Page 139 - Mapping the Nation: Taking Climate Action

Rempel said. "We can use GIS to map the soil productivity and where trees would be most successful." The model and map include ecology, with data to analyze and explore the pieces of the environment that contribute to a tree's survival. GIS becomes a repository of earth processes and a way to query and model to apply nature-based solutions to restore balance. "We've talked about the concept of island plantings, where you put a diversity of species into a small plot, maybe a quarter of an acre, and grow those in clumps or islands across the landscape," Francis said. "Eventually, trees will produce seed and the seed will burst into the surrounding area, and it promotes more diversity on the landscape." GIS also was used to plan and create natural fire breaks in the landscape to reduce the intensity of future fires. The map helped speed reforestation by picking the areas to plant first where they will have the most strategic advantage. Commons for Collaboration Multiple stakeholders and participants were involved in making the climate-informed restoration plan. BLM guided the effort with the help of American Forests and participation from the US Forest Service, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), Plumas National Forest, Butte County Fire Safe Council, Sierra Pacific Industries, and others. Having a timber company at the table is unusual, but so is what happened to Sierra Pacific Industries' part of the forest that burned in 2012. The company diligently replanted it in hopes of harvesting lumber, and then just six short years later, the Camp Fire burned everything they planted. "That was enough for them to say, ‘This is not a place where we can do production forestry anymore,'" Rempel said. All the stakeholders came to the planning sessions with ideas, maps, and open minds. The evidence was clear: everyone was wasting their time by doing the same things that had been tried before. "Permaculture ideas—nature-based approaches—are starting to enter into forestry," Rempel said. "It takes a very long time to convince old-school foresters that this is the way, but it is happening slowly." ArcGIS Online became the place where everyone could work and iterate together. For those not familiar with GIS, they could view the maps and agree or disagree with what they were presented. "The sharing platform was central to our collaborative approach and our climate conversations," Rempel said. "We had these sessions during different versions of the draft where we got all the land managers and foresters together to go over what they were seeing or \[to see\] if other tricks of the trade should be added to the report." Tackling a Trend The foresters who crafted the Camp Fire restoration plan hope that climate-informed strategies become more common. The approach is practical in making the most of limited resources by pinpointing the places where the forest can thrive. "Many of the climate plans just offer big-picture ideas— about techniques that could be applied," Francis said. "Our plan takes those large concepts to the ground level. Predictions of what the climate is going to be inform our implementation plan." According to research at American Forests, 81 percent of reforestation needed on national forest land is now due to wildfires rather than logging. To replant wisely, new models must factor in future climate. "This is a recovery plan," Francis said. "It's about using the best science to replant." 138 Wildfire