Reduce impacts to soils and nutrient cycling

EASTERN: Maintaining both soil quality and nutrient cycling are already common tenets of sustainable forest management and can help improve the capacity of ecosystems to persist under new conditions. Physical and chemical changes can result from a variety of forest management and recreation activities, as well as from climate-related processes including fire, drought, and flooding. Examples of physical impacts to soil are compaction, mixing of soil layers, removal of organic layers, rutting, erosion, and landslides. Complex interactions among climate, vegetation, and landforms can result in changes in nutrient cycling, including the leaching or fixation of nutrients and changes in soil biota. Many existing guidelines and best management practices describe actions that can be used to reduce impacts to soil and water; many of these actions are also likely to be beneficial in the context of adaptation, either in their current form or with modifications to address potential climate change impacts. 

WESTERN: Maintaining both soil quality and nutrient cycling are already common tenets of sustainable forest management and can help improve the capacity of ecosystems to persist under new conditions. Physical and chemical changes can result from a variety of forest management and recreation activities, as well as from climate-related processes including fire, drought, and flooding. Examples of potentially damaging physical impacts to soil are compaction, mixing of soil layers, removal of organic layers, rutting, erosion, and land and mudslides; the latter can be especially damaging when heavy rains occur after a high severity fire. Complex interactions among climate, vegetation, and landforms can result in changes in nutrient cycling, including the leaching or fixation of nutrients and changes in soil biota. Many existing guidelines and best management practices describe actions that can be used to reduce impacts to soil and water; many of these actions are also likely to be beneficial in the context of adaptation, either in their current form or with modifications to address potential climate change impacts.

Climate change will have substantial effects on a suite of ecosystem functions, such as carbon storage, nutrient cycling, wildlife habitat, hydroelectric generation and water provisioning. As a result, many management actions will need to work both directly and indirectly to maintain the integrity of ecosystems in the face of climate change. This strategy seeks to sustain fundamental ecological functions, especially those related to soil and hydrologic conditions.