Summary
"Five anthropogenic factors that will radically alter forest conditions and management needs in the Northern United States" was recently published by the journal Forest Science and is part of the Northern Forest Futures Project, an effort led by Forest Service researchers to forecast forest conditions in a 20-state region extending from Maine to Minnesota and from Missouri to Maryland. The five factors identified in the study are: (1) Northern forests lack age-class diversity and therefore lack resilience to natural disturbances. (2) Forest land area will decrease by about 13 million acres as a consequence of expanding urban areas. (3) Invasive species will alter forest density, diversity, and function. The U.S. North has particularly high concentrations of invasive forest species. (4) Management intensity for timber is low in Northern forests and likely to remain so, which reduces options for addressing perceived problems with forest health, diversity, or resilience. (5) Management for non-timber objectives , like wildlife habitat, will gain relevance but will be challenging to implement. Thoughtful, collaborative action by policy makers, resource managers, and forest owners will be required to avoid negative consequences associated with these forces of change in the short term, and within a context of changing climate patterns in the long term.
