This book is a printed edition of the Special Issue "Forest Management and Water Resources in the Anthropocene" that was published in Forests

Annotation Decades of research has provided a depth of understanding on the relationships among forests and water, and how these relationships change in response to climate variability, disturbance, and forest management. This understanding has facilitated a strong predictive capacity and the development of best management practices to protect water resources with active management. Despite this understanding, the rapid pace of changes in climate, disturbance regimes, invasive species, human population growth, and land use expected in the 21st century is likely to create substantial challenges for watershed management that may require new approaches, models, and best management practices. These challenges are likely to be complex and large scale, involving a combination of direct effects and indirect biophysical watershed responses, as well as socioeconomic impacts and feedbacks. We explore the complex relationships between forests and water in a rapidly changing environment, examine the trade-offs and conflicts between water and other resources, and examine new management approaches for sustaining water resources in the future.

Forest Conservation in the Anthropocene provides thought-provoking insight into the ongoing environmental crises that climate change is generating and raises critical questions about how public and private land managers in North America will adapt to the climatological disruptions that are already transforming the ecological structures of these forests. In this pathbreaking anthology, a team of leading environmental researchers probes the central dilemmas that ecologists, forest land managers, state and federal agencies, and grassroots organizations are confronting—and will continue to confront—in the coming century. Each chapter examines strategies that are currently being tested across the country as scientists, citizen-scientists, policy makers, academics, and activists work to grasp their options and opportunities for a future that will be shaped by ongoing environmental upheaval. Successful adaptation to the challenges of climate change requires a transdisciplinary perspective. Forest Conservation in the Anthropocene provides a compelling set of arguments and case studies that underscores the need for innovative policies and energetic actions. Contributors: Craig D. Allen, Mark Anderson, Susan Beecher, R. Travis Belote, Timothy J. Brown, Anne A. Carlson, Tim Caro, Grace K. Charles, Dave Cleaves, Dena J. Clink, Ayesha Dinshaw, R. Kasten Dumroese, Jonas Epstein, Alexander M. Evans, Todd Gartner, Jessica E. Halofsky, Nels Johnson, Linda A. Joyce, Paige Lewis, Laura Falk McCarthy, Heather McGray, Constance I. Millar, James Mulligan, Chadwick Dearing, David L. Peterson, Will Price, Janine M. Rice, Jason Riggio, Tania Schoennagel, Mark L. Shaffer, Curt Stager, Scott L. Stephens, Thomas W. Swetnam, Gary M. Tabor, Christopher Topik, Monica G. Turner, Thomas T. Veblen, Alexandra M. Weill, Anthony L. Westerling, Carolyn Whitesell, Mary I. Williams

The Global Water System in the Anthropocene provides the platform to present global and regional perspectives of world-wide experiences on the responses of water management to global change in order to address issues such as variability in supply, increasing demands for water, environmental flows and land use change. It helps to build links between science and policy and practice in the area of water resources management and governance, relates institutional and technological innovations and identifies in which ways research can assist policy and practice in the field of sustainable freshwater management. Until the industrial revolution, human beings and their activities played an insignificant role influencing the dynamics of the Earth system, the sum of our planet‘s interacting physical, chemical, and biological processes. Today, humankind even exceeds nature in terms of changing the biosphere and affecting all other facets of Earth system functioning. A growing number of scientists argue that humanity has entered a new geological epoch that needs a corresponding name: the Anthropocene. Human activities impact the global water system as part of the Earth system and change the way water moves around the globe like never before. Thus, managing freshwater use wisely in the planetary water cycle has become a key challenge to reach global environmental sustainability.

This Special Issue looks forward as well as backward to best analyze the forest conservation challenges of the Caribbean. This is made possible by 75 years of research and applications by the United States Department of Agriculture, International Institute of Tropical Forestry (the Institute) of Puerto Rico. It transforms Holocene-based scientific paradigms of the tropics into Anthropocene applications and outlooks of wilderness, managed forests, and urban environments. This volume showcases how the focus of the Institute’s programs is evolving to support sustainable tropical forest conservation despite uncertain conditions. The manuscripts showcased here highlight the importance of shared stewardship and a long-term, hands-on approach to conservation, research programs, and novel organizations intended to meet contemporary conservation challenges. Policies relevant to the Anthropocene, as well as the use of experiments to anticipate future responses of tropical forests to global warming, are reexamined in these pages. Urban topics include how cities can co-produce new knowledge to spark sustainable and resilient transformations. Long-term results and research applications of topics such as soil biota, migratory birds, tropical vegetation, substrate chemistry, and the tropical carbon cycle are also described in the volume. Moreover, the question of how to best use land on a tropical island is addressed. This volume is intended to be of interest to all actors involved in long-term sustainable forest management and research in light of the historical lessons and future directions that may come out of a better understanding of tropical cities and forests in the Anthropocene epoch.

Many people worldwide lack adequate access to clean water to meet basic needs, and many important economic activities, such as energy production and agriculture, also require water. Climate change is likely to aggravate water stress. As temperatures rise, ecosystems and the human, plant, and animal communities that depend on them will need more water to maintain their health and to thrive. Forests and trees are integral to the global water cycle and therefore vital for water security – they regulate water quantity, quality, and timing and provide protective functions against (for example) soil and coastal erosion, flooding, and avalanches. Forested watersheds provide 75 percent of our freshwater, delivering water to over half the world’s population. The purpose of A Guide to Forest–Water Management is to improve the global information base on the protective functions of forests for soil and water. It reviews emerging techniques and methodologies, provides guidance and recommendations on how to manage forests for their water ecosystem services, and offers insights into the business and economic cases for managing forests for water ecosystem services. Intact native forests and well-managed planted forests can be a relatively cheap approach to water management while generating multiple co-benefits. Water security is a significant global challenge, but this paper argues that water-centered forests can provide nature-based solutions to ensuring global water resilience.

Due to its height, density, and thickness of crown canopy; fluffy forest floor; large root system; and horizontal distribution; forest is the most distinguished type of vegetation on the earth. In the U.S., forests occupy about 30 percent of the total territory. Yet this 30 percent of land area produces about 60 percent of total surface runoff, the major water resource area of the country. Any human activity in forested areas will inevitably disturb forest floors and destroy forest canopies, consequently affecting the quantity, quality, and timing of water resources. Thoroughly updated and expanded, Forest Hydrology: An Introduction to Water and Forests, Third Edition discusses the concepts, principles, and processes of forest and forest activity impacts on the occurrence, distribution, and circulation of water and the aquatic environment. Brings water resources and forest-water relations into a single, comprehensive textbook Focuses on the concepts, processes, and general principles in forest hydrology Covers functions, properties, and science of water; water distribution; forests and precipitation, vaporization, stream flow, and stream sediment Discusses watershed management planning and practical applications of forest hydrology in resource management In a single textbook, Forest Hydrology: An Introduction to Water and Forests, Third Edition comprehensively covers water and water resources issues, forest characteristics relevant to the environment, forest impacts in the hydrological cycle, watershed research, watershed management planning, and hydrologic measurements. With the addition of new chapters, new issues, and appendices, this new edition is a valuable resource for upper-level undergraduates in forest hydrology courses as well as professionals involved in water resources management and decision-making in forested watersheds.