Project Area
The Vermont Land Trust and The Nature Conservancy created the Atlas Timberlands Partnership in 1997, which conserved more than 25,000 acres of forestland in northern Vermont. These lands provided an opportunity for the partnership to explore the challenges associated with managing large tracts of timberland while balancing the ecological, economic and social values associated with the management choices. After this project was implemented, The Nature Conservancy acquired sole ownership of this tract as part of the Burnt Mountain project. This area is now managed under a "forever wild" conservation easement. This adaptation demonstration page summarizes the forest management goals and actions that were in place prior to this change in land ownership and protection status.
Management Goals
Management goals on the property included: conserving water quality and soil productivity, increasing the quality of the timber resource, providing diverse habitats, and providing recreational opportunities.
Climate Change Impacts
Shorter, warmer winters mean that there is less time when optimal conditions for winter harvest exist. Frozen conditions makes it easier to operate large equipment and protect forest soils.
Adaptation Actions
As part of this project, the managers of the project area considered the potential effects of climate change on a block of forestland totaling four hundred acres. Many of the current management activities that were planned for this parcel and also across the entire tract were expected to increase forest resilience to climate change. For example, forest management activities can foster a diversity of tree species and forest habitats, which can help reduce the risks associated with a species declining as conditions change. Additionally, the relative large size of this property and its adjacency to many other large tracts of forest land created a high degree of landscape connectivity, which can reduce ecosystem vulnerability and allow for communities to adapt across the landscape.
Reduced operability for winter logging was a major concern on this property while it was under active management, and it remains so more broadly across the region. Land managers identified a forest stand that would typically be considered “winter ground” because of steep slopes and groundwater seeps. These features make it substantially more expensive to implement harvests in the summer and fall months because more robust roads, water crossings (culverts, bridges, etc.) and other infrastructure are needed to reduce the risk of damage to soils, water, and the residual forest. Through this project, the forest managers identified needed modifications for road and drainage infrastructure that would make it possible to conduct a summer harvest and reduce the potential for negative impacts from logging. Costs, operational difficulties, and impacts were recorded.
The Adaptation Workbook was used to identify the adaptation actions for this project, which included:
5.1. Promote diverse age classes.
5.2. Maintain and restore diversity of native species.
4.2. Prioritize and maintain sensitive or at-risk species or communities.
10.3. Realign significantly disrupted ecosystems to meet expected future conditions.