An area that remains relatively buffered from contemporary climate change over time and enables persistence of valued physical, ecological, and socio-cultural resources.
The Yaak Valley is located in the northwest corner of Montana. Its name is believed to come from the language of the Kootenai people. The Kootenai word for “arrow” is A’ak. The Yaak River is an arrow-…
Once upon a time in Maine, there was a powerful king who said, “All the largest trees in these forests are mine and shall not be cut down!” But he was no conservationist, he wanted them to make…
The Sandwich Wilderness in New Hampshire’s White Mountains covers over 35,000 acres of protected forest, and more than 50 endangered and threatened animal species, bumblebee and…
The Telephone Gap Integrated Resource Project in Vermont’s Green Mountain National Forest is the site of one of the worst logging projects on federal public lands, says the national environmental…
The word Adirondack comes from the Mohawk language. It means “eater of trees,” and was likely used in reference to their neighbors, the Algonquins, who were known to eat tree bark in harsh…
Roads. That’s the thing that’ll mess up a perfectly good wilderness. Back when the United States was being settled, a wilderness was a forbidding place, dangerous and mystical, a savage kingdom of…
It’s noisy in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Gas motors aren’t allowed here, but the loons are making a racket. The ‘no motor’ rule means people get around in canoes and…
True or false, grass is better at storing carbon than trees. That depends. What do we mean by “better”? Do trees store more carbon per plant than grass does? Yes. Trees are big; grass is…
Warmer air and water temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, and altered fire regimes associated with climate change threaten many important natural and cultural resources across the planet. However, not all places on the landscape are changing in the same way. Refugia are areas that remain relatively buffered from contemporary climate change over time and enable persistence of valued physical, ecological, and socio-cultural resources. This can occur from independent or interacting processes that dampen local climatic variability through time or amplify spatial heterogeneity within a region.
An old-growth forest is a late-successional forest characterized by large, long-lived trees, a complex structure with multiple canopy layers, and the presence of dead wood like snags and logs. It develops over long periods, essentially free from significant human disturbance and catastrophic events, fostering high biodiversity. Key characteristics include large living and dead trees, deep organic soil layers, and a variety of plant, fungi, and animal species.
Mature forests are defined ecologically as the stage of forest development immediately before old growth. The mature stage generally begins when a forest stand moves beyond self-thinning, and is often marked by abundance of large trees, vertical canopy layers, aboveground biomass accumulation and stand height.
A network of climate refuges and old growth forests across the country.
Old-growth forests are crucial for carbon sequestration, storing significantly more carbon than young forests due to their large biomass and continued accumulation over time. Older forests hold vast amounts of carbon in their massive trunks, roots, and soils. Protecting existing old-growth forests and preventing deforestation offers greater carbon benefits than planting new forests, as it avoids the release of stored carbon and preserves the deep, stable carbon stocks in the soil.
Biodiversity is the variety of all living things—plants, animals, fungi, and microorganisms—in a particular area, region, or on the entire Earth. When human activities produce greenhouse gases, around half of the emissions remain in the atmosphere, while the other half is absorbed by the land and ocean. These ecosystems –and the biodiversity they contain–are natural carbon sinks, providing so-called nature-based solutions to climate change.
In an Orion Magazine essay called “The Future Logs of Unit 72: Thoughts from an imperiled old-growth forest,” Beth Ann Fennelly writes:
“Because the U.S. Forest Service refers to the parcel of old-growth forest in the Yaak Valley of Montana as ‘Unit 72,’ it will be easier to clear-cut. We learned this trick from history: Tattoo a number on someone’s arm. Refer only to that number.
Then, erase the digits.”
Photos by S N Pattenden and Pete Nuij
