Pacific Southwest Region |
Climate Change in Region 5Facing the Conservation Challenge of the 21st Century  Monitoring Forest Carbon on the Tahoe National ForestThe Tahoe National Forest and The Nature Conservancy have partnered with a team of public and private organization on a research project that monitors forest carbon and impacts of climate change using forest inventories and emerging remote sensing technologies. The team is establishing permanent forest inventories along a 19 kilometer transect to analyze any altitudinal shifts in vegetation due to climate change. In the Sierra Nevada, vegetation differentiates into a series of distinct altitudinal bands and global warming threatens to shift these bands upward in altitude. The team will also use high resolution satellite imagery from QuickBird and airborne LIDAR technology to quantify forest carbon. California forests constitute a globally important store of carbon that helps to control global climate change. The results will provide a complete characterization of forest species and tree density for improved management of priority areas for conservation. What are we doing about Climate Change?
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“Climate change is the biggest conservation challenge facing the Forest Service in the 21st century and contributing to global efforts that help forests mitigate and adapt to climate change is a priority for the Forest Service in California.” ~ Randy Moore, Pacific Southwest Regional Forester |
