Addressing climate change implications for forests and business

Jeanne O'Rourke | August 31, 2020 | Newsletters

Neil Williams

Applied Forest Scientist

Once a year, representatives of Manomet’s Climate Smart Land Network (CSLN) get together for a member gathering, and 2020 was no different. Actually, it was extremely different; Zoom backgrounds and online presentations took the place of handshakes and forest tours, but the event went ahead!

The CSLN is an alliance of forest landowners and managers working with Manomet to understand and address climate change implications for their forests and their business. Over two days, July 14-15, CSLN members viewed presentations by forest scientists working on climate change mitigation and adaptation, shared their aspirations for the CSLN over the coming year, and discussed forest management issues with fellow professionals.

The role of forests in mitigating rising atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations was an important theme for this year’s gathering. Forests play a vital role in the global carbon cycle, and the forest sector provides some of the most cost-effective pathways to achieving significant emissions reductions. A fascinating presentation by Dr. Richard Birdsey—a global authority on forest carbon dynamics—reinforced the importance of North America’s commercial forestry sector in achieving the required reductions in net CO₂ emissions over the coming decades.

A slide from Dr. Richard Birdsey’s presentation showing components of the U.S. carbon sink.

We then zoomed in to a slightly smaller scale, with a presentation by Drs. Adam Daigneault, Erin Simons-Lagaard, and Aaron Weiskittel from the University of Maine (UMaine). The UMaine team brings together expertise in biometrics, forest management, forest economics, and cutting-edge ecological modeling; they are undertaking a comprehensive, spatially-explicit evaluation of the landscape-scale impacts of alternative forest management options on long-term carbon storage in forests and harvested wood products. To put it in layman’s terms, the UMaine research is a comparison of carbon sequestration benefits of different forest management scenarios. The content of these presentations was of immediate relevance to our members and was extremely well-received.

Equally as relevant was a discussion of the opportunities and constraints to commercial forest management companies participating in North American carbon markets. Led by Sarah Wescott, Senior Forest Program Manager at the Climate Action Reserve, the presentation was an opportunity for CSLN members to engage with an expert within the carbon market. We touched on issues ranging from the logistics of developing forest carbon projects to the barriers that many companies face in identifying project actions that are economically and institutionally viable.

A second theme of our meeting was landscape-scale modeling of climate change impacts on forests. Dr. Eric Gustafson (US Forest Service, Northern Research Station) presented his recent model-based research on the climate change on forest structure, composition, and ecological functioning in northern Wisconsin. CSLN annual gatherings allow our members to interact with experts in the field on issues pertaining to forests and climate change, and Dr. Gustafson’s presentation fits this perfectly. It engaged members on practical issues of direct relevance, using cutting-edge scientific approaches and expert insights. This kind of interaction is difficult to achieve without the facilitation of professional networks, such as the CSLN.

Although different from our typical annual gathering, feedback from the 2020 event was extremely positive. We welcomed two new members to the network—Port Blakely and Rayonier—and identified avenues for future CSLN research. That said, as much as we enjoy those scenic Zoom backgrounds, we will gladly trade them for an in-person meeting in 2021 if safety allows!

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