The use of Boswellia tree’s fragrant resin, known as frankincense has been used in religious rituals and medicines for thousands of years. Those same uses have only increased in popularity throughout the world, and have made their way into western culture, where frankincense is a main ingredient in many skin...
Climate change represents an increasing threat to northeastern temperate forests. Nearly all forest communities have been affected by climate change and require climate-adaptation management (Jandl et al. 2018). Climate-adaptation management (CAM) promotes the viability of forested systems and the ecosystem services they provide under current and future climatic conditions (Bolte...
Mohonk Preserve intends to manage their forestland more actively with the mission of promoting forest health, climate-adaptation, and overall ecosystem health for the benefit of their community and recreational users. Climate-adaptive management recommendations (recommendations that address climate change vulnerabilities —by promoting either resistance, resilience, or transition— while helping to meet...
Boreal and temperate biomes host nearly half of the earth’s forested ecosystems. The temperate rainforests of the Pacific coast of North America constitute nearly half of all temperate rainforests on earth. Along the northern extent of this region, the perhumid and sub-polar rainforests of southeast and southcentral Alaska are among...
Land management agencies are faced with decreasing budgets and staff, even as acres in need of restoration treatment are increasing. Rural communities in the West are still suffering from sharp declines in timber harvests since the 1990s and are now contending with wildfires that are increasing in size and severity....
The hazards-of-place model of vulnerability to environmental hazards posits that vulnerability has biophysical and social components. While biophysical characteristics are important in predicting locations of elevated wildfire risk, the social characteristics of human communities may help us predict locations of elevated wildfire impacts. We examine the relationship between biophysical and...
This capstone study reports on global warming-induced changes to the Colorado subalpine zone climate and disturbance regimes. It assesses the impacts of these changes upon the dominant subalpine tree species and summarizes future species distribution modeling for these and other nearby species potentially suitable for the future subalpine zone in...
Floodplains are a significant and increasingly threatened ecosystem. As restoration projects are implemented more frequently in degraded floodplains, novel methods are emerging with a focus on restoring critical processes in which vegetation plays a key role. The purpose of this paper is two-fold: 1) to develop expectations for vegetation response,...
This project provides insight on the current state of forest management policy, as it relates to climate change in the United States. It analyzes the current statutory framework that governs the management of National Forests and administrative Executive Orders that can determine federal agency direction. A comparative analysis is conducted...
The City of Wilsonville, Oregon (City) located between Portland and Salem on Interstate-5 was historically a small farming community that has grown into a thriving city. The development required to meet the population growth and diverse industries of the area has led to increased development and urbanization. These changes in...