The future of dry forests around the world is uncertain given predictions that rising temperatures and enhanced aridity will increase drought-induced tree mortality. Using forest management and ecological restoration to reduce density and competition for water offers one of the few pathways that forests managers can potentially minimize drought-induced tree mortality. Competition for water during drought leads to elevated tree mortality in dense stands, although the influence of density on heat-induced stress and the durations of hot or dry conditions that most impact mortality remain unclear. Understanding how competition interacts with hot-drought stress is essential to recognize how, where and how much reducing density can help sustain dry forests in a rapidly changing world. Here, we integrated repeat measurements of 28,881 ponderosa pine trees across the western US (2000–2017) with soil moisture estimates from a water balance model to examine how annual mortality responds to competition, temperature and soil moisture conditions. Tree mortality responded most strongly to basal area, and was elevated in places with high mean temperatures, unusually hot 7-year high temperature anomalies, and unusually dry 8-year low soil moisture anomalies. Mortality was also lower in places that experienced unusually wet 3-year soil moisture anomalies between measurements. Importantly, we found that basal area interacts with temperature and soil moisture, exacerbating mortality during times of stress imposed by high temperature or low moisture. Synthesis and applications. Our results imply that a 50% reduction in forest basal area could reduce drought-driven tree mortality by 20%–80%. The largest impacts of density reduction are seen in areas with high current basal area and places that experience high temperatures and/or severe multiyear droughts. These interactions between competition and drought are critical to understand past and future patterns of tree mortality in the context of climate change, and provide information for resource managers seeking to enhance dry forest drought resistance.

December Urban Wildfire

December urban wildfire. Three words thought unimaginable to exist in the same sentence. That was the case until Thursday, December 30, 2021. Chinook winds ahead of an incoming cold front with gusts from 60mph to more than 100 mph carried fire over a suburban landscape classified by NOAA as under extreme drought. While not the largest wildfire in Colorado’s history, at ~6,000 acres the devastation caused by the Marshall Fire in Boulder County has earned it the designation of the most destructive wildfire ever to occur in the state.

Chelsea Nagy

Ben Livneh

When

Please join us for the NC CASC webinar on Thursday, December 9, 2021, 11a -12p MDT:  "Setting habitat protection and restoration priorities in a warming world: Lessons from Wyoming". 

Presented by: 

Molly Cross, Wildlife Conservation Society

Paul Dey, Wyoming Game & Fish Department

 

When

Please join us for the NC CASC webinar on Thursday, December 9, 2021, 11a -12p MDT:  "Setting habitat protection and restoration priorities in a warming world: Lessons from Wyoming".  Presented by:  Molly Cross, Wildlife Conservation Society Paul Dey, Wyoming Game & Fish Department Please register in advance for this meeting: https://cuboulder.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJckdemvqzwsE9PhJZ5YF2s1WCriYijoEiFz  After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about how to join the meeting.   Abstract: In 2020, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD) partnered with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) on a project designed to help the agency incorporate climate change into their Statewide Habitat Plan (SHP) that was slated for an update that year. WGFD and WCS worked together to develop and apply a process for incorporating climate change into the SHP, which included a participatory workshop, a post-workshop Information Needs Survey, and regular meetings throughout the year to translate findings from the workshop and survey into the updated SHP. As a result of this project, climate change was more extensively incorporated into the 2020 SHP relative to the previous version of the plan (completed in 2015). This included discussing climate change as a threat to achieving habitat protection and restoration for river, riparian and wetland habitats, as well as incorporating climate-informed management strategies and actions. The updated SHP also included climate change within the agency’s scoring system for allocating funding to habitat management projects. In addition to informing the SHP, the project also helped WGFD identify management-relevant climate-related information needs that are considered highly useful to WGFD staff and their management efforts. We believe that the project offers a useful model to other agencies that are interested in incorporating climate change into management plans, and to scientists and agencies looking to identify priority research needs related to climate change.  About the speakers: Molly Cross is a lead Climate Change Adaptation Scientist for the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). Her work brings together researchers and conservation practitioners to incorporate climate change science into on-the-ground conservation goals actions. She is also Director of Science for the WCS Climate Adaptation Fund, which supports applied projects demonstrating on-the-ground interventions for wildlife adaptation to climate change in the United States. Paul Dey is the aquatic habitat program manager for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. In this role, he facilitates a team of twelve agency logists in implementing stream restoration, fish passage, and water management projects to improve stream functions and aquatic resources.  

NC CASC Webinar Series Webinar: Setting habitat protection and restoration priorities in a warming world: Lessons from Wyoming

In 2020, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD) partnered with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) on a project designed to help the agency incorporate climate change into their Statewide Habitat Plan (SHP) that was slated for an update that year.
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