Summary
The latest report produced as part of the Northern Forest Futures Project, Future Forests of the Northern United States, is a collaboration among the Northern Research Station, Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry, and the Northeastern Area Association of State Foresters. For the region stretching from Maine to Minnesota and from Missouri to Maryland, researchers analyzed 13 scenarios that consider forest change in response to assumptions about land-use, economic trends, climate change, forest growth, forest harvest, and other factors. In addition to the summary data and associated narratives in the report, analysts have designed two other related products. The first is a database that helps users query and summarize future forest conditions using the same protocols used with current Forest Inventory and Analysis data. The second is an intuitive, interactive website that lets users map, graph, and compare anticipated forest changes for the next 50 years. Collectively these tools inform managers and policy makers of influential ecological, social, and economic trends that over the next 50 years will present significant challenges and opportunities for the 172 million acres of northern forest land and the 125 million people who depend on those forests for their well-being.
