Climate Adaptation and Forests

Climate adapted forests are forests where management strategies are implemented to maintain ecosystem diversity even as the climate changes over the next century. So what can we do to support our forests? Climate scientists from the Climate Change Response Framework suggest three main types of forest management approaches:

Resistance actions: Protect species that are at risk (known as climate losers), by maintaining their habitat and reducing risks such as insects and disease

Example in our plot: Northern red oak, red maple, and sugar maple are mesic species often associated with the “Northern Hardwoods” forest type whose range will move north.

Resilience actions: Increase diversity of native species and forest types expected to thrive in future conditions (known as climate winners)

Example in our plot: white and black oak are native oaks expected to become more common under future climates

Response actions: Introduce species (known as new arrivals) that currently grow in places with climate conditions similar to those expected in Pennsylvania in the future.

Examples in our plot: sweetgum, southern red oak, shortleaf and loblolly pines are not found in the Ridge and Valley region of PA currently. For this project, we are sourcing sweetgum from Ohio, both pine species from New Jersey, and southern red oak from Virginia. The climates at our source site resemble conditions projected for central PA in 100 years.