NE Forests 2100 Overview
Scientific research indicates that human activities are changing the Earth's climate through the emission of heat-trapping gases. Most forest ecologists believe that these changes will have substantial and reasonably predictable effects on northern forest ecosystems. Yet land managers, policymakers, and concerned citizens often lack adequate information to guide their resource management decisions.
A coalition of U.S. and Canadian forest scientists has initiated a synthesis of existing research to better understand the ways climate change may alter northern forests. This coalition, NE Forests 2100 , will gather and distill current science in the areas of forest composition and productivity, hydrology, carbon cycling and sequestration, nutrient cycling, wildlife effects, pests and pathogens, and other forest disturbances.
The coalition will publish the NE Forests 2100 results in a peer-reviewed publication and in materials for nonscientists. The project and resulting publications will review historical climate change in the region, track indicators of past climate change, update future climate projections, and describe the ecological implications of this change for northern forests.
As an integral part of this project, we are developing an innovative approach to communicating with nonscientists. The approach begins by surveying nonscientists to assess their information needs and common sources of climate change information. We developed a 25-question survey for this purpose that we can administer both on-line and on paper. We are now circulating the survey to over 500 government, industry, and environmental representatives; and will use the results to shape our outreach materials and distribution strategy.
The results of the NE Forests 2100 climate change project will be offered to nonscientists in several formats including a 20+-page report, fact sheets on specific climate change topics, and a science-based website. Given the complexity of climate change research, we will employ a science writer to help translate our technical publication for nonscientists. This will enable us to provide rich scientific content in accessible language that is less likely to be misinterpreted and more likely to be put to use.
NE Forests 2100 provides a testing ground for new tools that connect science, policy, natural resource management, and public education. It advances both research objectives by convening scientists around a series of important climate change questions, and achieves outreach goals by using novel approaches to sharing knowledge with others.
NE Forests 2100 Steering Committee
| Lindsey Rustad |
US Forest Service |
| Roger Cox |
Canadian Forest Service |
| Marc DeBlois |
Ministry of Sustainable Development, Environment and Parks, Gouvernement du Québec |
| Jeff Dukes |
University of Massachusetts, Boston |
| Andrew Richardson |
University of New Hampshire |
| Barrett Rock |
University of New Hampshire |
| Mark Watson |
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority |
| Norman Willard |
US EPA, Boston |
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| Kathy Fallon Lambert |
Science Writer, Ecologic:Analysis and Communications |
| Alison Magill |
Project Manager, University of New Hampshire |
