Northern Forest Futures A window on tomorrow's forests Revealing how today's trends and choices can change the future landscape of the North Collaborative undertaking Complements other efforts Introduction

The North Maine Minnesota Missouri Maryland Introduction

Forests and People Pacific Coast 37% forested Interior West 20% forested South 40% forested North 42% forested 9% 16% 41% 34% Northern Forests in Context

Three Components of NFFP 1.Analysis of shared forest resource issues 2.Assessment of current forest conditions and recent trends 3.Projections of expected forest conditions under alternative scenarios – Succession, growth, harvest – Land use change – Climate – Invasives, bioenergy, socio-economic factors Introduction

Forest Resource Issues in the North Dietzman, LaJeunesse, and Wormstead Scoping of issues in the forests of the Northeast and Midwest of the United States Based on – 700 comments – 74 source documents – Primarily Issues

Montreal Process Criteria and Indicators 1.Conservation of biological diversity 2.Maintenance of productive capacity of forest ecosystems 3.Maintenance of forest ecosystem health and vitality 4.Conservation and maintenance of soil and water resources 5.Maintenance of forest contributions to global carbon cycles 6.Maintenance and enhancement of long-term multiple socioeconomic benefits to meet the needs of societies 7.Legal, institutional and economic framework for forest conservation and sustainable management 8.Urban and community forests Sustainable Forest Criteria and Indicators

Fragmentation: Interior Forest Criterion 1: Biodiversity Percent of County Forest Area that is “Interior” Forest Source: Kurt Riitters

Increasing Volume Over Time Criterion 2: Productive capacity Pennsylvania New York West Virginia

Criterion 6: Socioeconomic benefits Jobs 441,000 jobs – 40 percent of U.S. total in the sector Average wage $43K 16 fatalities/year

Summarization of 36 Indicators Highly positive Positive Neutral Negative Highly negative

Forests of the Northern United States Executive summary Northern Forest Futures website Outstanding data exploration tools for current conditions Current Products

Interactive Data Tools

Recreation Analysis (Published in summer 2012) Projections Succession, growth, harvest - Land use change - Climate - Invasives, bioenergy, socio-economic factors (Published in 2013) Stay Tuned

Progress Report on Projection System Keith Moser, Projections Team Leader