Carbon monitoring and above ground biomass trends: Anchor forest opportunities for tribal, private and federal relationships

Abstract

There are more than 300 million hectares of forested land within the conterminous United States essential to sustaining the myriad social/cultural, economic, and ecologic benefits society enjoys from these lands. Nationwide, millions of forested hectares, both private and public, are disappearing functionally and physically through serve wildfire fire and land conversion. On many of these lands, management, centered on fire suppression, has led to reductions in forest resilience to wildfire. Lands, overstocked with accumulated fuel and faced with a changing climate, are expected to continue this legacy of fire and deteriorating health. A paradigm shift is needed to face the challenges confronting forests and enhance collaborative efforts across multiple forest ownerships. Our ability to leverage emerging technologies and pair them with the knowledge of indigenous peoples presents new opportunities for success. The objectives of this study were to 1) assess the Anchor Forest concept as a framework to leverage collaborative motivations and leadership by indigenous peoples (Tribes) in eastern Washington State to improve forest ecosystem health across legal and political boundaries, ‘cross-boundary’ management, and 2) demonstrate how the NASA carbon monitoring system (CMS) mapping products of regional forestland above ground biomass (AGB) density and temporal trends can provide information that supports decisionmakers in their efforts to collaboratively approach improving forest health conditions through management activities.