Climate Change Research
Opportunities
Marilyn Buford and Bryce Stokes
Vegetation Management and
Protection Research
Areas of Opportunity
FS R&D National Program Focus
z US Climate Change Science Program
(CCSP)
z US Climate Change Technology
Program (CCTP) – under development
z 1605(b) Voluntary Greenhouse Gas
Emissions Registry
z Environmental Credits Trading
Potential
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FS R&D National Program Focus
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Observation and Monitoring Systems
Integration, Analysis and Forecasting
Management Systems and Disturbance
Processes
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Three integrated research thrusts that are
required to manage forest resources under a
changing climate
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Closely aligned with the Climate Change Science
Plan and the Climate Change Technology
Program
Observation and Monitoring Systems
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Capability to provide annual estimates of carbon stocks
and flows for forests of the U.S. at national-, regionaland landscape-level resolution.
Facilitate integration of monitoring programs among
USDA, DOE, NASA, and NOAA
Help develop, implement, and execute an interagency
carbon monitoring program for North America (North
American Carbon Program, NACP)
FS R&D efforts will:
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Develop and deploy improved field measurement techniques to
enhance ongoing monitoring activities;
Implement efficient and cost-effective forest carbon monitoring
using the Forest Service experimental forest network and
partner lands
Develop and improve data analysis and integration methods.
Integration, Analysis and Forecasting
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Estimate and project forest and rangeland function,
composition, productivity and carbon stocks at stand,
regional, and national levels under alternative management
and climate scenarios
Quantify and reduce uncertainty of carbon stock and flow
estimates
Predict effects of environmental conditions and disturbance
on forest productivity, and carbon storage and dynamics;
Provide life cycle analysis of wood production and use
systems
Estimate future interactions between site-based tactical
activities and strategic public policies for capitalizing on
climate change, addressing adaptation and mitigation
options
Integrate understanding of forest ecosystem function and
dynamics in a rapidly changing environment
Forecast alternative forest and range conditions under
potential future climate and management scenarios
Management Systems and
Disturbance Processes
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Provide understanding of how changing or variable climate
interacts with basic biological and ecological processes and
management systems to affect carbon storage and release,
forest and rangeland health, dynamics of vegetation and
plant communities, hydrological systems, and production of
goods and services
Quantify processes governing forest and rangeland carbon
cycling
Develop cost-effective management systems for sustaining
and enhancing forest carbon stocks
Quantify interactions among climate, management systems,
and disturbances such as fire, insects and disease, invasive
species, and extreme climate-driven events
Address understanding and managing potential ecosystem
responses to the range of types, rates, and variability of
climate change projections, including threshold responses
that might cause unexpected or intense ecosystem
disruption
US Climate Change Science
Program
Carbon Cycle
z Ecosystems
z Land Use/Land Cover Change
z Human Interactions
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www.climatescience.gov
US Climate Change Science Program
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FS R&D is:
z identifying
and quantifying carbon sources,
sinks, and fluxes for all forest land in the US;
z quantifying biological processes governing
system structure, function and productivity
for forest, range, agroforestry, and urban
systems and across landscapes;
z quantifying expected land use and product
changes;
z analyzing carbon-related economic
opportunities for the forest sector
U.S. Climate Change Technology
Program (CCTP)
Carbon Sequestration
z Measuring, Monitoring, and Verification
z Energy (Renewables)
z Atmospheric Chemistry (Clean Air
Technology)
z Fundamental Science (Microbial
Technology)
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U.S. Climate Change Technology
Program (CCTP)
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FS R&D is:
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developing and demonstrating pathways for
optimizing forest carbon sinks using both intensive
and low-input management options
developing and demonstrating low impact harvest
options and soil management techniques to
conserve soil carbon and increase water filtering and
production capacity
enhancing longer life and increased use of wood
products
developing and demonstrating short rotation woody
crop production systems as sustainable sources of
energy feedstocks and wood products
developing biomass energy feedstock production
and management systems
Voluntary Greenhouse Gas
Reporting Program (1605(b))
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FS R&D is:
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Developing Accounting Rules and Guidelines
(ARG) for forest carbon sequestration
Providing guidelines for the variety of practices
that can affect greenhouse gases and year-to-year
variability in emissions and sequestration
associated with forest activities
Effort is critical to those in the forestry sector
wishing to register carbon sequestration and
emissions reductions
Environmental Credits Trading
Potential
Carbon, water quality, air quality, soil
conservation,…
z Economic and policy analysis
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z Landowner
behavior
z Incentives
z Potential
market mechanisms
z Land use change
Presenting your work
z What
is the problem?
z Why is it important?
z What are you doing about it?
z What are you producing?
z How will it be used?
z Who cares?