Climate and Sustainability
Effective beginning 5/27/2025: This website, and all linked websites under the control of the agency is under review and content may change.
Research has been part of the Forest Service mission since the agency's inception in 1905. Today, some 500-plus Forest Service researchers work in a range of biological, physical, and social science fields to promote sustainable management of nation's diverse forests and rangelands. The information and technology produced through basic and applied science programs is available to the public for its benefit and use.
Resources
Climate Change Resource Center
The Climate Change Resource Center is a reference for resource managers who need information and tools to address climate change in planning and project implementation.
Climate Change - North Cascadia Adaptation Partnership (NCAP)
The North Cascadia Adaptation Partnership (NCAP) is a Forest Service, National Park Service collaboration on climate change adaptation.
Pacific Wildland Fire Sciences Laboratory
Fire research conducted at the Pacific Wildland Fire Sciences Laboratory examines the effects of weather and climate on fire, the effects of fire on ecosystems, and the impacts of smoke on human health.
Science Findings
Science Findings is a monthly publication that features 12 significant findings each year.
- Land Use Planning: A Time-Tested Approach for Addressing Climate Change
- An Evolving Process: Protecting Spotted Owl Habitat through Landscape Management
- Life on the Edge: Carbon Fluxes from Wetland to Ocean along Alaska's Coastal Temperate Rain Forest
Science Updates
Science Findings highlights publishes scientific knowledge for pressing decisions about natural resource and environmental issues
Treesearch
Treesearch is an online system for finding publications by research and development scientists in the U.S. Forest Service. Research results behind these publications have been peer reviewed to ensure the best quality science.
Wilderness
Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute, administered by the USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station, is an interagency national research facility. It is the only federal research program in the United States dedicated to the development and exchange of knowledge critical for stewarding the ~112-million acre U.S. National Wilderness Preservation System and similarly protected wild lands.
- Effects of Urban Sprawl on Snags and the Abundance and Productivity of Cavity-Nesting Birds
- Estimating Forest Structure Parameters within Fort Lewis Military Reservation Using Airborne Laser Scanner (LIDAR) Data
- Wildland-Urban Interface Housing Growth during the 1990s in California, Oregon, and Washington
- Local and Large-Scale Climate Forcing of Puget Sound Oceanographic Properities on Seasonal to Interdecadal Timescales (2010)
- Recent Trends in Paralytic Shellfish Toxins in Puget Sound, Relationships to Climate, and Capacity for Prediction of Toxic Events (2009)
- Urban Expansion in the Forests of the Puget Sound Region (1997)
- Lichen Bioindication of Biodiversity, Air Quality, and Climate: Baseline Results from Monitoring in Washington, Oregon, and California (2008)
- Transportation Costs for Forest Products from Puget Sound Area and Alaska to Pacific Rim Markets (1990)
- A Descriptive Analysis of Temporal and Spatial Patterns of Variability in Puget Sound Oceanographic Properties (2008)
- Fluvial Processes in Puget Sound Rivers and the Pacific Northwest (2003)
- Changes in Oregon White Oak Following Release from Overtopping Conifers (2006)
- Comparing Erosion Risks from Forest Operations to Wildfire
- Stream Channels: The Link Between Forests and Fishes