Research activities at the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service cover a wide range of topics on climate change. For more than 20 years, Forest Service scientists have been studying and assessing climate change effects on forests and rangelands. Decisions being made today by public and private sector resource managers will have implications through the next century. Forest Service Research and Development provides long term research, scientific information, and tools that can be used by managers and policymakers to address climate change impacts to forests and rangelands. Climate change-related activities are carried out within Research Stations covering the whole country.

Climate Change represents a great challenge to management of forests in the next years of this century. It is expected to have significant impacts on forest ecosystems. The forestry research community needs to evaluate the long-term effects of climate change on forests and determine what the community might do now and in the future to respond to this threat.

Research on the possible impacts of climate change on forests in the US and the development of adaptation and mitigation strategies has been carried out at the US Forest Service for the last 20 years. Since then, assessments of climate change, its impacts and subsequent consequences to natural resource management have been the focus of continuous research efforts. The Forest Service contributes to the research goals of the US Climate Change Science Program.

The Forest Service Global Change Research Program is a part of the US Government's Global Change Research Program. Forest Service climate change research is directly linked to the Forest Service Strategic Plan Goals which are 1) restore, sustain, and enhance the Nation’s forests and grasslands; 2) provide and sustain benefits to the American people; and 7) provide science-based applications and tools for sustainable natural resource management.