Adaptive Silviculture in a Changing Climate
Leading the digital transformation of the forest sector to begin harnessing the power of rapidly improving technologies.
Costs and benefits of adapting to climate-induced changes in drought and wind regimes in New Brunswick’s forests
Purpose:
Climate change is expected to have significant impacts on drought and wind regimes in Atlantic Canada’s forests. This may lead to decline or disappearance of important species causing significant socio-economic costs in the forest sector. Adapting to these changes can help protect against losses and potentially generate benefits through new/enhanced wood products and services. Realization of these opportunities, however, requires the willingness of the forest sector and communities to integrate such adaptation into their planning.
Objectives:
- Assess the socio-economic costs from climate-induced changes to drought and wind regimes in N.B.’s forests;
- Assess the socio-economic costs and benefits from adapting to such changes; and
- Exchange knowledge learned from this research to the forest sector and forest-dependent/First Nations communities.
Project Team Members:
- Van Lantz, Dean and Professor, Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Management, University of New Brunswick (UNB)
- Gaetan Pelletier, Executive Director, Northern Hardwood Research Institute Inc.
- Chris Hennigar, FORUS Research, Fredericton, NB
- Charles Bourque, Professor, Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Management, UNB
- Tom Beckley, Professor, Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Management, UNB
- Louise Comeau, Honorary Research Associate, Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Management, UNB
Funding:
- Natural Resources Canada’s Climate Change Adaptation Program
To learn more on this topic:
- Visit this interactive webpage to visualize the impacts of Climate Change in our region.
- Guidebooks on Vulnerability of NB Forests and Adaptive Silviculture Pathways
- Video course on Adaptive silviculture
- Documentary video which was an official selection and shown at the Silver Wave film festival at Fredericton in November 2019: Our Forest at Risk
- Article for woodlot owners and forestry professionals was published in the Atlantic Forestry Review Magazine: The Time for Adaptive Management has Come
- Climate change adaptation in forest-dependent communities. 2021.
- Community capacity considering climate changes in drought and wind regimes in New Brunswick’s forests. 2021
- Forest succession, plantations and the economy under a changing climate: coupling Woodstock and CGE models to assess impacts and adaptation options in New Brunswick, Canada. March 15, 2021.
- Silviculture Scenario Calculator
To view or participate in Workshops/Conferences/Training Sessions:
- Atlantic Teacher’s tour introducing schoolteachers to adaptation to climate change in our forests in August 2022
- Workshop on adaptive silviculture, delivered to woodlot owners on January 29th 2020.
- Full course on adaptive silviculture in the context of a climate change, offered as an elective course (FORS3033), part of the Université de Moncton’s bachelor’s degree in forest management
- Multimedia training course available to UNB, UMoncton and UMaine at Fort Kent
- Webinar, presented in February of 2021 to forest practitioners: Cisco Webex Meetings – Replay Recorded Meeting
- UNB and NHRI will be co-hosting a large international conference in August 2022 and adaptive silviculture will be a significant component of the program. More than 300 participants are expected in Fredericton, New Brunswick. The announcement can be found in the last pages of the NHRI spring 2021 newsletter: TheLeaflet-Spring-2021.pdf (hardwoodsnb.ca)