Climate Forestry

Do you wonder about the changing conditions in your woods? Many people are asking more questions about how a changing climate is effecting forests and what actions can be taken to ensure forests stay healthy no matter what the future holds.   

There are two ways that you can help respond to climate change in your woods.  

Adapt- First and foremost, you can consider the ways that climate change may affect your woods and work with a professional forester to ensure that the trees, wildlife, and other forest species can cope with changing conditions—these adaptation actions are outlined in Caring for your Woods - Adapting to Changing Conditions.  

Mitigate - In addition to ensuring forests are healthy and productive over the long term, you can also consider additional actions that increase the ability of forests to absorb and store carbon from the atmosphere as a means to reduce the amount of heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Learn more in Caring for your Woods - Managing for Forest Carbon

Partnerships help private landowners tackle effects of climate change

For large landowners there are opportunities to receive money for the carbon you grow and store in trees, called carbon offsets or carbon credits.  Companies buy carbon offsets to reduce their contribution to global warming: by paying another party to reduce carbon from a different source, companies “offset” carbon emissions from their own operations. This exchange lets companies count the carbon they’re paying to keep out of the atmosphere against their own emissions. Due to the complexity of enrolling in a carbon offset program, it makes the most financial sense for acreage greater than 3,000 acres, which may be one ownership or an aggregate of multiple ownerships.  In Massachusetts these larger ownership tend to be municipal lands but any ownership is eligible. Forest Carbon Market Solutions - a Guide for Municipalities, helps a landowner understand the benefits and trade offs of the carbon market, defines what makes a successful project, provides a sense of expectations and risk, and gives a list of next steps.

Landowners and foresters may want to know how much carbon their forest is storing and sequestering – whether they plan to explore forest carbon markets or they simply want to know as part of their management decision making.  The following link has a variety of no-cost tools to provide some options for determining forest carbon storage and sequestration: Forest Carbon Estimators and Calculators 

Each year DCR works with a municipality to bring focus and attention to the community owned forests and all the benefits they provide.  Due to COVID, in 2021 a virtual conference was held which was open to all.  You may listen to the conference using the links below.

Topic:  Bird Habitat & Climate Adaptation in Your Community (5/26/21)

Topic:  The Role of Your Community Forest in Mitigating Climate Change (6/2/21)

Topic: Focus on Funding: Keeping Forests as Forests, Habitat and Climate Resiliency in Your Community (6/9/21)

The Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), in partnership with Mass Audubon, the New England Forestry Foundation, and Mass Woodlands Institute, the Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science (NIACS), has created Climate Forestry Stewardship Planning trainings intended for licensed foresters interested in providing Climate Forestry services.

Climate Forestry is a Massachusetts DCR program providing cost share assistance to landowners to hire a qualified consulting forester to conduct a climate-focused forest assessment on their land. Consulting foresters must attend a series of trainings to become certified to provide this service to landowners. 

Forester Certification Process – Includes online trainings, a field training in the forest resilience assessment, and working with a Mass Audubon ecologist to write your first Forest Stewardship Climate Plan. Climate Forestry Certification Process for Consulting Foresters.

Register for Online Trainings

Course syllabus - Climate Smart Forestry Syllabus

Resources

Climate Change Communication and Landowners

Caring for your Woods - Setting Goals

Caring for your Woods - Adapting to Changing Conditions 

Caring for your Woods - Managing for Forest Carbon

Healthy Forests for Our Future: A Management Guide to Increase Carbon Storage in Northeast Forests

Forester and Forest Stewardship Plan Writing Resources

Plan Directions, Sample Plan, Estimating Carbon Guide 

Habitat Resilience Field Assessment Forms

Managing Forests for Climate Change in Massachusetts​

New England Vulnerability Assessment ​

Climate Change Tree Atlas 

Example Adaptation Property ​

Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science Adaptation Workbook Strategies and Approaches Menu

Forest Carbon Estimators and Calculators