West Coast forest landowners are expected to adapt to climate change by gradually switching from Douglas-fir to other types of trees such as hardwoods and ponderosa pine, according to a new Oregon State University study.
West Coast forest landowners are expected to adapt to climate change by gradually switching from Douglas-fir to other types of trees such as hardwoods and ponderosa pine, according to a new Oregon State University study.
The study, the first to estimate an economic model of forest-planting choices by landowners as a function of climate, is published in the Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
Natural science analyses of forests and climate find evidence that Douglas-fir will be less productive in the Pacific Northwest under a warming climate, but those analyses haven’t considered how landowners will respond, said David Lewis, an economist in OSU’s College of Agricultural Sciences and co-author on the study.
Lewis co-authored the study with lead author Yukiko Hashida, a 2017 Ph.D. graduate from OSU who is now an assistant professor at the University of Georgia. “Our finding is based on evidence of forest planting choices along the West Coast,” Lewis said. “The overall share of the forest landscape comprised of Douglas-fir will change gradually since only a small fraction of land is harvested every year.”
Read more at Oregon State University
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