Public Opposition to Harvesting as a Barrier to Climate Change Adaptation: Perceptions and Responses of Foresters across the Northeastern United States

Abstract

In the northeastern U.S., climate change concerns are fueling public movements against forest harvesting, despite experts’ assertion that harvesting is an important tool in climate adaptive forest management. Based on qualitative analysis of 32 interviews with urban and rural foresters (n = 15 and n = 17, respectively) across the region, this project examines how foresters in different professional contexts (e.g. urban or rural; public or private) perceive opposition to harvesting as a barrier to climate adaptive management; and how they are responding. We demonstrate that foresters use different strategies to increase public acceptance of management, including education, political advocacy, and public collaboration. While the use of these strategies appears critical to advancing adaptation of the Northeast’s forests, foresters’ professional contexts seem to guide their choice of and success with different strategies, calling for greater research into how different forester groups’ behaviors impact the adaptive capacity of the region overall.

Keywords:

• Environmental change
• forest management
• public acceptance
• public opposition
• trust

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to all study participants for their insights and time. The authors thank Dr. Eric North and other collaborators on the Adaptation and Restoration of Northern Forests project for sharing their expertise.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture McIntire-Stennis Cooperative Forestry Program project number 1020600, Hatch Project number ME0-1022424 through the Maine Agricultural & Forest Experiment Station, the Department of Interior Northeast Climate Adaptation Science Center, and the Rubenstein School at the University of Vermont.