Managing North American Forests for Climate Change Preparedness

An important part of any plan to manage the massive resources of several
different forest types must be a procedure for trimming the effects of
climate change.  A poorly conceived plan can easily be seen in
South-eastern Alaska’s once mighty Sitka Spruce populations that formed
a temperate rain forest.

Forest ownership laws allowed for people from out-of-state to own some of
the land in Alaska.  Due to climate change, the Spruce Bark Beetle was
able to spread unchecked through this natural near-monoculture of a
mature forest.

The absent owners allowed these pest to escape their attention.  It could
have been, at least temporarily, contained by cutting out the host trees
for a distance around the observed infestation.  This was not carried out
and the problem has since spread to nearly the entire state, leaving a
scarred ghost forest in its wake.

Now, plans for dealing with the aftermath of that disaster will need to
be implemented. Regular monitoring and protective measures are all part
of a sustainable forest management plan.

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