Photo taken by author. Fall foliage along the Ashuelot River in New Hampshire.

If I asked you to describe New England you would probably talk about the quaint small towns with their brick buildings, the forested mountains, and the vivid colors of the changing fall foliage. Leaf-peeping is a cultural hallmark of New England as well as a key tourism draw. It brings nearly $3 billion in tourism revenue to the region annually. But leaf-peeping is dependent on beautiful fall foliage, which climate change is putting at risk. Warming temperatures and shifting precipitation patterns are causing leaves to turn sooner and faster which means a shorter fall foliage season. And invasive species are changing the forest composition leading to fewer maples, which offer the brightest colors. A shorter fall foliage season is just one of many impacts human-caused climate change will have on northern temperate forests of New England. 

New England forests are prized for their beauty and as a space for outdoor recreation. The forests also provide essential services including clean water and clean air—they even slow climate change by storing carbon. A 2017 report found that New England forests offset 20 percent of the region’s carbon produced through fossil fuel consumption. 

Climate change is rapidly shaping New England forests. Invasive pests, warming temperatures, and increasingly unpredictable weather events threaten the stability of the ecosystem. There is simply not enough time for forests to adapt. These disturbances all impact small New England communities which rely on forests for timber, tourism, and fuel. 

Rural communities throughout New England are struggling to handle the challenges of climate change. The fractured management of these forests makes any adaptation strategy difficult to implement. New England forests are 80 percent privately-owned which makes planning challenging. Thus, the future of these forests depends on an economically and socially diverse collection of people. 

Photo taken by author. White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire.

There are some initiatives to increase the portion of protected forest in the region. One such project is the Wildlands and Woodlands (W&W) vision which calls for conservationists and landowners to permanently protect 70 percent of the New England landscape as forests by 2060. But just protecting these forests from development is no longer enough. Citizens must take action on climate change and work to make New England forests as resilient as possible to rapidly changing conditions.  

What will changing New England forests mean for rural communities? My beat will explain how climate change is already impacting New England forests and what the future climate will bring. Beyond their ecological benefits, forests also have incredible economic and cultural importance in New England. Understanding these different values is key to protecting this vital resource.