It is no secret to anyone in the industry that logging today is not like logging 100 years ago, for many reasons. Lumbermen from years past wouldn’t recognize today’s markets and they wouldn’t recognize today’s equipment lineups. But another aspect of the working forest that would shock an early 20th century logger, were he to find himself in today’s north woods, is the winter logging season. Gone are the days when the ground freezes before Thanksgiving and thaws in May. Today’s loggers are lucky if they can get a good freeze between Christmas and St. Patricks Day. Rather than solid ground, northern loggers face mud, mud, and more mud.

The climate is warming, and quickly. Carbon emissions over the past century have raised global temperatures at a rapid rate. 21st century attempts to reduce global emissions in order to slow climate change have, so far, not been successful. The prospect of a quickly changing climate is a staggering one, especially from the perspective of those who rely on the land to earn their living. Northern silvicultural systems are sensitive to temperature and a change of even a few degrees in winter temperatures affects the ability of species to regenerate. Many who work in the northern woods wonder what will happen to working forests by 2100, when the climate in parts of Maine is projected by scientists to more closely resemble the climate of North Carolina.

Foresters are already thinking about these issues, not as hypotheticals but as realities they’re already seeing on the job. Groups like the Northeastern Institute of Applied Science (NIAC), the Forest Service, the USDA, and the Adaptive Silviculture for Climate Change project have begun to actively embrace a handful of climate adaptation strategies, to help land managers plan for an uncertain future. On this month’s episode, we spoke with these foresters about strategies that will help working forests weather climate change.