Introduction | Biodiversity | Tree Health | Carbon Credits | Forest Fires | Watershed

Adaptive Forest Management Practices with Climate Change

Along the corridor from Tiger Mountain over Snoqualmie Pass to the North Fork of the Teanaway River lies a fascinating case of humans changing the landscape, logging forests, planting trees, forming parks, and caring for the stands (groups of trees) along the I-90 Greenway Corridor. Historically, forest managers have treated the climate as a constant, something that does not need to be accounted for in planning processes for timber harvests and forest health.

Currently, one of the greatest challenges facing forest managers from the USDA Forest Service and the Washington State Department of Natural Resources acting as stewards of these areas is to adapt management practices and strategies to climatic variability and climate change. Temperatures have been within a certain range which has enabled forest managers to predict the kinds of problems they will encounter year by year. In the 21st Century, scientists are discussing the fact that in our region, reductions in snowpack and snowmelt and an increase in pest outbreaks and forest fires will threaten forests in the area with an elevation of the regional average temperature.

Brief sketches of the inherent properties of forest ecosystems and the kinds of management that are likely to enhance the resistance and resilience of forests compose the sections of this site.

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