Connecticut forest will thrive for the next 100 years

[Peteri Szerlagi]

https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/DEEP/forestry/Management_Plans/Salmon-River-SF-Blackledge-Block-FMP.pdf
- mgmt plan for Salmon River State Forest - forest will be fine for
100 years even though fire has been eradictaed and global warming is
happening

"Our current forest is a direct by-product of management actions
taken, insect and disease problems arising, herbivore browsing and
competing vegetation being present within the last 100 years. All
management actions taken, insect and disease problems arising,
herbivore browsing and competing vegetation being present from
European settlement to current day has produced the forest as we now
know it. With there being more and more insect and disease issues
plaguing forests, a steady demand for forest products ever present,
and with a rising climate change issue, the forest resource is under
greater stress than ever. The next 100 years of management will be
critical. Due to the near eradication of fire on our forest landscape,
continual herbivore browsing and the competitiveness of black birch,
American beech and red maple it is likely that our forests will
transition into a northern hardwoods forest type and away from an
oak/hickory forest type. Also, as average annual temperatures rise due
to global warming some tree species may become less prominent due to a
shifting in their native range. Extreme weather events that can cause
severe damage to forest ecosystems such as ice storms and hurricanes
may also become more frequent. However, through sustainable management
practices that will continually choose desired phenotypic traits,
representing several age classes and a diversity of species, over
undesirable traits and monocultures, our forests will be as resilient
and as diverse as they can possibly be, making them able to not only
survive but thrive over the next 100 years."