Rocky Mountain forests face triple threat

From ThinkProgress:

 

The Rocky Mountain forests that traverse the West are under unprecedented danger from climate-related impacts according to a new report from the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization. The Rockies include national parks like Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and Glacier National Park, and are facing a “triple assault — tree-killing insects, wildfires, and heat and drought — that could fundamentally alter these forests as we know them.”

 

According to the report, titled “Rocky Mountain Forests at Risk,” many western trees are dying from “no obvious cause” like the bark beetle epidemic or increasing threat of wildfire, with scientists suggesting that these deaths are due simply to the hotter and drier conditions associated with climate change. The mortality rate for old-growth trees in undisturbed forests has doubled recently, with a sharp increase in recent years, and there’s been no compensating increase in the number of seedlings.

 

According to National Climate Assessment figures in the report, given very low future carbon emissions, average temperatures in the six Rocky Mountain states could rise to about 3°F above 1971–2000 levels by mid-century. However if emissions remain unchecked, this number could double or triple. In all scenarios, bark beetle infestations are likely to increase, larger wildfires are expected, and early snowmelt and reduced snow cover would lead to water stress.

 

This would make the climate less suitable for characteristic Rockies’ species, including lodgepole pine, Engelmann spruce, ponderosa pine, and Douglas fir, as well as iconic species including whitebark pine, aspen, and piñon pine.

 

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