Trees

ALASKAN FORESTS & TREES in a RADICALLY WARMING WORLD

Climate Change Brings Forest Change

Biomass changes by species over time, Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment.

Big Changes Unfolding Now

Warmer, Drier Climate Could Transform Alaskan Forests,
NASA Earth Observatory, October 17, 2019.

MAIN POINTS

A Very Different Future
"In a future with higher temperatures and other climate changes, Alaska’s boreal forests could look significantly different than they do now."

Major Changes Anticipated
"In a warmer future, the ratio of conifers to deciduous trees is likely to change, with aspen and birch trees increasing compared to black and white spruce."

WARMING TREES & FORESTS BURNING

Recent Extreme Warming

The years 2014-2018, averaged on this map, were the warmest years in the modern record compared to GISTEMP's 1951-1980 baseline. The areas in red experienced warmer than normal temperatures, while the areas in blue were cooler than normal during this period. NASA, Big.

Climate Warming Directly Responsible for 400% Increase in California Fires

Rising Global Temperatures Influence California’s Fire Season,
NASA Earth Observatory, September 3, 2019.

Read the Research

MAIN POINTS

Increasing Fire
"...the annual burned area across California has increased fivefold over the past five decades, and the main driver is higher temperatures."

PLANTS, FORESTS, & TREES

The Changing Snowy Forest Scene

Researchers at the University of New Hampshire have found clear signs of a decline in frost and snow days and other indicators of winter that could have lasting impacts on ecosystems, water supplies, the economy, tourism and human health, by MaxPixel.

Northern Forests in Deep Trouble

UNH Researchers Find Northern Forests Have Lost Crucial Cold, Snowy Conditions,
University of New Hampshire, October 4, 2019.

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Winter Changes
"...have found clear signs of a decline in frost days, snow covered days and other indicators of winter that could have lasting impacts on ecosystems, water supplies, the economy, tourism and human health."

Snow to Rain
"Whether precipitation falls as snow or rain makes a big difference, whether you're talking about a forest stream, a snowshoe hare or even a skier."

PLANTS, FORESTS, & TREES

Massive Northern Forests at Risk

Boreal forest fires could release deep soil carbon,
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, August 21, 2019.

MAIN POINTS

Feedback Loop by Fire
"Increasingly frequent and severe forest fires could burn generations-old carbon stored in the soils of boreal forests, according to results from the Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment."

"Canada’s Northwest Territories were scorched by record-breaking wildfires in 2014."

Why this is Very, Very Important
Arboreal Forest Burning Accelerating for Years

Boreal Forests Burning More Now Than Any Time in Past 10,000 Years,
Scientific American, July 2013.

Legacy Carbon
"Boreal forests have long been thought to absorb more carbon from the atmosphere than they release into it, making them carbon “sinks.” But if bigger and more frequent fires start burning legacy carbon, these forests could start releasing more carbon than they store."

ENVIRONMENTAL DESTRUCTION, FORESTRY DIVISION

Forest Restoration Agreement Map

Restoration opportunity map across 43 tropical and sub-tropical countries. Data source: Minnemeyer, S., et al. Bonn Challenge: A World of Opportunity (World Resource Institute, 2011). Big Map.

The Farce Continues: India, China, & Brazil Exempt from, “Pacts,”
&
Cheating Forest Pact all the Way to Environmental Destruction

Restore natural forests to meet global climate goals,
University College London, April 2, 2019.

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The Failing Farce
“International plans to restore forests to combat global warming are flawed and will fall far short of meeting 1.5C climate targets...”

PLANTS, FOREST, & TREES

 Northwest Pacific Forest Composition to Radically Change

 The Coastal Range in Central Oregon

View of conifer forest from the top of Marys Peak, the highest point on Oregon’s Coast Range, Credit to OSU & Lessa Clayton for the photo.

This Tears the Hundred Year Plan to Shreds...

Climate modeling shows significant shifts in 21st century Pacific Northwest coastal forests,
Oregon State University, February 6, 2019.

MAIN POINTS

“...changing climate in the 21st century will significantly alter the coastal forests of the Pacific Northwest.”

“Vegetation is projected to change from predominantly conifer to predominantly mixed conifer and hardwood forests.”

Happening Around the World
“...the current forests can be expected to eventually be replaced by trees better adapted to future conditions.”

FORESTS, TREES, PLANTS & OUR CHANGING CLIMATE

Forest Trees Respond to 20th Century Temperature Change

Caption & Key. Graphic Credit to Flurin Babst, Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Zurich.

Innovative Study Links Satellite & Climate Data with Tree Growth

Water, not temperature, limits global forest growth as climate warms,
University of Arizona, January 16, 2018.

MAIN POINTS

“The growth of forest trees all over the world is becoming more water-limited as the climate warms...”

“The effect is most evident in northern climates and at high altitudes where the primary limitation on tree growth had been cold temperatures...”

"Our study shows that across the vast majority of the land surface, trees are becoming more limited by water..."

"This is the first time that anybody has projected the tree growth responses to climate at a near-global scale."

FORESTS, TREES, PLANTS, & PEOPLE

Bleak Current Status of Sierra Tree Mortality
Dead Trees Everywhere

Many trees in the Sierra have died in the past few years because of drought. Photo & Caption Credit: UC Merced.

Understanding Tree Mortality

Can our forests survive the next drought?
UC Merced, January 9, 2019.

MAIN POINTS

Understanding Tree Mortality

“Each year our forests, grasslands and shrublands depend on water stored underground to survive the dry summers, but during multiyear dry periods there is not enough precipitation in the wet winter season to replenish that supply.”

“If the drought is long enough and especially hot, as was the case from fall 2011 through 2015, large numbers of trees run out of water and die.”

Goal
“...delved into data from sites across the semi-arid West to determine the amount of water storage available in the root zones of different areas.”

“...how dependent different areas in the West are on that subsurface water storage and how many dry years the plants can survive.”

FORESTS, TREES, CLIMATE, & TECHNOLOGY

New Relationships Revealed by “Super Studies” Amassing & Organizing Vast Information

These nine measures reveal how forests are controlled by climate,
Santa Fe Institute, December 27, 2018.

MAIN POINTS

Super Study
Functional Traits
“...vital signs for a forest are captured in key traits such as the amount of nitrogen in a tree's leaves, the leaf area, or the density of the wood. These "functional traits" can impact how trees grow -- and therefore how forests respond to climate change.”

“...analyze existing data from trait studies on forest communities to see what could be revealed about these shifts on a global scale.”

“...take what functional data we have available from databases and pair this with locally collected field data, as well as data about species abundance, to say something about climate-biodiversity relationships that we couldn't say before."

PLANTS, TREES, & FORESTS

Observing the Decline of the Doomed Forests in the Southwestern US

Southwest forest trees will grow much slower in the 21st century,
University of Arizona, December 18, 2018.

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75% Productivity Decline
“Southwest forests may decline in productivity on average as much as 75 percent over the 21st century as climate warms...”

Tree Core Survey Recovery
THE LOST CORES

“...based on a treasure trove of about 20,000 unanalyzed tree cores discovered in a Utah laboratory about a decade ago. The annual growth rings visible in tree cores reflect each year's climatic conditions.”

Photo by John D. Shaw, US Forest Service.

“The new collection of Forest Inventory and Analysis tree cores turned up when scientists at the U.S. Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station in Ogden, Utah, were moving from one building to another. The researchers were surprised to find a bunch of dusty boxes filled with tree cores that had never been analyzed.”

TREE NEWS

Pando in Trouble

 Pando Grove in fall foliage at Dr. Creek Campground, Utah, image by Paul C. Rogers.

Massive organism is crashing on our watch,
S.J. & Jessie E. Quinney College of Natural Resources, Utah State University, October 17, 2018.

MAIN POINTS

The Pando
"...considered the world's largest single organism weighing in at an estimated 13 million lbs. (5.9 million kg). Covering some 106 acres (43 ha) in south-central Utah's Fishlake National Forest, the clonal colony consists of more than 47,000 genetically identical above-ground stems or "ramets" originating from a single underground parent clone. Quaking aspen, Pando's iconic species, was named Utah's State Tree in 2014 and, among numerous values, is considered a staple of scenic montane landscapes in the American West. Rogers sees trends found at Pando occurring across the western states"

FOREST NEWS

Tree Mortality Mitigation

BLM has a Plan

Feds Want To Remove Millions Of Dead And Dying Trees From California’s Forests,
Capital Public Radio, July 9, 2018.

"The federal Bureau of Land Management wants to remove dead and dying trees from 35 California counties, from Siskiyou to Santa Barbara."

"...this would include prescribed fires and “mastication” work, which is grinding up vegetation and making it less of a hazard."

"The agency estimates trees on between 2,500 and 20,000 acres of land could be cut down, burned, hauled away or chipped."

"BLM says there are 127 million dead and dying trees in California forests. Agencies working through California's Tree Mortality Task Force have removed 1.2 million since February 2015."

“The scope of the problem seems to be expanding.”

"...the plan is to pay particular attention to forest land near power lines, roads, private property and trails used for recreation."

The Bottom Line

I give wildfire a higher chance of removing these trees than I give the BLM...

ECO-CRASHING FOREST NEWS

Beetles Devastate Billions of Western Pine Trees

Heat, Droughts, Beetles, & Fires All Continue Rising

A tiny beetle has left Yosemite dangerously vulnerable to fire,
SF Chron, July 18, 2018.

"An epidemic of bark beetles is devastating billions of pine trees across the West in what has been described as the largest forest insect outbreak ever recorded. In California, the tree die-off is especially prevalent in the 4,500-foot to 6,000-foot elevation range of the central and southern Sierra. Yosemite Valley is just about 4,000 feet above sea level."

"Since 2010, more than 129 million drought-weakened and beetle-infested trees have died across 7.7 million acres of California forest, according to U.S. Forest Service estimates."

...there's no evidence that bark beetle infestation will subside anytime soon. In fact warming temperatures are expected to expand the insect's range, allowing it to thrive in higher elevations that previously would have been too cold for the bug to survive."

Earlier Beetle Research

Climate Change News: Study confirms beetles exploit warm winters to expand range

TREES, CLIMATE, FIRE, POLLUTION & DEATH

Drought & Pollution Driving Tree Mortality

Particulates the "Icing on the Cake?"

Particulate matter increases drought vulnerability of trees,
University of Bonn, July 16, 2018.

More Dimensions of Forest Danger

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK

Mariposa Grove Restoration Complete

From parking lot to giant sequoia grove. Yosemite transformation finally complete,
Fresno Bee, June 13, 2018.

"...three-year restoration project in the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias."

"...around 500 mature giant sequoias and is the largest and best-known of Yosemite's three sequoia groves."

Tree News

Weird Science

Forest loss in one part of US can harm trees on the opposite coast,
University of Washington, May 15, 2018.

2018 WILDFIRE THREAT PROFOUND

Three California Fire Stories

Fire in Foothills stokes Fears

Jerry & Dems Caused the Problem

State & Local Officals Declare Profound Fire Dangers

Wildfire, Climate, and Forest Links

Fire in Foothills stokes Fears

Small Fire on West Flank

Fire in Madera County prompts warning,
Sierra Star, May 11, 2018.

 half-acre, an early warning for a dangerous upcoming season.

Also See

East Flank

April 20
Big Early Spring Fire in Owens Valley

1,265 acres. Danger already blows around Owens Valley

Our Situation

High Sierra Forest Succession Disaster Looms
 

Forest Wisdom

Carbon Storage, Habitat, & Forest Stability

It's Rooted in the Big Trees

Inequality is normal: Dominance of the big trees,
S.J. & Jessie E. Quinney College of Natural Resources, Utah State University, May 8, 2018.

“...the largest 1% of trees in mature and older forests comprised 50% of forest biomass worldwide.”