Minutes 2011 Meeting of the Atmospheric Change Working Group of the North
American Forest Commission. San Francisco, December 6th 2011.
By: David Paré
Participants:
David Paré Canadian Forest Service, Chair NAFC atmospheric change WG
Rick Scott, Liaison, North American Forest Commission
Catherine Ste-Marie, Canadian Forest Service
Hank Loescher, The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON), University of
Colorado.
Richard Birdsey, United State Department of Agriculture (USDA)
Rodrigo Vargas, El Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de
Ensenada CICESE
Steve Mc Nulty, USDA (regrets)
Dan McKenney, Canadian Forest Service
Wei Min Hao, USDA
Leopoldo Galicia, UNAN, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (through Skype
from Montreal
A one day meeting of the AC WG was held with main purpose of discussing possibilities
for tripartite collaboration on the theme of forest vulnerability to atmospheric changes.
Presentations were given in the morning (see annex) followed by discussions. We were
pleased to have participants from all three countries. Briefly, the topics that were
presented and discussed gave an overview of studies, technologies and approaches that
are used in the three countries to study, assess and forecast the impact of atmospheric
changes on forests. Possibilities for collaboration and interactions were numerous.
Topics that were discussed included species distribution and environmental niche change,
process changes (in particular Carbon cycling) as well as fire. Several actions were
agreed upon:
-Membership: enhance the membership and take action to officialise the participants of
new members (please send a short bio to David Paré for participants to the meeting that
are not yet members of the WG).
-Communications within the group: Create a GOOGLE DOC file for exchanges of
information and for sharing presentations.
-Communications to the science public and to decision makers: Jointly write a
manuscript that will be submitted to a peer reviewed journal. This manuscript will deal
with the rationale and the timeliness for tripartite collaboration on the impact of
atmospheric changes on North American forests. This paper will identify and discuss the
top issues for assessing, understanding, forecasting and adapting North American forests
to atmospheric changes. David will send a preliminary outline.
-Next meeting: the group will look for opportunities for a meeting during the year to
come.
Annex 1:
AGENDA: 2011 Meeting of the Atmospheric Change Working Group of the North
American Forest Commission. San Francisco, December 6th 2011.
Hotel ADAGIO, 550 Geary Street, San Francisco, CA 94102, Seville Meeting Room (see map)
8:30 Meeting commences
8:30-9:00 Opening remarks
-David Paré, Canadian Forest Service, Chair NAFC atmospheric change WG
Introduction and goals of the meeting: towards tripartite collaboration on the
vulnerability of North American forests to atmospheric change
-Rick Scott, Liaison, North American Forest Commission
Background on NAFC
9:00-10:00 National programs
-Catherine Ste-Marie, Canadian Forest Service. National initiatives for Canada:
Carbon science blueprint and adaptation program.
-Hank Loescher, The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON), University
of Colorado. The NEON project
-Richard Birdsey, United State Department of Agriculture (USDA) CARBONA
-Rodrigo Vargas, El Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de
Ensenada CICESE Toward a Mexican Eddy Covariance Network for Carbon Cycle
Science
10:00-10:15 Break
10:15-11:00 Modelling
-Steve Mc Nulty, USDA
The Template for Assessing Climate Change Impacts and Management Options
(TACCIMO)
-Dan McKenney, Canadian Forest Service
Climate envelopes for North American tree species
11:00-11:50 From regional to national initiatives
-Wei Min Hao, USDA, Fire in Northern Eurasia: potential applicability of findings and
methodology to the North American context
Leopoldo Galicia, UNAN, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (through
Skype from Montreal) Temperate forests and climate change in Mexico: modelling and
adaptation
Recap and lunch (not provided)
13:00-16:00 Discussion:
1-Potential for collaboration:
-Defining forest vulnerability (of what? To what?)
-Forecasting changes
-Modelling and validation with empirical measurements
2-Miscelleneous (Membership of the NAFC; Future meetings and contact
strategy)…