Join Maine Campaign Case Statement - Flipbook - Page 24
Photos: © Phoebe Parker
FORESTS PROFILE
MAC HUNTER &
ARAM CALHOUN
Wildlife Ecologist & Wetlands Ecologist,
University of Maine
Thanks to Maine’s unique placement and features, in
3 degrees of latitude, our state sees the same range
of climate that covers 20 degrees of latitude in parts
of Europe! This dramatic climate gradient is chiefly
responsible for our state’s amazing biodiversity, and it
will also shape how climate change’s impacts unfold here.
As ecology professors, we support TNC because its plans
and actions are based on scientific evidence. In particular,
research has shown that ecosystem conservation is
more effective in the long term if it focuses on enduring
physical features like geology, topography, and
hydrology more than on the current distributions of
plant and animal species. This science-based approach
is fundamental to TNC’s ongoing work to restore and
conserve resilient and connected landscapes.
That new perspective is particularly important during a
period of rapid climate change when many species need
to shift their geographic ranges. And, with many species
reaching the northern or southern limits of their range
in Maine, plants and animals here are already feeling the
effects of climate change.
TNC’s scientists have mapped a network of the places
that are most important to conserve. By creating and
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sharing a tool that makes this information widely available,
TNC also helps to make the work of other conservation
groups more effective.
A cooperative approach acknowledges that forest
landscapes serve the needs of people and nature. Not all
forests need to be treated the same—designating some
as ecological reserves while using forest products from
others serves multiple values. The result is connected
landscapes that conserve biodiversity while sustaining
forest-based economies.
TNC works closely with partners and private landowners
to maintain forests on the larger landscape and has
a longstanding and important role in establishing
forest reserves. These strategies allow for the carbon
sequestration and storage that contribute to the global
carbon budget. Large and connected reserves make it
more likely that our forest flora and fauna will survive the
challenges of climate change, maintaining the ecosystems
we have devoted our lives to studying and protecting.
