2015 Proposal: Evaluating management alternatives to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change on whitebark pine ecosystems in the Greater Yellowstone using landscape simulation modeling
2015 Proposal
Dates
Date Received
2015
Summary
Existing climate change science and guidance for restoring and maintaining whitebark pine forests will be evaluated using landscape simulation modeling to inform implementation of the Greater Yellowstone Coordinating Committee (GYCC) Whitebark Pine (WBP) subcommittee’s “WBP Strategy”. We will design a “no constraints” management scenario based on the GYCC WBP Strategy and 2015 publication Restoring whitebark pine ecosystems in the face of climate change and incorporating the latest projections of future climate suitability for WBP and other landscape stressors (mountain pine beetles, competing species, wildland fire). We will use the landscape simulation model FireBGCv2 to simulate interactions of future climate, mountain pine beetles, [...]
Summary
Existing climate change science and guidance for restoring and maintaining whitebark pine forests will be evaluated using landscape simulation modeling to inform implementation of the Greater Yellowstone Coordinating Committee (GYCC) Whitebark Pine (WBP) subcommittee’s “WBP Strategy”. We will design a “no constraints” management scenario based on the GYCC WBP Strategy and 2015 publication Restoring whitebark pine ecosystems in the face of climate change and incorporating the latest projections of future climate suitability for WBP and other landscape stressors (mountain pine beetles, competing species, wildland fire). We will use the landscape simulation model FireBGCv2 to simulate interactions of future climate, mountain pine beetles, and wildland fire on whitebark pine dynamics under no active management, the GYCC WBP Strategy, and the “no constraints” management strategy. The results of the simulation modeling will be used to evaluate how well these management alternatives will maintain resilient whitebark pine ecosystems into the future.
