Regional Forest Landscape Restoration Priorities: Integrating Historical Conditions and an Uncertain Future in the Northern Rocky Mountains

Abstract

National law and policy direct the management of the National Forests, with restoring resilient forest conditions being an overarching theme. Climate is a major driver of disturbances that affect ecosystems, especially those with vegetation that show large departures from historical conditions. Drought, fire, insects, and diseases are common forest stressors whose impacts are being exacerbated by climate change. These stressors are threatening the ecosystem services that people value in the forests of the northern Rocky Mountains. The forests of most concern are the dry ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir, moist western white pine mixed with western larch, and cool lodgepole pine mixed with quaking aspen and whitebark pine. Potential reductions in some ecosystem services pose a challenge in terms of not only direct biophysical consequences but also social and economic values that flow from these forests. Values at risk include forest integrity, wildlife habitat, watershed condition, fish habitat, recreation opportunities and investments, community infrastructure, and public safety. This article describes a decision support tool developed by the USDA Forest Service Northern Region in 2010 to support integrated restoration planning. The Northern Region's Integrated Restoration and Protection Strategy (IRPS) is premised on identifying historical conditions through application of the natural range of variability, comparing them with current conditions, and considering a broader range of future issues, including climate change. The IRPS assists managers in the complex task of evaluating factors that influence national forest planning efforts. The assessment and IRPS, by integrating ecological, social, and economic considerations, will help managers of national forests prioritize restoration opportunities using increasingly scarce financial resources. The IRPS will be most beneficial when associated with planning silvicultural practices and fire management directed at restoring the forests of the Northern Region to a more resilient condition.

Strategies for Incorporating Climate Change into Public Forest Management

“…A regional example is the Integrated Restoration and Protection Strategy (IRPS), a decision support tool developed, updated, and being used by the Forest Service Northern Region. As pointed out by Bollenbacher et al (2014), planning and implementation of forest management actions were mostly focused on a particular National Forest or Ranger District before IPRS, but IPRS has enabled forest managers to assess current ecological conditions, assess future disturbances and risks, and identify and prioritize management actions on a subwatershed basis. Additional research is needed to better understand how such policies and programs came to be, how they have been implemented, and how effective they are at enhancing forest resilience over time in the face of climate change.…”

Western Larch Regeneration Responds More Strongly to Site and Indirect Climate Factors Than to Direct Climate Factors

“…Western larch (Larix occidentalis Nutt. ), an important tree species in forests of the northern Rocky Mountains USA that is often prioritized in management decisions [4], may be especially impacted. Bioclimate envelope models developed for western larch (Larix occidentalis Nutt.)…”

“…Ordinal association also significant according to Mantel-Haenszel test (α = 0.05). 3 DF = Douglas-fir group, FSMH = fir/spruce/mountain hemlock group, HSS = hemlock/Sitka spruce group, LPP = lodgepole pine group, OTHER = other, PP = ponderosa pine group, WL = western larch group 4. ABGR = Abies grandis series, ABLA = Abies lasiocarpa series, PICEA = Picea series, PSME = Pseudotsuga menziesii series, THPL = Thuja plicata series, TSHE = Tsuga heterophylla series[43,68] 5.…”

Use of seasonal forecasting to manage weather risk in ecological restoration

“…Severe weather events can also affect the recovery of ecosystems, such as hurricanes (Jones and Schmitz 2009) and cyclones (Kanowski et al 2008). Historical weather observations for the site of interest are sometimes assessed to inform restoration design and priorities (Hardegree et al 2012, Bollenbacher et al 2014). Resilience planning is advocated in restoration to mitigate the potential adverse effects of weather, such as planting frost-tolerant species (Curran et al 2010), and adapting to predicted long-term climate change through selecting drought-tolerant provenances (Sgr o et al 2011, Booth et al 2012, Breed et al 2016.…”

“…Resilience planning is advocated in restoration to mitigate the potential adverse effects of weather, such as planting frost-tolerant species (Curran et al 2010), and adapting to predicted long-term climate change through selecting drought-tolerant provenances (Sgr o et al 2011, Booth et al 2012, Breed et al 2016. Historical weather observations for the site of interest are sometimes assessed to inform restoration design and priorities (Hardegree et al 2012, Bollenbacher et al 2014). However, merely coping with climate variability represents a reactive management approach, whereas proactive management would entail integrating information about future conditions into planning to reduce potential negative impacts (Hodgkinson et al 2014, Hobday et al 2016.…”