Page 20 - Climate Change Impacts in the United States

7: FORESTS
TRaceable accounTs

stitutions, and governments influence the management of U.S.
forests. Economic opportunities influence the amount and nature
of private forestland (and much is known quantitatively about this
dynamic) and societal values have a strong influence on how pub-
lic forestland is managed. However, it remains challenging to proj-
ect exactly how humans will respond to climate change in terms
of forest management.

Climate change will alter known environmental and economic risks
and add new risks to be addressed in the management of forests
in urban areas, the wildland-urban interface, and rural areas. The
capacity to manage risk varies greatly across landowners. While
adaptation strategies provide a means to manage risks associated
with climate change, a better understanding of risk perception
by forest landowners would enhance the development and imple-
mentation of these management strategies. Identification of ap-
propriate monitoring information and associated tools to evaluate
monitoring data could facilitate risk assessment. Information and
tools to assess environmental and economic risks associated with
the impacts of climate change in light of specific management de-
cisions would be informative to forestland managers and owners.

Assessment of confidence based on evidence
Given the evidence base and remaining uncertainty, there is
medium confidence in this key message. Climate change and
global and national economic events will have an integral impact
on forest management, but it is uncertain to what magnitude.
While forest landowners have shown the capacity to adapt to
new economic conditions, potential changes in the international
markets coincident with large-scale natural disturbances enhanced
by climate change (fire, insects) could challenge this adaptive
capacity. An important uncertainty is how people will respond to
climate change in terms of forest management.

194 CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS IN THE UNITED STATES

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