Forest ThreatNet
Western Threat Center Highlights Cont'd
Nancy Grulke, Western Wildland Environmental Threat Assessment Center Director
Climate Change
The Western Center’s resident research sociologist Paige Fischer completed a study that identified private landowner vulnerabilities and land management strategies to reduce climate change impacts. She also identified social scientists working on environmental threats in the western United States. Relatively few researchers are investigating environmental change, and most research focuses on the increase in wildfire frequency and severity expected with future changes in the climate.
Center vegetation modeler John Kim provided helpful current and future vegetation estimates, impacted by climate change, on four National Forests in the Pacific Southwest Region revising forest plans. Lisa Balduman, Western Threat Center information specialist, also completed Template for Assessing Climate Change Impacts and Management Options (TACCIMO) information for California’s forest plan revision. Balduman and Eastern Threat Center TACCIMO team members will soon begin focusing on the Forest Service Southwestern Region.
Right: A stand of lodgepole pine trees killed by mountain pine beetles – Photo by Dave Powell, USDA Forest Service, Bugwood.org
« Previous page Next page » Return to contents
