Thread by @EFrost_Wildwood

It doesn't take a scientist or forester to see that NAmerica's forests are changing rapidly, sometimes in ways never seen before. For #thicktrunktuesday let's review some new terms being used to describe these changes, & take a tour thru America's Forests of the Anthropocene. 🧵

'Ghost forests' are those killed by sea level rise or increased flooding tied to climate change. Bc of rising water tables, once coastal forests die they're unlikely to be replaced. Ghost forests have been ⬆️ rapidly along parts of the eastern seaboard. 2/ washingtonpost.com/climate-enviro…

'Zombie forests' are comprised of trees that established near of the edge of their envrmtl tolerance & are surviving now, but their long-term persistence is likely doomed bc the increasingly warmer/drier climate no longer supports them. 3/ washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/…

“Because trees are so long-lived, we see trees persisting in places that no longer have forest climates...Many of the low-elevation forests in CA are in that state.” ~Chris Field, Director of Stanford University’s Woods Institute of the Environment 4/ woods.stanford.edu/stanford-wildf…

Research by Field's lab suggests that ~20% of conifer forests in the Sierra Nevada (covering 2,000 sq mi) are zombie forests. Once trees on these sites die - due to a combination of wildfire, drought, insects & disease - they are unlikely to regenerate. 5/ sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/…

'Phantom forests' refer to areas subject to tree planting projects that failed bc trees died from drought, poor design, wildfire, etc. Altho well-intentioned, such efforts often have adverse impacts on climate mitigation via false carbon offsets. 6/ e360.yale.edu/features/phant…

Last but by no means least, can you guess what a 'Shadow forest' is? Let's start by defining shadow in this context: "as in trace; an attenuated or vestigial remnant of something previously fully-formed but now lost or vanished." (Merriam-Webster) 7/

Shadow forests are forests so transformed by human actions they are no longer similar to what was or function as they previously did. In the 21st century, most people have no awareness of or experience w/the prior "non-shadow" versions. Here are some better-known US examples: 8/

Forests w/dominant tree species that have been lost due to logging &/or disease -- examples are American chestnut (eastern US), Port Orford-cedar (southwest OR/northern CA), and currently underway, whitebark pine (western US). 9/

Bottomland hardwood forests east of the Mississippi, such as those dominated by bald cypress (the oldest tree species in eastern NAmerica; up to 2,500 yrs) and Tupelo; >98% of which have been lost to logging and conversion of wetlands. 10/

The country's great pine forests that once covered vast portions of upper midwest (eastern white, red), southeast (longleaf, loblolly) & western states (especially sugar, ponderosa & western white). Remnants still remain (mostly in West) but >90% went to the mills long ago. 11/

PNW coastal temperate rainforests -- ~98% have been logged off in Oregon and >75% in WA. These moisture-loving forests were some of the most biomass-rich on earth, dominated by ancient Sitka spruce, Douglas-fir, red cedar & western hemlock. Remnants remain (also in BC). 12/

Stands of trees still can be found today in most shadow forest locations, but as forests they bear little resemblance & are much degraded compared to what grew on these sites previously -- or with great patience & careful stewardship, might arise again in the future. 13/

"A man [or woman] seems never to know what anything means till s/he has lost it; and this I suppose is the reason why losses -- the vanishing away of things -- are among the great teachings of this world of shadows." ~Orville Dewey