Our Forests - Disaster or complexity opportunity?

IPCC FAR projected global warming

1. Dramatic decline in snowpack predicted by

2. Increasing area burned annually in Canada

Tongli Wang, UBC, Climate WNA 3. Massive shifts in forest composition predicted

4. Changed from CO 2 sink to source State of Canada’s Forests, 2007

New study shows declining productivity and carbon sequestration in Canadian boreal forest NASA, Dec Pan, PNAS,

Governance Landscapes Stands

1. Mitigate with carbon pricing and renewable energy 2. Reduce harvest 3. Leave legacies behind 4. Reforest with resilient species mixtures

State of BC’s Forests 2010

1. Mitigate with renewable energy 2. Reduce harvest 3. Leave legacies behind 4. Reforest with resilient species mixtures

History of harvesting in British Columbia Hagerman et al. (2010)

Nussbaum, 2012

“From Conflict to Collaboration”, 2009 “B.C. rainforest under threat: environmentalists”, CBC, June 2011 New ownership TimberWest ENGO’s currently seeking greater protection Protect at Least 50% Globally, Noss 2011, Cons. Biol. 24: 1-4

Case Study: Great Bear Rainforest Kennedy Lake, Clayoquot Sound

1. Mitigate with renewable energy 2. Reduce harvest 3. Leave legacies behind 4. Reforest with resilient species mixtures

Beiler et al. (2010)

1. Reduce emissions, substitute renewable energy 2. Reduce disturbance due to harvest 3. Leave legacies behind 4. Reforest with resilient species mixtures

Climate change is a disaster of epic proportions Impacts to our iconic forests include reduced snowpack, increase wildfire, species shifts, and change in carbon balance Our forests are being over-harvested, contributing to the problem There is great opportunity to make forests part of the solution These include increasing the forested area through reduced harvest, and increasing forest stability through partial cutting and increased planting of resilient mixtures