Effects of Forest Management and Climate Scenarios on Biodiversity in the Sierra Nevada Mountains

Presented by: Kathy Zeller

Restoring forest health and resilience are high priorities for forest managers. However, in the face of various stressors like disturbance and climate change, there are many uncertainties regarding the effectiveness of forest management strategies. In an attempt to reduce this uncertainty, vegetative change in the Tahoe Central Sierra Mountains has been simulated over a 40-year time period with a spatially explicit disturbance-succession model. Different management strategy scenarios (area treated and frequency of treatment) and disturbances (fire and insect-caused tree mortality) were modeled under an RCP 8.5 emissions scenario. We evaluated how a suite of terrestrial wildlife species respond to this landscape under different management strategies, both in terms of habitat suitability and connectivity. These results will reduce some of the uncertainty around forest management decisions by informing how different management scenarios might affect biodiversity in the study area under a changing climate. 

April 13, 10:00 - 11:00 MT

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