The impact of climate change on forest systems in the northern United States: Projections and implications for forest management [Chapter 8]

Forests play an essential role in the social, economic, and ecological lives of the inhabitants of the northern United States. Forests cover 69.6 million ha, or 42% of the land area of this region, which is both the most heavily forested and the most densely populated quadrant of the United States (Fig. 1). To preserve a full range of forest ecosystem services into the future, managers are working to identify and implement strategies and tactics that take into account the potentially dramatic effects of a changing climate (Nagel et al., 2010). The region encompasses almost 30° of longitude and 10° of latitude and extends from the Atlantic Ocean west to the Great Plains, containing 20 states: Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin.