dellasala presentation

THE FORGOTTEN RAINFORESTS:

TEMPERATE AND BOREAL RAINFORESTS OF THE WORLD

DOMINICK A. DELLASALA, PH.D.

IslandPress.org/dellasala J. Schoen

www.geosinstitute.org

National Geographic

TROPICAL RAINFORESTS OF THE WORLD

National Geographic

Corbis

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Equator

ANNUAL PRECIP AVERAGE ANNUAL TEMP8 feet

WET SUMMERS

NCAR

tropical

borealtemperate

INTRODUCING TEMPERATE AND BOREAL RAINFORESTS

HOW MUCH AND WHERE?

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

3535

17 16

11 118

30.5

TEMPERATE AND BOREAL RAINFOREST PLANETARY TOUR

Tim Greyhavens Tim Greyhavens

John Schoen

Elysa Resort

Craig Pettitt

RAINFORESTS OF HOME:

ALASKA TO REDWOODS

J. Schoen

Tim GreyhavensTim Greyhavens

TONGASS OLD GROWTH CHAMPIONS

John Schoen

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John Schoen

J. Schoen

818

2,258

4,630

8,181

10,260

0

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

12,000

pre1960 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s

Kilo

met

ers

Time Step

Roads Built in the Tongass National Forest Region

Another 400,000 acres could be logged this century

Roadless areas are vital

CANADA’S GREAT BEAR RAINFOREST

Tim Greyhavens

~ Globally unique relatively intact system¼ of word’s temperate rainforests

Ian McAllister

SALMON DRIVEN RAINFOREST

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Tim Greyhavens

GREENPEACE

$120 million campaign boosted protection levels up to ~35% Scientists recommend 40-70% protection

CONSERVATION SUCCESS STORY?

OLYMPICS TO REDWOODS:

“LAND OF THE GIANTS”

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RAINFORESTS HELP STABILIZE GLOBAL CLIMATE

TOP TEN CARBON-STORING NATIONAL FORESTS

The Wilderness Society

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!

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CO2 Equivalent Stored byTop 10 National Forests

CO2 Equivalent in One Year’s U.S. Fossil Fuel Use9.8

billion

metrictons

5.8

billion

metrictons ~2 x total annual emissions

The Wilderness Society

DEFORESTATION = GLOBAL WARMING POLLUTION

05

1015202530 26

19 1713 13

83

INTERIOR WET BELT RAINFORESTS

CraigPettitt

CorbisCorbis CorbisElysa Resort

LICHENS DRIVE RAINFOREST FOOD WEBS

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Only ~4.5% protected Caribou in peril: 2450 in 1997, 1900 in 2001

LICHEN-CARIBOU RAINFOREST IN TROUBLE

ANCIENT VALDIVIA RAINFOREST

Daniel Gomez

Paul Alaback

MONKEY-PUZZLE “LIVING FOSSIL”

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Darwin’s toad

Monito del monte

Magellanic woodpecker

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Rufous-legged owl

VALDIVIA’S WILDLIFE

>60% amphibians/reptiles are found nowhere else

30% of birds endemic

20% of freshwater fish endemic

Old-growth dependent species

40% of rainforests gone! Tierra Chilean - Mitsubishi

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trees > 3,000 years!

Aaron Sanger

RUSSIAN FAR EAST & INLAND SOUTHERN SIBERIA

~450 ~29 Nearly gone

Victor Yudin

P. Krestov

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JAPAN’S RAINFOREST ARE UNIQUE: FEW REMAIN

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AUSTRALASIA – SIZE MATTERS!

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SOUTH AFRICA HAS RAINFOREST PRIMATES

AND “ELEPHANTS”

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FORGOTTEN RAINFOREST THREAT LEVELS*

Redwoods, Europe, Japan & Korea

PNW, Inland BC, Russia, Chile, E. Canada

Great Bear, South Africa, Australia

New Zealand

* Logging, roads, climate change, dams, mining, grazing, exotics, international treaties

THE FORGOTTEN RAINFORESTS VISION

Rainforests are greater than sum-of-their parts

Old forests are pivotal to climate stability globally –climate summit, international year of forests

President Obama – protecting old forests = climate change insurance

We must not let these forests become the forgottenrainforests

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www.geosinstitute.org

Craig Pettitt

Tim Greyhavens