Resilient Woodlands for People and Nature
Climate Change in the Woodlands Partnership Region of Northwestern Massachusetts
Forests and communities in the Woodlands Partnership region need to adapt as changes in climate start to impact New England landscapes. Management approaches that embrace natural solutions and responsible stewardship can make a difference. Projects are being implemented today that can demonstrate how forest stewardship can help create resilience today and for the future.
Woodlands Partnership Region
The Woodlands Partnership of Northwest Massachusetts is a unique local effort to both conserve our forests and enhance our region’s rural, land-based economy across the Northern Berkshire Mountains, hill towns, and riverside villages of northwestern Massachusetts. In 2013, a group of citizens who live and work in the northwestern corner of the state came together as leaders and representatives from about 30 entities—towns, nonprofit organizations, and business and academic organizations—to work cooperatively with the regional planning agencies in Franklin and Berkshire Counties, the State, and the U.S. Forest Service to create the Woodlands Partnership and further its goals.
Maps Illustrating Multiple Dimensions of the Woodlands Partnership Region
Forests of the Woodlands Partnership Region
The forests and watersheds of the Northern Berkshire Mountains and foothills are the focus of the Woodlands Partnership. Often described as the most rural and heavily forested corner of the Commonwealth (83% forested), the region has a population density of 87 people per square mile (compared to 884 state-wide). The population of this region is statistically older and less ethnically diverse than the rest of the state and is also declining in numbers—by almost 5% between 2010 and 2020—with a similar decline anticipated by 2040. The low population density, with many towns having populations of less than 1,000 people, has created challenges for small town governments to maintain a tax base to adequately fund some public services and staff positions. Thus, residents identified municipal sustainability as another focus of the Woodlands Partnership, in concert with economic development that recognizes the importance of the forest resources in the region.
Climate Change in the Region
Since the turn of last century, temperatures in the region have risen approximately 2.4 degrees Fahrenheit and are expected to rise another 3.5 to 8.5 degrees by 2100. Alarmingly, winter temperatures have increased 3.5 degrees in the past 100 years, resulting in shorter, warmer winters. Over the same time period, annual rainfall increased by nearly 7 inches. Increases in winter precipitation are expected to make up most of the increase in the future, while summer precipitation may decrease, leading to drought and stress on forests during the growing season. Concurrently, rainfall and snowfall are becoming more likely to occur during sudden and dramatic precipitation events, causing erosion and flooding across the region.
Projected climate change impact on precipitation Mass. | Massachusetts Wildlife Climate Action Tool
Projected climate change impact on temperature in Mass. | Massachusetts Wildlife Climate Action Tool
Increasingly, Partnership communities are faced with the consequences of these changes. In 2023, dramatic summer flooding destroyed croplands across the Commonwealth, impacting over 75 farms and destroying over $15 million in agricultural products. North Adams, the second largest community in Berkshire County, estimated at least $2 million in infrastructure damage. Severe events like this are expected to be more common in a warming climate.
Image: Flooding in North Adams, July 2023
Threats to Forests
These factors will also dramatically shape the composition and structure of regional forests. Drought, flooding and changes to the historical temperature regime will have profound impacts on soil moisture and will change suitable habitat ranges for plants and animals alike. Shorter, warmer winters provide the conditions for pests and pathogens to flourish, as the number sub-freezing days which kill them decrease.
For instance, trees like white pine and birch, which are common across the region today, are expected to experience more stress from drought and other factors related to climate change in the future. This stress will impact their ability to regenerate, grow and remain healthy, and will ultimately change how and where they appear on the landscape. Likewise, hemlock and ash species will experience these same climate stressors in addition to additional impacts from insect pests like hemlock wooly adelgid and emerald ash borer, insects that can severely damage the trees. Combined with the ability of oak and maple species to endure in the face of these threats, over time the region could see dramatic changes in the composition and diversity of forests.
Climate change impact on forests
For more about forests and climate change, visit the Forest and Climate page on the Virtual Forest Center.
Forests as a Climate Solution
Fortunately, while forests may experience stress in the face of these changes, they also remain one of the best solutions to the climate problem. The soils, standing dead wood, living biomass and leaf litter that make up a healthy forest ecosystem are highly efficient at sequestering carbon from the atmosphere and storing it for a long time. This is commonly referred to as the forest’s mitigation potential, or its ability to help remove or reduce the risks from climate change. Nature-based climate solutions, like those that forests provide, can contribute up to 30% of the global target for climate risk mitigation. This is why today, more than ever, responsible forest stewardship is emerging as an important and necessary topic of conversation with landowners of all types. Fortunately, while forests may experience stress in the face of these changes, they also remain one of the best solutions to the climate problem.
The soils, standing dead wood, living biomass and leaf litter that make up a healthy forest ecosystem are highly efficient at sequestering carbon from the atmosphere and storing it for a long time. This is commonly referred to as the forest’s mitigation potential, or its ability to help remove or reduce the risks from climate change. Nature-based climate solutions, like those that forests provide, can contribute up to 30% of the global target for climate risk mitigation. This is why today, more than ever, responsible forest stewardship is emerging as an important and necessary topic of conversation with landowners of all types. Fortunately, while forests may experience stress in the face of these changes, they also remain one of the best solutions to the climate problem.
Embracing Resilience
Municipal and private landowners who explore climate-smart forest stewardship opportunities can support resilience both in their communities and forests.
To help improve a forest’s ability to adapt to and help mitigate dramatic environmental changes, communities and individuals can take actions today that keep forests diverse, complex and vigorous while ensuring their continued presence in the future. These actions will protect critical forest ecosystem services and allow communities to adapt and remain resilient as environmental conditions change.
Forest Resilience
Forest resilience is defined as “the capacity of a forest to respond to a disturbance by resisting damage or stress and recovering quickly” (Catanzaro and D’Amato 2016). Actions that promote resilience typically include forest stewardship strategies that increase biodiversity and improve the establishment of young trees, while reducing stressors on our forests. For example, a biodiverse forest that is more resilient will have trees that vary in size, age, and species and will have fewer stressors, such as invasive species.
These strategies can help a forest respond better to varying climatic conditions and help maintain its structure and function over time and through environmental change. This defines a forest’s adaptation potential, or its ability to continue to satisfy essential social, economic and cultural needs in the face of change. These needs, such as clean air and water, wildlife habitat, timber products and recreational spaces, are often called ecosystem services.
For more about resilient forests, visit Forests and Climate Change at the Virtual Forest Center.
Resilient People and Communities
By some measures, the ecosystem services provided by forests deliver over $12,000 in economic value per forested acre to surrounding communities1 (FEMA). Taking steps to responsibly manage forests can be critical to long-term community health and prosperity and can support local and regional climate mitigation and adaptation strategies. For instance, during dramatic rainfall events forests can provide erosion control and stream bank stabilization, which can prevent or reduce the risk of flooding. Cooling shade in forested areas can provide a refuge from rising temperatures as well as places for recreation and spiritual renewal. Maintaining forest biodiversity can preserve access to food and forage and support pollinator species critical to regional agricultural health and sustainability. Actively managed woodlands can provide wood and other forest products to help local economies.
Working with Your Forest
There are a range of options available to landowners and managers as they think about how to preserve their forests. These options can support a range of goals – from biodiversity and habitat preservation, to carbon sequestration and storage, to long-term economic viability – so it is important to focus on goals for your land first, then create a plan that works to help you meet them.
The type of stewardship strategy that landowners pursue depends on the goals they might have for their forested land. It may be best to take a more hands-on active management approach in forests that are stressed or that are vulnerable to future conditions. On the other hand, passive management approaches, such as permanent forest reserves, are often best in areas that are healthy or that may be a high priority for cultural or ecological conservation. Often, these strategies are referred to as a wildlands approach, which is typically passive and hands-off, or a woodlands approach, which requires more active management and planning.
A combination of both passive and active forest management approaches is often possible depending on how much land you have and the different ecological conditions on the land. Either approach is perfectly legitimate, and the decision as to which strategies to pursue (and the degree to which they are pursued) really depends on the outcomes and goals that have been defined for the land
Active Management and a Woodlands Approach
Active forest management allows for community and family forests to use sustainable forest management to address forest health concerns, while building the forest’s ability to recover from future threats (adaptation). This can result in a working forest that provides forest products such as timber and wood fuel to support families and communities, or other benefits such as recreation, wildlife habitat, or climate resilience.
Passive Management and a Wildlands Approach
Wildlands serve a critical function on the landscape. Their presence can contribute to biodiversity, habitat preservation and forest resilience. They can also serve as reference ecosystems for science and ecological study now and in the future. And, as mentioned above, they can play a key role in climate change mitigation through carbon sequestration and storage.
Planned passive management strategies are most often applied in a wildland scenario. It is important to remember that a passive management approach does not mean no management at all. In fact, a plan focused on developing or maintaining a wildland may include specific activities focused on:
- Avoiding forest loss and eliminating risks of forest conversion
- Responding to disturbance to reduce forest degradation and optimize climate benefits
- Establishing forest reserves to avoid risk of harvesting and monitoring a forest self-sustainability
This type of management is based on a deep understanding of the forest and the goals for it, and involves the careful selection of practices, usually provided by a Forest Stewardship Plan. This type of management offers benefits over a no management approach by supporting a “right strategy - right place” approach to forest stewardship.
Distribution of permanently preserved wildlands in New England | Harvard Forest, Highstead, and Northeast Wilderness Trust
Forest Stewardship Options
The options that are available to manage your forest can be confusing and challenging to navigate. Fortunately, there are several programs available that are designed to help meet forest stewardship goals, whatever they might be. With the help of a licensed forester, often available at little or no cost, these programs are designed to provide both immediate and long-term support.
Forest Stewardship Plan
A Forest Stewardship Plan documents your options for management practices that will lead to a productive and healthy forest for the next generation. Soil and water quality, climate impacts, wildlife and fish habitat, timber and other wood products, and outdoor recreation are among the many factors considered when developing the Forest Stewardship Plan. The plan recommends actions that will protect or increase the environmental values of your forest while providing social or economic benefits. These benefits may include management actions that help you qualify for tax breaks and other financial incentives.
Foresters for the Birds Plan
The Foresters for the Birds program trains foresters to assess existing bird habitat in a forest, make recommendations for improvement, and plan out bird friendly management strategies. Empowering landowners to manage forests for birds is important because about 75% of our forests in Massachusetts are privately owned. Therefore, enabling management on these lands can greatly contribute to the conservation of our forest birds. This program requires 10 acres of forest or more to be considered.
Climate Smart Forestry Plan
Climate smart forest stewardship (which integrates considerations of climate vulnerability and forest carbon into sustainable forestry) can help forested landscapes respond to climate change. This form of stewardship intentionally focuses on helping forests maintain their function under changing conditions and requires the adoption of strategies that promote both climate adaptation and mitigation. This type of plan may also consider economic opportunities in carbon markets that may be relevant to the forest you are managing. Climate smart forest stewardship (which integrates considerations of climate vulnerability and forest carbon into sustainable forestry) can help forested landscapes respond to climate change. This form of stewardship intentionally focuses on helping forests maintain their function under changing conditions and requires the adoption of strategies that promote both climate adaptation and mitigation. This type of plan may also consider economic opportunities in carbon markets that may be relevant to the forest you are managing.
Stewardship in Action
There is much that can be learned by stewardship actions that are being pursued by municipalities and private landowners today. The following stories are a sample of the people and places that are working with foresters, programs and partners to introduce resilience and health to their forests.
Learning from Demonstration Forests
Demonstration forests are managed areas that show best practices for research, practice development, and education. These areas help advance forestry while promoting implementation and improving the forest's condition. Demonstration forests also provide meaningful opportunities for policy makers to learn about forests before, during, and after the creation of forest-related legislation. The demonstration forests that are being established within the Woodlands Partnership will both increase the resilience of municipal-owned and publicly accessible forestland while providing opportunities for the public to learn about climate-smart forestry and its resilience benefits
Notch Reservoir, North Adams, MA
The Notch Reservoir woodlands (1,088-acres) are situated within a watershed that supplies drinking water to the City of North Adams. Notch Reservoir (11.75-acres) is a feeder reservoir to the Mount Williams Reservoir located 1-mile north of the property. The property is extremely important for the protection of water quality for the City of North Adams. The property’s main function has been to supply clean water to the residents of North Adams. The property has also been managed for forest products periodically over time.
The greatest health concern on the property is the dense overstory stocking and the lack of desired regeneration in the understory found in most of the areas west of Notch Brook. The forest stands west of Notch Brook have not been managed for approximately 30 years. These mature woodlands have a closed canopy with very little desired regeneration in the understory due to a lack of sunlight reaching the forest floor. The areas east of Notch Brook have been recently harvested and are producing adequate and desired regeneration in the understory, as well as a greater diversity of plants and shrubs in the understory for wildlife food and cover.
Promoting management that promotes “resilience” will be the preferred method of management when it comes to projected climate change conditions. This approach will allow for the forest on the property to experience some changes with the goal of retaining existing species and habitat characteristics as much as possible, while understanding that some characteristics will change. Promoting a secondary strategy of “transition” to future adapted species and plant communities will be pursued as the property is monitored for regeneration successes and failures. Another management consideration must be “resisting” climate change in vulnerable habitat along Notch Reservoir and Notch Brook for water quality protection.
Pelham Lake Park, Rowe, MA
Pelham Lake Park is a treasured forest and lake landscape located in the heart of Rowe, Massachusetts. The 1,412-acre park occupies most of the northern triangle of land between Pond Road and Davis Mine Road. Over 1,300 of these acres are forested. Another 81 acres makes up Pelham Lake itself. From the shores of the lake, the forest stretches up the mountainside and provides a range of ecotypes, places to explore, and habitat for wildlife. Over twenty miles of trails wind through the park, providing access and recreational opportunities for local residents and nearby community members.
Having a healthy future forest with a diverse array of species at Pelham Lake is an important climate adaptation step for the management of this land. However, several forest stands and tree species are at risk in a changing climate [see map].
Planning for the future requires securing and then nurturing a new, more vigorous cohort of young trees under changing and often adverse conditions. This includes the selective harvest of some species to create space for a younger, more diverse selection of trees. It will be important to protect them from deer browse and invasive species as these trees grow.
Forest stands in Pelham Lake Park and their climate vulnerability scores
Learning from Private Landowners
Notchview, The Trustees
Windsor, MA
The single largest property stewarded by The Trustees, Notchview, located in Windsor, Massachusetts, includes more than 3,100 acres of forests, wetlands, grasslands, early successional habitats and a high degree of regional forest connectivity. With an average elevation of approximately 2,000 feet, Notchview experiences a colder climate than much of the region, allowing for the existence of more northern species – and is threatened by the changing climate.
The Stowe Property
Conway, MA
In 2015, Elizabeth and Maynard Stowe hold 23 acres of forested land together jointly and privately, with no family trust in place. At that time, the woodland was overgrown with invasive plants such as Bittersweet, Japanese barberry, Privet, Buckthorn and Honeysuckle making it difficult to cross and offering degraded wildlife habitat. They were aware of the risks that climate change might pose to their land, and they set an intention to manage their forest with long-term adaptation and resilience in mind.
Developing Your Resilience Strategy
For more information about working with your forest, visit the Virtual Forest Center of the Northwest Partnership of Massachusetts .
- Learn more about forests in Massachusetts
- Learn about how to care for your forests
- Find resources to get started with a stewardship plan on your private land
- Discover resources designed for municipal landowners
