A NEW CHALLENGE FOR BOREAL FORESTS
Even the planet’s northernmost tree canopy is feeling the effects of climate change
To find a boreal forest, head north. Further north. Keep going. You know you’ve found it when even summer days feel a bit cool and evergreens dominate the landscape.
Boreal forests are the furthest-north forests you can find, tucked into some of the coldest parts of the planet — the subarctic landscapes of Canada, the U.S., Finland, Norway, Russia, Japan, and China. The trees found here are hearty evergreens, primarily pines, spruces, and firs.
As their subarctic locations would suggest, these forests experience long, cold winters with permanently frozen ground. And the trees like it that way.
But not even the climate this far north is immune to the effects of climate change.
A COLD FOREST IN A WARMING WORLD
Though it is typically most mentioned in reference to warmer regions, climate change has reached these remote corners of the planet. And the warming temps are wreaking havoc.
The southern edges of the forest range are no longer able to sustain the critical permafrost nor the evergreen canopy,
so the forest is retreating. Scientists have confirmed that the trees are also expanding north into areas once too cold even for them, but this gain is happening at a slower rate than the loss in the southern parts of the forest.
Unfortunately, the shrinking boreal forest means more than lost trees — as if that isn’t enough. This forest type is responsible for storing significant amounts of carbon in the trees as well as in the permafrost layer of the soil. It’s a carbon sink in danger of draining.
PLANTING TO PROTECT THE PLANET
These forests are feeling the heat of climate change. It’s one more reason the Arbor Day Foundation is planting trees at a massive scale — including in the boreal forests of Canada — fighting climate change with the most effective solution nature has created. Thank you for helping to plant trees where they can do the most good for the planet.
SHIELDING A SACRED TRIBAL FOOD SOURCE WITH TREES
The legacy and destiny of salmon in the Pacific Northwest
Woven intimately with the culture of Native American tribes in the Pacific Northwest, salmon are the backbone of their diet, religion, and economy. According to the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (CRITFC), salmon is hailed as a traditional “first food,” designated for its importance to tribes thousands of years before contact with outside cultures.
“We don’t exist separate from our first foods,” says Jill-Marie Gavin, CRITFC public information specialist. “We’ve always been taught if you take care of your first foods, your first foods will take care of you.”
But non-native communities haven’t always served as considerate caretakers for salmon. The species and its habitat have faced forest clear-cutting along tributaries, erosion from gold dredging, and the construction of multiple, disruptive dams. A salmon population of 17 million throughout the mid-1800s in the Pacific Northwest plummeted to 1 million a century later. Salmon were barreling toward extinction.
Until tribes helped turn the tides.
FIRST, THE FIGHT FOR THE LAND
Through a series of court battles in the 1970s, tribal leaders took back the fishing rights established in early treaties with the United States. Soon after, CRITFC was formed to continue to protect those rights, grow the salmon population, and protect the watersheds, which included trees, where salmon live.
CRITFC communications director Jeremy FiveCrows says habitat restoration is a key part of the organization’s work. The group collaborates with ranchers to limit cattle exposure to salmon habitat and reconstruct the natural, curving streams that some landowners had straightened out.
“It’s really heartening when you see where they’ll put the meanders back in and give a little jumpstart by planting riparian trees,” FiveCrows says. “It only takes a couple of years … and then nature kind of takes over.”
FACING A NEW ADVERSARY
Historically in the Pacific Northwest, massive mountain snowpacks melt a steady supply of cool, fresh water into salmon streams. But as temperatures continue to rise, snowpacks are shrinking. Water levels in rivers are lower and river temperatures are warmer. As
a cold-water species, this is problematic for salmon. Water conditions above 70 degrees Fahrenheit are lethal.
CRITFC leaders worry that if warmer water temperatures continue to push north, it could push salmon out of the region they’ve called home for thousands of years.
“If the first foods range moves north, then it’s like the first foods have left us. We’re still going to be in this place, but the foods will have moved on,” FiveCrows says. “What a destruction that would be to the cultures that are based on those foods.”
Cultural consequences for tribes are not the sole worry. Salmon are a major contributor to the region’s biodiversity. According to the Wild Salmon Center, at least 137 different species depend on the marine-rich nutrients that salmon provide.
PLANTING HOPE FOR THE FUTURE
The Arbor Day Foundation is working to help cool down overheated waterways in Oregon’s Willamette Basin. In the last 15 years, the organization has helped to plant more than 4 million trees along the riverbanks. Scientists say trees can reduce temperatures by up to 10 degrees Fahrenheit. For salmon, that’s the difference between life and death.
Though climate change will likely continue to be a tough opponent for salmon, CRITFC leaders feel optimistic about the future.
“The salmon is not separate from us, and we are not separate from the salmon. So, we will survive and we’ll figure out how to bring that piece of us with us,” Gavin pledged.
← Known for its critical salmon habitat, the Pacific Northwest is also part of the American Pacific West — one of the Arbor Day Foundation’s five priority regions that data indicates is in need of massive restoration efforts.
RESTORING OUR FORESTS — TOGETHER
Thank you for supporting restoration in forests that need trees most
The challenges of today can seem overwhelming. In our recent Emergency Forest Replanting Appeal, we shared the significant need for reforestation on a large scale. Too many trees are being lost every day to wildfires, disease, insects, storms, and deforestation — trees that are essential for the future of our planet.
And you responded with action. More than 19,000 dedicated members and donors just like you have stepped up to help restore our forests. This support means critical tree planting where it’s needed most.
The trees we plant today are the ones that shape our future. Thank you for helping to ensure that future is green.
