Tradeoffs between three forest ecosystem services across the state of New Hampshire, USA: timber, carbon, and albedo

Lutz, David A.; Burakowski, Elizabeth A.; Murphy, Mackenzie B.; Borsuk, Mark E.; Niemiec, Rebecca M.; Howarth, Richard B.

doi:10.1890/14-2207.1

Cited by 3 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…Our results from the selected spruce-fir site indicate that the choice of a short time horizon for a climate metric in the valuation of albedo may lead to economic incentives for heavy forest harvest in cases of forests that receive heavy snowfall and grow slowly, even when costs for yearly mowing are taken into consideration. It is important to note that this is likely not typical of all spruce-fir stands across the state (Lutz et al 2015). This type of perpetual harvest may imperil critical forest ecosystem services which require a full canopy for generation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Forest stand growth information were collected from the United States Forest Service Inventory and Analysis (FIA) database of forest plots from the WMNF (http://www.fia.fs.fed.us/) and carbon storage data from the US Department of Energy's Carbon On-Line Estimator 1605b reports (www.ncasi2.org/COLE/). Estimates of blue-sky albedo used to calculate radiative forcing followed the procedures used in Lutz and Howarth (2014) and Lutz et al (2015) which relied on a combination of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) albedo products MCD43A (Schaaf et al 2002) and MOD10A (Klein and Stroeve 2002) from 2002-2012 for a spruce-fir (44°10′44.75″N, 71°17′45.38″W), maple-beech-birch (43°54′16.326″N, 71°26′9.9132″W), and two nearby recently cleared sites. Details regarding the collection statistics are fully documented in Lutz and Howarth (2014).…”

Section: Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

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The price of snow: albedo valuation and a case study for forest management

Lutz

Howarth

2015

Environ. Res. Lett.

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Several climate frameworks have included the role of carbon storage in natural landscapes as a potential mechanism for climate change mitigation. This has resulted in an incentive to grow and maintain intact long-lived forest ecosystems. However, recent research has suggested that the influence of albedo-related radiative forcing can impart equal and in some cases greater magnitudes of climate mitigation compared to carbon storage in forests where snowfall is common and biomass is slow-growing. While several methodologies exist for relating albedo-associated radiative forcing to carbon storage for the analysis of the tradeoffs of these ecosystem services, they are varied, and they have yet to be contrasted in a case study with implications for future forest management. Here we utilize four methodologies for calculating a shadow price for albedo radiative forcing and apply the resulting eight prices to an ecological and economic forest model to examine the effects on optimal rotation periods on two different forest stands in the White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire, USA. These pricing methodologies produce distinctly different shadow prices of albedo, varying from a high of 9.36 × 10 −4 and a low of 1.75 × 10 −5 $w −1 yr −1 in the initial year, to a high of 0.019 and a low of 3.55 × 10 −4 $w −1 yr −1 in year 200 of the simulation. When implemented in the forest model, optimal rotation periods also varied considerably, from a low of 2 to a high of 107 years for a spruce-fir stand and from 35 to 80 years for a maple-beech-birch stand. Our results suggest that the choice of climate metrics and pricing methodologies for use with forest albedo alter albedo prices considerably, may substantially adjust optimal rotation period length, and therefore may have consequences with respect to forest land cover change.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

The price of snow: albedo valuation and a case study for forest management

Lutz

Howarth

2015

Environ. Res. Lett.

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“…Several studies have focused on synergies and trade-offs between forest ecosystem services (Seidl et al 2007;Lafond, Cordonnier & Courbaud 2015;Lutz et al 2016), but only a few of them have evaluated differences between regions (Biber et al 2015), within a landscape (Duncker et al 2012), or under different climate and forest management scenarios (Temperli, Bugmann & Elkin 2012). We addressed these four components simultaneously, focusing on the relationships between timber production, C storage, biodiversity and protection against rockfall and avalanches.…”

Section: Eastern Alpsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Future ecosystem services from European mountain forests under climate change

et al. 2016

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1. Ecosystem services (ES) from mountain forests are highly relevant for human societies. ES with a direct economic support function (e.g. timber production), regulatory services (e.g. protection from natural hazards) and cultural services (e.g. recreation) are likely to be affected strongly by a rapidly changing climate. To evaluate whether adverse climate change effects on ES can be counteracted by adapting management, dynamic models and indicatorbased assessments are needed. 2. We applied a forest dynamic model in case study areas of four European mountain regions and evaluated the future supply of four EStimber production, carbon sequestration, biodiversity and protection against natural hazardsusing state-of-the-art ES indicators. Forest dynamics were simulated under three management scenarios (no management, business-as-usual and alternative management) and five climate change projections for selected representative stand types in each region. We analysed potential trade-offs and synergies between ES and evaluated future changes among regions, forest stands, climate and management scenarios. 3. Impacts of climate change on the provision of multiple ES were found to be highly heterogeneous and to depend on the region, site and future climate. In the absence of large-scale natural disturbance (not considered), protection services, carbon stock and deadwood abundance (proxy for biodiversity) benefitted from no management in all regions. Negative impacts of climate change were evident for the provision of multiple ES but limited to the most severe climate scenarios and low-elevation stands. Synergies and trade-offs between the majority of ES were found to be sensitive to the choice of management strategy andin some regionsto climate change. 4. Synthesis and applications. Management regimes in European mountain forests should be regionally adapted to stand and site conditions. Although in some cases alternative management regimes may be more suitable than current management for supporting multiple ecosystem services, adaptation options should be evaluated carefully at the local scale due to the highly different magnitude of the impacts of climate change in different regions and along elevation gradients.

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“…, Lutz and Howarth , Lutz et al. ). Thus, changes in forest management that affect rotation lengths or harvest intensities can result in permanent albedo modifications across the landscape, with lasting impacts on Earth's radiative balance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Forestry projects resulting in a change in tree species can also modify albedo and result in notable impacts (Bright et al 2014). While re-/afforestation or a change in tree species can lead to permanent albedo changes across the landscape, routine management interventions like the clear-felling of a forest, which only temporarily modifies the albedo, can also result in nonnegligible impacts lasting for decades in some regions (Cherubini et al 2012, Lutz and Howarth 2014, Lutz et al 2015. Thus, changes in forest management that affect rotation lengths or harvest intensities can result in permanent albedo modifications across the landscape, with lasting impacts on Earth's radiative balance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbon‐equivalent metrics for albedo changes in land management contexts: relevance of the time dimension

Bright

Bogren

Bernier

et al. 2016

Ecological Applications

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Abstract. Surface albedo is an important physical property by which the land surface regulates climate. A wide and growing body of literature suggests that failing to account for surface albedo can result in suboptimal or even counterproductive climate-motivated policies of the land-based sectors. As such, albedo changes are increasingly included in climate impact assessments of forestry and other land sector projects through conversion of radiative forcings into carbon or carbon dioxide equivalents. However, the prevailing methodology does not sufficiently accommodate dynamic albedo changes on land or CO 2 in the atmosphere. We present two new metrics designed to address these deficiencies, referring to them as the time-dependent emissions equivalent and the time-independent emissions equivalent of albedo changes. We demonstrate their application in various land management contexts and discuss their merits and uncertainties.

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Tradeoffs between three forest ecosystem services across the state of New Hampshire, USA: timber, carbon, and albedo

Cited by 3 publications

References 64 publications

The price of snow: albedo valuation and a case study for forest management

The price of snow: albedo valuation and a case study for forest management

Future ecosystem services from European mountain forests under climate change

Carbon‐equivalent metrics for albedo changes in land management contexts: relevance of the time dimension

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