Approach
EASTERN: Potential increases in the frequency, intensity, and extent of large and severe disturbances may disrupt regeneration and result in loss of forest cover, productivity, or function in the long term. Changing conditions are expected to threaten regeneration processes for some species, and may result in failure of natural regeneration of desired species. Prompt revegetation of sites following disturbance helps reduce soil loss and erosion, maintain water quality, and discourage invasive species in the newly exposed areas. These efforts can also provide an intervention point for promoting species and systems that may be better adapted to future conditions.
WESTERN: Changing conditions are expected to threaten regeneration processes for some species and may result in failure of natural regeneration of desired species. The state is already experiencing an increase in the frequency, intensity, and extent of uncharacteristically large and severe disturbances may disrupt regeneration and result in loss of forest cover, productivity, or function in the long term. Prompt revegetation of sites following disturbance can help reduce soil loss and erosion, maintain water quality, and discourage invasive species or even prevent vegetation type change in the newly exposed areas. These efforts can also provide an intervention point for promoting species and systems as well as promoting landscape structural heterogeneity that may be better adapted to future conditions.
Tactics
- Planting a variety of future-adapted species during revegetation efforts to ensure diverse regeneration and provide options for future management.
- Creating suitable physical conditions for natural regeneration through site preparation (e.g., chaining after a burn to promote seed establishment).
- Monitoring areas of natural regeneration on a more frequent basis, and prioritizing planting or seeding where natural regeneration is slow to succeed.
- Coordinating with the public and other organizations to avoid conflicting or misguided responses.
- Reforesting disturbed sites, like those affected by fire or tree mortality, in planting arrays with a combination of scattered individuals, clusters of trees and non-planted open spaces (i.e., ICO plant design) to help facilitate forest composition...
Strategy
Strategy Text
Ecosystems may face significant impacts as a result of climate change-related alterations in disturbances, including fire, drought, invasive species, and severe weather events. Disturbances are primary drivers of many ecosystems, but changes in the frequency, intensity, and duration of disturbance events may create significant management challenges. Although it is often not possible to predict a disturbance event, it is possible to increase overall preparedness for large and severe disturbances and prioritize rapid response. Many of the best opportunities for addressing disturbance-related impacts may occur immediately after the disturbance event; having a suite of preplanned options in place may facilitate an earlier and more flexible response and prevent maladaptive responses. In the future there are likely to be more frequent situations where a disturbance exceeds the resilience of an ecosystem, such that even intensive management may be insufficient to return the ecosystem to a prior condition. In these cases, it may be necessary to reevaluate and adjust management goals, which can involve realigning the ecosystem to better match new climate and environmental conditions. This strategy involves consideration of the full range of potential impacts and planning to respond to severe ecosystem disturbance and disruption.
1. Swanston, C.W.; Janowiak, M.K.; Brandt, L.A.; Butler, P.R.; Handler, S.D.; Shannon, P.D.; Derby Lewis, A.; Hall, K.; Fahey, R.T.; Scott, L.; Kerber, A.; Miesbauer, J.W.; Darling, L.; 2016. Forest Adaptation Resources: climate change tools and approaches for land managers, 2nd ed. US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station. 161 p. http://dx.doi.org/10.2737/NRS-GTR-87-2