Success StorySouthern Appalachians Forest Ecosystem Vulnerability Assessment
Southern Appalachians Forest Ecosystem Vulnerability Assessment
Author: Jacob Muller
Planning Unit: Forestry
Major Program: Forest Education: Health, Management, and Utilization
Outcome: Initial Outcome
University of Kentucky Forestry Extension, along with the USDA Forest Service, The Natural Conservancy, and several other organizations, are leading the Southern Appalachian Forest Ecosystem Vulnerability Assessment project. The project focuses on providing vulnerability assessments of forested ecosystems and resources under different climate scenarios within the mountainous regions of Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia, based on the best available science, and supported by an updated LANDIS II forest landscape model and USFS Climate Change Tree Atlas summaries for the region. Through this project, we developed a document that forest managers can use to help make climate-informed decisions on the forested ecosystems they manage and provide necessary information at the ecosystem, species, and climatological levels. The project follows the procedure and structure of vulnerability assessments published by the Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science throughout the Eastern United States. By providing a region-specific expert assessment of the major vulnerabilities of the forests of the region, this assessment provides key information that aims to assist land managers in making decisions on how to adapt and build resiliency into the ecosystem. By providing species-specific information on multiple climate futures and highlighting areas of strong agreement, as well as areas where knowledge gaps continue to exist, land managers can continue building their silvicultural toolbox to adapt forests to future conditions and promote the long-term sustainability of these forests and forest resources. The outcome of this project results in a substantial vulnerability assessment document that will be accessible by County Agents, forest and natural resources professionals, and forest landowners to help them prepare and better manage forests given future uncertainties and challenges.
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