Climate Adaptive Management in the Northeastern United States: Common Strategies and Motivations of Rural and Urban Foresters

Despite the mounting imperative for managers to help forests adapt to the rapidly shifting climate and related stressors, significant gaps remain between recommendations for adaptive forest management and its actual implementation across the globe. The research presented here offers a novel qualitative analysis regarding the current nature, extent, and drivers of adaptive management in the northeastern United States. Based on 32 in-depth semi-structured interviews with rural (n = 17) and urban foresters (n = 15) across New England and New York, we share a summary of (1) important environmental drivers of adaptation across the region, (2) commonly employed adaptive strategies, (3) significant barriers to adaptation, and (4) approaches to working through named barriers. We categorize adaptive practices of foresters as options of resistance, resilience, or transition, highlighting opportunities to increase the use of all three options across the landscape. Study Implications: Rural and urban foresters across the northeastern United States are responding to climate change with resistance and resilience-oriented adaptation practices. To achieve a greater mix of adaptation practices and outcomes on the ground, more focus can be given to mitigating risks associated with transition-oriented practices like assisted migration. Efforts can include outreach that compares the risks of not using transition practices (i.e., wait-and-see approach) with the financial risks of a preemptive approach and guidance for unfamiliar practices like planting future-adapted tree species. Financial assistance and public outreach may also increase the use of all three adaptation options across the region.