Adjusting to Forests that Won't Stand Still

By Richard Waring, Joe Landsberg / On January 30th, 2017
For a long time we ecologists thought that we could predict not only how forests would grow but also how their composition was likely to change over time.  And we could predict the effects of management actions: for example, If we chose to thin stands of trees in certain ways, we would expect predictable increases in the growth of the remaining trees, with more shrubs, grasses, and seedlings colonizing the gaps below the trees.

We can’t win the climate battle without healthy forests

By Joe Landsberg, Richard Waring / On December 19th, 2016
Most people now accept that the world’s climate is changing rapidly as a result of human activities — mainly the direct emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases that trap heat radiating from the earth, causing the temperature of our small blue planet to rise. This is leading to all sorts of political, economic and ecological problems.

Aid, Poverty, and Global Biodiversity

By Bruce Rich / On May 16th, 2016
International efforts to conserve biodiversity in developing coun­tries are recognizing the need to provide alternative livelihoods.

Guest Opinion: We need a moon-shot for the environment more than ever

By Dominick A. DellaSala / On April 25th, 2016
This week, more than 193 nations will celebrate Earth Day. The annual event is a marker for the environmental movement begun on April 22, 1970, when Wisconsin Sen. Gaylord Nelson organized a peaceful teach-in. At the time, rivers were on fire, oil spills fouled Santa Barbara’s coastline, spaceships were headed to the moon, and the nation was at war.

"All About the Relationship:" A Q&A with Lucy Moore

By Lucy Moore / On March 7th, 2016
Despite more than 100 years of stewardship and protection from agencies like the National Park Service, America’s wild places are still vulnerable to commercial and residential land development. In the Grand Canyon, uranium mining and increasing rates of tourism not only threaten land and air quality, they also undermine a social balance that Native Americans and other local groups have worked hard to maintain.

Primary Forests Take Center Stage in Paris Climate Agreement

By Dominick A. DellaSala / On January 19th, 2016
Following a fortnight of negotiations, an unprecedented agreement has been signed by all the world’s 196 nations which identifies forests and ecosystems as fundamental to the world’s climate change response. For the first time, the UN’s Paris Agreement has formally recognized in international law that conserving ecosystem-based carbon stocks including forests is central to achieving climate mitigation goals and that both biodiversity and human rights must be protected when taking climate action.

A New Global Tinderbox: The World’s Northern Forests

By Edward Struzik / On November 24th, 2015
Ted Schuur has spent the better part of his career making the connection between climate change and wildfires that are burning an increasing amount of land in Alaska and in sub-Arctic and Arctic forests around the world. So the Northern Arizona University scientist wasn’t all that surprised this summer to find his field stations in the interior of Alaska surrounded by fires on three sides. At the time, the state was well on track to recording its second-worst fire season ever.

Green Infrastructure in Action: Urban Forests

By Karen Firehock / On November 8th, 2015
Over the past 75 years, American engineers have become very adept at managing water – collecting it, holding it and moving it away as fast as possible. Yet there is a better way to manage our water that costs far less.Rather than trying to push  away water, we are finding ways to adaptively manage our water using natural features and functions. If we start to think of our urban forests as ‘green infrastructure’ then we can include them as solutions to urban stormwater runoff and flooding. American Forests has estimated the value of forests for flood mitigation and air qu

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