Climate Change and the Klamath-Siskiyou

The Klamath Siskiyou Wildlands Center recognizes that all of the advocacy and conservation work we do takes place within an emerging paradigm of long-term, large-scale priorities.

It is now widely understood that global climate change is the overarching crisis facing humanity. Our continued survival and that of biodiversity on earth largely depends on our ability to recognize the severity of what we have set in motion and take appropriately bold action to reign in the runaway train of global warming.

The core program work of KS Wild involves keeping old growth forests standing, gaining permanent protection for large swaths of wildlands and stopping other ecologically destructive practices from road building to industrial mining. All of these efforts overlap with priorities being identified to counter climate change.

In particular, as scientific understanding deepens it is becoming ever more clear that intact native forests play a major role in carbon sequestration. Recent studies reveal that uncut forests hold more than three times the carbon previously thought- and more than 60% more than plantation forests.

It is estimated that deforestation is responsible for 20% of global carbon emissions- second only to the burning of fossil fuels.

These realizations add to the long list of reasons the Klamath Siskiyou is a globally significant landscape, and they place an added relevance and urgency to our ongoing efforts to keep the KS wild.

The Rogue Basin climate study

The Rogue Basin climate study is one of the first in the nation to boil global warming down to the local level, and many of its findings are sobering. While forecasting the specifics of climate change is notoriously difficult, the study makes many detailed predictions- the highlights are summarized here:

#  Expected increases in year-round temperatures of up to 3 degrees Fahrenheit by 2040 and up to 8 degrees by 2080. Summertime high temperatures are likely to rise by up to 15 degrees by 2080.

# A dramatic decrease in snow accumulation with earlier mountain snowmelt, transition from snow to rain, and higher and flashier winter and spring runoff events. Less snow in the mountains means extended low stream flows in the summer.

# An increase in the amount of biomass burned by wildfires by 2040, according to two models in the report. However, the number of wildfires is expected to decrease toward the end of the century because of changing vegetation.

# A gradual shift from conifers to hardwoods such as oaks and madrone. The changing vegetation is expected to decrease biodiversity.

# Increased and extended summer temperatures along with extended periods of lower summer stream flows. This likely will result in decreased dissolved oxygen and increased incidence of bacteria and disease, producing fish kills.

# Increased incidence of fire as well as longer fire seasons, larger fires and higher-elevation fires that would likely affect vegetation and wildlife and could lead to sudden shifts in ecological communities.

# Increased invasive species and pest issues.

# Increase of chaparral, grasslands and scrublands because of hotter and drier climate. Drought-tolerant species that may benefit include oak, madrone and mountain mahogany.

# Decrease in high-elevation wildlife such as Clark's nutcracker. High-elevation vegetation, including hemlock and wildflowers, may also be at risk.

# Decline in amphibians because of lack of mobility, affinity for unique microsites and susceptibility to drought, heat and habitat change.

Click here to download the entire Rogue Basin climate study (5.5MB).

Click here to download a newly released report commissioned by Defenders of Wildlife as a comprehensive scientific literature review of climate change and forests called: The Implications of Climate Change for Conservation, Restoration, and Management of National Forest Lands