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The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

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As is the case with any modeling process, climate projections can vary. There are, however, many areas of agreement among the various climate models and these projections offer a warning for those of us hoping to protect our natural resources. The projections also highlight opportunities to protect habitat and wildlife. Some aspects of our local ecosystem will likely not fare well under changing conditions, yet others are expected to do fine. For many species and habitat types, there are conservation and restoration steps that we can take to mitigate harm and help them persist.

 

Throughout the pages of our Wildlife and Climate Resilience Guidebook, we highlight opportunities for organizations, managers, and the public to do their part to protect species and their habitats. Our first step in this process, though, was identifying what changes we can expect to see in the southern Washington Cascades. In this article, our second in the climate resilience blog series, we outline these findings.

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Climate Impacts

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Climate projections for the southern Washington Cascades indicate that average temperatures will rise, summer water availability will decrease, high streamflow events during winter will increase, and snow cover will decrease. These changes will impact both aquatic and terrestrial environments.

By the later decades of this century, temperatures for the Columbia River basin are expected to rise anywhere from roughly 0.5° to 8°C (1° to 15°F) above 20th century averages. Changes in temperature and weather patterns will cause habitat locations to shift, increase the forest’s susceptibility to insects and wildfire, and impact the life cycles of plants and animals, likely causing some species to die off. During recent decades, there has been an increase in the size and severity of fires and insect outbreaks throughout the western United States; further increases, up to 2- to 4-fold, are expected in the coming century. Higher temperatures will cause streams to warm and will threaten a variety of aquatic species, especially salmon and bull trout.

Changing seasonal climate patterns will have a significant effect on ecosystems. A decrease in summer streamflow and more rain falling during fall and winter will be a significant factor affecting habitat availability and the volume/flow of streams and rivers. High streamflow events, for instance, can scour streambeds and wash away fish eggs. Dry streambeds in summer can severely affect a wide array of aquatic and riparian species, from amphibians to mammals to amphibians to fish. Extreme droughts and flooding are expected to occur with greater frequency and magnitude in the coming decades. A reduction in snow pack will affect stream temperatures. In addition, peak runoff from snowmelt is expected to occur 3-4 weeks earlier than current averages, thereby disrupting relationships between a species’ life cycle and that of the hydrologic cycle. With more winter precipitation falling as rain instead of snow, terrestrial habitats near tree line will move upward in elevation, if they can. This shift is also expected to result in a longer growing period in higher elevations.

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Resilient Communities

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In addition to the ecological impacts, climate change is expected to negatively affect local communities and infrastructure. Wildfires can reduce air quality or burn structures at the forest-residential interface, loss of snow can impact recreation tourism, drier summers can affect agriculture, warming waters can degrade fishing opportunities, and high flow events can wash out roads, reduce water quality, or flood croplands. There are, however, ways to mitigate and decrease the likelihood of some of these costly events. Many of these are outlined in our Wildlife and Climate Resilience Guidebook. And through these mitigation efforts, there are economic opportunities for local communities in the form of restoration work and other jobs in the forest.

Forest jobs are an integral part of the heritage of many communities that live within and around the forests of the Pacific Northwest. With the potential for significant job creation, resilience-building projects in the southern Washington Cascades should be prioritized for local community members, businesses, and contractors. Potential employment includes stewardship contracting, road maintenance and decommissioning, forest and river restoration, preparation steps for prescribed burning, and planting of diverse tree species in anticipation of climate change.

There is a lot we can do to decrease many of the negative impacts of climate change. Let’s get to work! www.cascadeforest.org/get-involved/

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[vc_row row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”grid” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern” css_animation=””][vc_column][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]Connectivity is the ability of wildlife to move throughout the landscape and to access important patches of habitat. Connectivity can be impacted by roads, logging, development, changes in habitat type, and climate impacts on forests, streams, or species. Fragmentation of wildlife habitat and shifting plant and animal populations as a result of climate change will put the wildlife of the Pacific Northwest at risk. Understanding habitat connectivity and planning conservation actions accordingly is one of our goals at the Cascade Forest Conservancy, and can help mitigate climate impacts and help local ecosystems adapt. CFC’s Wildlife and Climate Resilience Guidebook (found here) outlines connectivity needs and highlights strategies for improving ecosystem resilience.
Connectivity represents the critical arteries sustaining the ecosystem. Robust connectivity throughout the landscape makes wildlife populations more resilient to climate impacts by allowing movement to alternate habitat areas and decreasing the degree to which disturbance in a particular habitat patch affects the overall viability of the population. As forest ecosystems move due to climate change, oftentimes shifting to higher elevations and northward, this forces species migrations and population shifts. These changes will be exacerbated and sometimes caused by local disturbances like wildlife or drought, and by the decoupling of species relationships. For example, as certain wetland vegetation disappears, the bird and insect species that depend on them also suffer and become scattered in distant patches. We must provide room to allow species and population movements to occur and not be hindered by geographic bottlenecks.
CFC designed a region-wide connectivity analysis to assist in conservation planning and to help prioritize resilience-building efforts for species that live in old forest habitats. Our analysis identified core habitat areas and potential connectivity corridors. The parameters we set are broad enough to encompass many species yet focused enough to be effective for the individual conservation needs of each one. The species we considered for this connectivity analysis included: fisher, northern spotted owl, marten, northern flying squirrel, and pileated woodpecker. While the particular habitat needs and preferences of each species varies, there are commonalities and it is in this area of common ground where we focused our analysis.
Mapping these patterns is an important step in understanding the need for and placement of habitat corridors and the areas where efforts are needed to protect, sustain, and improve connectivity. Although not explicitly modeled, this connectivity analysis should also provide connectivity for plants, insects, and other wildlife that depend on mature forest habitat. Moreover, the species we focused on often serve as dispersers of seeds and can therefore support plant populations and improve resilience through their distribution.

If you are interested in learning more about habitat connectivity, download our Wildlife and Climate Resilience Guidebook [here], or go on one of our summer stewardship trips with CFC Conservation Science Director Shiloh Halsey![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”grid” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern” css_animation=””][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”35px”][vc_column_text]

By Matt Little 

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern” css_animation=””][vc_column][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern” css_animation=””][vc_column][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row]

[vc_row row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern” css_animation=””][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”75px”][vc_single_image image=”94″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” qode_css_animation=””][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”grid” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern” css_animation=””][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”75px”][vc_column_text]The conservation community faces significant new hurdles in building resilience to climate change impacts and supporting wildlife, but CFC is uniquely positioned to build bridges within our communities and chart a sustainable path forward.

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We are excited to formally announce the release of our Wildlife and Climate Resilience Guidebook, a comprehensive climate change assessment and conservation plan for the southern Washington Cascades. For summary information or to download the guidebook, please click here. Our guidebook is filled with new research on the impacts of climate change in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, as well as concrete actions that conservation groups and forest managers can take to mitigate those effects. We are already busy planning volunteer restoration trips for 2017; please stay tuned for updates on how YOU can can get involved in protecting our cherished public lands.
Despite current efforts in this nation to stop climate change solutions, we are rolling up our sleeves and moving forward with local on-the-ground efforts that will help our forests, wildlife, and communities better deal with the effects of climate change. The strategies and recommendations highlighted within the guidebook stress the importance of community partnerships and identify ways that citizens can get involved to make a difference in their national forest. This guide also outlines economic opportunities for local communities to become part of important restoration efforts. Assistance and input from climate researchers, scientists with the U.S. Forest Service, and local stakeholders were integral to this work.
The Wildlife and Climate Resilience Guidebook identifies a broad array of conservation and restoration strategies for protecting the ecosystems of the region, from beaver reintroduction to prescribed burning to citizen science monitoring projects. This guidebook outlines specific strategies and recommendations for aquatic ecosystems, forests, meadows, and alpine areas. It also includes an innovative habitat connectivity analysis that models connectivity for species that live in old growth forests. This analysis will improve efforts to protect habitat areas and corridors that are critical for connectivity and the health of wildlife populations.
We are beginning to implement an action plan based on the recommendations outlined in the guidebook. We hope to now share the guidebook widely with the public, other organizations, and agencies to help with planning and to improve the resilience of species and habitats of the Pacific Northwest. Climate change has the potential to impact many parts of our environment, but there are steps that can be taken to mitigate many of the severe impacts. By identifying the species and habitats most at risk as well as the best opportunities to build resilience within these ecosystems, we can be well-positioned to work together to positively affect change.
As always, we are grateful to our members and supporters for making projects like this possible. About half of our budget is funded by member donations, and your dollars go to programs that make a difference in protecting and conserving the wild places in the heart of the Cascades.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”35px”][vc_row_inner row_type=”row” type=”grid” text_align=”left” css_animation=””][vc_column_inner][vc_gallery interval=”5″ images=”2403,2373,2323″ img_size=”large” onclick=”custom_link” custom_links_target=”_blank” custom_links=”#E-8_aHR0cHMlM0ElMkYlMkZjYXNjYWRlZm9yZXN0Lm9yZyUyRm91ci13b3JrJTJGY2xpbWF0ZS1yZXNpbGllbmNlJTJGJTJDaHR0cHMlM0ElMkYlMkZjYXNjYWRlZm9yZXN0Lm9yZyUyRm91ci13b3JrJTJGY2xpbWF0ZS1yZXNpbGllbmNlJTJGJTJDaHR0cHMlM0ElMkYlMkZjYXNjYWRlZm9yZXN0Lm9yZyUyRm91ci13b3JrJTJGY2xpbWF0ZS1yZXNpbGllbmNlJTJG”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_empty_space height=”75px”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”yes” type=”grid” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern” css_animation=”” css=”.vc_custom_1465592094531{background-color: #96d1ae !important;}”][vc_column][vc_row_inner row_type=”row” type=”grid” text_align=”left” css_animation=””][vc_column_inner][vc_empty_space height=”125px”][latest_post_two number_of_columns=”3″ order_by=”date” order=”ASC” display_featured_images=”yes” number_of_posts=”3″][vc_empty_space height=”75px”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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Restoration and Forest Health Surveys

[/vc_column_text][vc_separator type=”normal” color=”#444444″ thickness=”3″][vc_empty_space height=”75px”][vc_column_text]We have had the opportunity to tour some beautiful areas of the National Forest. We’re visiting sites proposed for thinning in order to collect information and create documentation for our efforts to encourage ecological and sustainable forest management. Our field season for this work, and other projects, is ramping down and we are beginning the process of compiling data, analyzing results, and setting the stage for the next steps of projects. We have a lot on our work plan for this winter and we are excited to spend the winter days working hard to protect and restore the wonderful Gifford Pinchot National Forest.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”35px”][vc_accordion active_tab=”false” collapsible=”yes” style=”boxed_accordion”][vc_accordion_tab title=”Sign up for a trip here!”]

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By Darryl Lloyd

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Lost Creek: An Ancient Forest in Gifford Pinchot National Forest

[/vc_column_text][vc_separator type=”normal” color=”#444444″ thickness=”3″][vc_empty_space height=”75px”][vc_column_text]THE LARGEST known trees in the Columbia Gorge area are found in a 170-acre ancient forest remnant in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in an undisclosed location north of the Columbia River Gorge Scenic Area boundary. Here you’ll find western redcedars over 9 feet in diameter, Douglas firs up to 8.5 feet and old-growth western hemlocks on the hillsides. On the forest floor is a rich mix of botanical diversity and small streams—a functioning ancient forest ecosystem that relatively few people know about.
The Lost Creek stand is a very rare gem. It’s a magical, amazing and truly wild place. Much of the area has been selectively logged, probably back in the 1970s. Fortunately, the biggest trees were not logged, judging from the size of old stumps. A major wildfire had burned through the area, possibly in the early or mid-1800s. Most of the largest Douglas firs survived the fire, but burned hulks of giant cedars are a reminder of its high intensity.
My twin brother, Darvel, and I first explored the area this spring, but others have quietly known about it for decades. The late Russ Jolley visited the forest many times and kept it a secret, except to a select group of friends.
The area was threatened by a timber sale about 20 years ago. When Russ Jolley found out, he engaged environmental activist friends—including Susan Saul, Jay Letto and leaders of Friends of the Columbia River Gorge—to fight and appeal the sale. He showed the area to his select group and then swore everyone to secrecy about its location. Their appeal to the Forest Service was successful in stopping the sale. A few years later, the Northwest Forest Plan was adopted. However, as I’ll explain at the end, the old-growth of Lost Creek received no protection under the plan.
Russ Jolley dedicated his life to protecting places, especially in the Columbia Gorge. He died in 2011 at the age of 88. He was “one of the Northwest’s most respected wildflower experts and tenacious conservationists,” according to Katy Muldoon, who wrote a tribute in The Oregonian.

The Russ Jolley Fir is a magnificent Douglas fir that was unofficially measured at 8 feet 7 inches in diameter. Photo courtesy of Darryl Lloyd.

I think it’s fitting to name the largest known tree in the ancient forest—and indeed, the Columbia Gorge area—as the “Russ Jolley Fir.” It’s a magnificent Douglas fir that we unofficially measured at 8 feet 7 inches in diameter (dbh). It has a healthy, complex crown and appears to exceed 250 feet in height. We plan to get a better measure of its height with a clinometer in a few weeks.
The Lost Creek forest deserves permanent protection for its “rare ecological integrity” (in the words of a friend). Unfortunately, the area is currently classified as “matrix” under the Northwest Forest Plan. Matrix lands are designated for timber harvest, with no limits on the size of trees that can be cut—a compromise and major limitation of the plan. According to small-scale maps drawn by the Forest Service in the 1990s, the area is just outside the boundary of the Wind River late-successional reserve, where old-growth forest ecosystems are protected.
As most GPTF members know, the Northwest Forest Plan is up for revision. Who knows what the future will hold for old-growth protection under a revised plan? Perhaps the Forest Service can be convinced to create a research natural area for Lost Creek, or to expand the late successional reserve boundary to include the area. I believe, however, that the only permanent protection would be designated wilderness within the National Wilderness Preservation System. In any case, I hope that we can all work together to treasure and preserve this magnificent place.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”35px”][vc_row_inner row_type=”row” type=”grid” text_align=”left” css_animation=””][vc_column_inner][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_empty_space height=”75px”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”yes” type=”grid” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern” css_animation=”” css=”.vc_custom_1465592094531{background-color: #96d1ae !important;}”][vc_column][vc_row_inner row_type=”row” type=”grid” text_align=”left” css_animation=””][vc_column_inner][vc_empty_space height=”125px”][latest_post_two number_of_columns=”3″ order_by=”date” order=”ASC” display_featured_images=”yes” number_of_posts=”3″][vc_empty_space height=”75px”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row]

THE LARGEST known trees in the Columbia Gorge area are found in a 170-acre ancient forest remnant in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest near Willard.

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