Promoting Climate-Smart and Resilient Forestry in the Southeastern United States
Southern forests are essential to the region’s economy, communities, and environment but a changing climate is creating new challenges for keeping them healthy and productive. Rising temperatures, drought, hurricanes, wildfire, pests and disease, and sea-level rise can affect forests in different ways across the Southeast. At the same time, forest managers and landowners must balance many priorities, from timber production and wildlife habitat to recreation, ecosystem services, and carbon storage.
This project helps forestry professionals, Extension educators, technical service providers, and landowners prepare for these challenges through Climate-Smart Forestry (CSF). CSF brings climate adaptation and mitigation into forest management, helping people understand climate risks, evaluate management options, and make informed decisions that support healthy, resilient forests over the long term.
Working with the USDA Southeast Climate Hub, Cooperative Extension Services, land-grant universities, the U.S. Forest Service, and other partners, the project connects climate science with practical forest management. Through educational resources, professional training, workshops, decision-support tools, and field demonstrations, the project makes science-based information more accessible and useful to the people who manage and care for southern forests.
The project has three primary goals:
1. Develop a needs-based Climate-Smart Forestry Extension program.
2. Create science-based educational resources and training programs.
3. Provide workshops, training, and field demonstrations.
A Regional Approach
Climate risks are not the same everywhere. The project focuses on the Coastal Plain, Piedmont, and Appalachian–Cumberland landscapes, where forests face different combinations of drought, wildfire, hurricanes, sea-level rise, and other climate-related pressures. By connecting research, Extension education, professional training, and on-the-ground examples, the project is building the knowledge and capacity needed to support resilient, productive, and sustainable southern forests in a changing climate.
Funding and Support
Supported by funding from USDA NIFA Project Award 2023-67022-39531, we’re integrating and amplifying the efforts of individual states to address climate change through sustainable forestry practices, offering a unified approach to education, research, and policy advocacy in the region.
The project will make climate-change education and decision-support resources more accessible through multiple channels, including new tools focused on climate projections, impact assessments, and adaptation planning. These resources will provide forestry and natural resource professionals in both private and public sectors with relevant data, tools, and information to support informed management decisions. Although a growing number of climate and forest-management tools are available, effectively applying them to climate adaptation can require substantial technical expertise and interdisciplinary knowledge. The project will bridge this gap by translating complex scientific information into practical, professionally relevant learning resources. The resulting modules will support expert-led training for professionals with beginner to intermediate analytical skills, helping them build the confidence and capacity to interpret climate information and incorporate it into forestry planning and management.
