Key projected climate change impacts that the project team considered in developing treatments for the Flathead National Forest/Coram Experimental Forest include:
- Uncertain precipitation patterns; expect drier in the summer and wetter in winter and spring
- Earlier snowpack melts
- Longer fire seasons with higher fire frequencies and severities
- Increase in insect and disease outbreaks
Climate change will present challenges and opportunities for accomplishing the management objectives of the Flathead National Forest including:
CHALLENGES
- Possible increase of wildfire in ecosystems where fire exclusion has led to an abundance of forest fuels and high crown fire hazard
- Western larch may decline in areas with lower water availability and declining groundwater flows
OPPORTUNITES
- Growth rates in western larch may increase if warmer temperatures coincide with more growing season precipitation
- Possible changes in species distribution due to an increase in the number of frost-free days and warmer conditions