- vital for our nation’s food security. It is because of this continued carbon capture capacity and the continued delivery of vital ecosystem services, and the potential of augmenting over the next decades, that eastern forests need to be protected through proforestation today.

Yet, forest managers and the forest service are spending vast amounts of tax-payer dollars in pursuit of maintaining an unnatural status quo in our forests. In the East, large wasteful and harmful projects which include harvesting, thinning, repeated herbicide applications, and intervals of fire, are now aimed at maintaining a forest composition that is increasingly at odds with the warmer and more humid climate. Imposing “drier” conditions on moister forests is becoming ever more costly and labor intensive and results in the destruction of valuable microclimates, elimination of habitat for vulnerable species, and opens eastern forests up to invasive species and fire. Campbell et al. (2012) also documented high carbon loss from forest management, refuting forest managers’ arguments that they are implementing climate smart practices to “help the forests store more carbon.” [Just think of the amount of emissions that comes from industrial diesel-powered machinery used for logging, required road construction through wilderness, repeated pesticide applications and smoke from burning – not to mention the loss of sequestered carbon during manufacturing and combustion of the wood, or the foregone carbon capture capacity inherent in killing healthy trees.]

Eastern forests are champions at fulfilling the ecosystems services we need today. Importantly, they hold the promise of continuing to provide these ecosystems services throughout the century. It is in all of our best interest to protect existing eastern forest ecosystems through proforestation and let them adapt naturally to changing temperatures and precipitation.

Sonia Demiray is the Founding Director of the Climate Communications Coalition out of Washington, D.C. which moves people to act on the climate, forests, and biodiversity crises. Sonia is a messaging strategist, activist, advocate, writer, and back in school to learn about the latest science on Forests and Climate Change.