Climate Education: Assisted Migration for--Trees?

Sunday, December 15, 9:15-10:45 am, in the Faith Parlor     Class began with Unitarian Universalist Connie Barlow's* video which explores the prospects of human-assisted migration  (“assisted colonization”) of America’s forest trees in this time of rapid climate change.  [located via http://thegreatstory.org/climate-trees-legacy.html ]

     In addition, with handouts we took a brief look at a surprising advantage of prairies vs. forests as carbon sinks.

Here are class notes which were provided as a handout: 

  
Pt. 1: INTRODUCTION : CLIMATE, TREES, and LEGACY.  (Click here to play video.)
This is a learning and action series for helping trees adapt to climate change — species by species, decade by decade. "Assisted migration" in a time of unprecedented climate shift will be increasingly necessary in the decades ahead. Foresters can create the maps to show us where species will need to move to. But we citizen naturalists will play a complementary role in ensuring that the full diversity of genotypes keeps pace with a warming and drying continent.  43 minutes - published January 4, 2014

[For more on "Assisted Migration," this link is extensive, but there is a good summary about one page down.The full title is "Assisted Migration (Assisted Colonization, Managed Relocation, Translocation) and Rewilding of Plants and Animals in an Era of Rapid Climate Change." ]

These two articles explore the role of prairies as carbon sinks, especially in the West and other arid areas:  

How Texas Prairies Could Help Prevent Climate Change. Texas Observer, 9/6/19.
https://www.texasobserver.org/climate-change-texas-prairie-grass-carbon-sink/  (Includes reference to following article.)

-   While our climate is becoming more hostile to trees, grasslands may emerge as more resilient.

-   Tall grass prairies once covered 90% of Texas

-   Only 1% of native prairies remain.

-   Federal protections are few

-   More reliable carbon sink than forests

o   Trees need more water and milder temps

o   Carbon underground stays there when there is fire.

-   With managed grazing, better return for ranchers: $200 more per cow; half the cost vs reliance on hay.

   Grasslands More Reliable Carbon Sinks Than Forests, study from UC Davis, 7/9/18, https://phys.org/news/2018-07-grasslands-reliable-carbon-trees.html

-   Univ. of California, Davis study evaluates grasslands vs trees for cap-and-trade market

-   Forests consume about ¼ of the CO2 produced by humans

-   In all but most aggressive emissions reductions scenarios, grassland carbon sinks are more resilient.

o   4 scenarios were, 1) Carbon emissions largely stop; temp rises 1.7C by 2100. 
2) Business as usual, 4.8C by 2100   3) periodic drought intervals 4) Megadrought; lasts 100 yrs or more.

o    In most models, grasslands store more carbon than forests because less impacted by wildfires.

-   Semi-arid environments cover about 40% of the planet.

o   Grasslands store most of their carbon underground in roots and soil.

o   Trees store most on woody biomass and leaves.

o   130 million trees have died in California.

o   5 largest fire seasons have occurred since 2006.

*Connie Barlow has created a UU Children’s Religious Education curriculum on evolution (“The Great Story”), and is the wife of UU minister Michael Dowd, creator of the “Pro-Future Faith” ethic and course that Mike Ignatowski has been exploring on fourth Thursdays. She has retired into full-time climate-forestry activism.
LOCATION: Wildflower Unitarian Universalist Church, 1314 E. Oltorf, in the Faith Parlor, across from the sanctuary.