ARBOR DAY FOUNDATION OAK SOCIETY
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2025
A NEW CHALLENGE FOR BOREAL FORESTS Even the planet’s northernmost tree canopy is feeling the effects of climate change To find a boreal forest, head north. Further north. Keep going. You know you’ve found it when even summer days feel a bit cool and evergreens dominate the landscape. Boreal forests are the furthest-north forests you can find, tucked into some of the coldest parts of the planet — the subarctic landscapes of Canada, the U.S., Finland, Norway, Russia, Japan, and China. The trees found here are hearty evergreens, primarily pines, spruces, and firs. As their subarctic locations would suggest, these forests experience long, cold winters with permanently frozen ground. And the trees like it that way. But not even the climate this far north is immune to the effects of climate change.
A COLD FOREST IN A WARMING WORLD Though it is typically most mentioned in reference to warmer regions, climate change has reached these remote corners of the planet. And the warming temps are wreaking havoc. The southern edges of the forest range are no longer able to sustain the critical permafrost nor the evergreen canopy,
so the forest is retreating. Scientists have confirmed that the trees are also expanding north into areas once too cold even for them, but this gain is happening at a slower rate than the loss in the southern parts of the forest. Unfortunately, the shrinking boreal forest means more than lost trees — as if that isn’t enough. This forest type is responsible for storing significant amounts of carbon in the trees as well as in the permafrost layer of the soil. It’s a carbon sink in danger of draining.
PLANTING TO PROTECT THE PLANET These forests are feeling the heat of climate change. It’s one more reason the Arbor Day Foundation is planting trees at a massive scale — including in the boreal forests of Canada — fighting climate change with the most effective solution nature has created. Thank you for helping to plant trees where they can do the most good for the planet.