Scientists planting 400 acres of Minnesota pines to survive climate change (Good News!)
Scientists from the Nature Conservancy and elsewhere are planning ahead with efforts to save the Minnesota conifer forests.
They have identified areas that are best for the seedlings to survive - some 50,000.
Climate scientists predict that, even if global carbon emissions are held to the rates agreed upon in the Paris Climate Accord, average temperatures will rise by 2 to 4 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of this century. That means the pines of northern Minnesota would give way to a hardwood and grass ecosystem, said Lee Frelich, a University of Minnesota professor who studies climate change and forests.
If that's what happens, then the conifer stronghold will work, he said. But if carbon emissions and climate change continue to accelerate, then in time, northern Minnesota will instead look a lot like Kansas, Frelich said, and no boreal species will survive long-term.
http://www.startribune.com/saving-minnesotan-s-northern-forests-one-site-at-a-time/423853843/
Good news!
= new reply since forum marked as read
