DISES: Enhancing ecological and community resiliency through sustainable forestry and forest-based climate solutions

Interest in Forest-based Climate Solutions (FbCS) has rapidly increased in recent years, due to the rising desire of corporations to assist in mitigating climate change, various financial incentives, and governmental regulations. Forests in the eastern US are a particularly promising area for FbCS projects due to their large carbon storage capacity and low risk of adverse climate change impacts. However, there are massive uncertainties regarding these projects, particularly: 1) their efficacy in removing and storing carbon long-term, and 2) the potential of these projects to benefit and revitalize the rural communities in which they are based. Answering these questions in the eastern US is complicated by the intricacies of the forest carbon cycle, the mosaic of land management and ownership in the region, and unknowns regarding the degree to which FbCS investment flows to, and is retained by, local communities. This research seeks to deepen our understanding of FbCS efficacy and equity from ecological, economic, and political perspectives. This project includes three approaches. First, a network of long-term forest management plots is sampled to quantify how common management practices impact forest carbon storage, climate resilience, and various co-benefits such as water/nutrient retention and biodiversity. Second, small landowners are surveyed, and economic models are employed to understand the barriers that these populations face when enrolling in carbon markets. Third, through ethnographic analysis, taxation data, and stakeholder interviews, this research investigates how FbCS programs distribute benefits and costs to the rural communities in which they are based. Integrating these approaches allows for a test of the hypothesis that increasing efficacy and equity of FbCS projects also increases rural resiliency to decarbonization and climate change. Specifically, this is achieved by: (1) demonstrating how forest ecosystem and community resiliency are linked, (2) providing integrated policy solutions that enhance the equity and efficacy of FbCS in tandem, and (3) identifying how these findings can be applied to other forested communities that are transitioning from a resource extraction economy. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.