Collaborative Research: RII FEC: Intermountain Natural and Working Lands: Sustainable Practices for Ecosystems and Resilience Enhancement

University Of Montana, Missoula MT

Investigators

Abstract

The increase in the frequency and magnitude of extreme weather events is a significant threat to the sustainability of food and fiber production and of rural communities. Land management practices have the potential to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it in forests and soils. These land management practices create more resilient, rural communities. This project leverages the natural resources of Idaho and Montana to research and implement smart forestry and agricultural solutions. The team will implement these practices in both jurisdictions to 1) study the carbon and environmental impacts of the practices, 2) research the barriers to implementation of these practices, and 3) determine the economic impacts of the adoption of these practices on local communities. The project's aim is to reduce gas emissions while partnering with local communities to effectively promote community resilience and adaptation to extreme weather events. The team's activities will enhance the resilience of their partnering communities, contribute to the expansion of the STEM workforce, and produce measurable reductions in emissions. This work will offer policymakers in rural states a road map for successful, locally supported, forward-looking infrastructure implementation. Environmental changes, pollutants, or other phenomena originating from human activity have led to increasingly negative events impacting rural Idaho and Montana. These events include intensifying wildfires and persistent drought that are decreasing both ecological and community resilience. Smart land management solutions offer a path to both environmental benefits and increased ecological and community resilience. Through new and existing partnerships the team will experiment with the implementation of smart land management practices in forests and farms in the region. The team will quantify the ecological, social, and economic impacts of such practices. Through this interdisciplinary and community-based effort the team will provide: 1) improved knowledge on the efficacy and biogeochemical impacts of potential smart management solutions, 2) novel, state-of-the-art methods for quantifying and predicting carbon storage potential (including field-based sample collection and process-based ecosystem modeling) for individual regions, 3) training and education programs for undergraduate, graduate, and early career scientists, 4) models for effective partnerships with practitioners and communities, 5) integration of local knowledge, and 6) pathways that reduce barriers and risks identified by local populations to the adoption and implementation of smart land management solutions. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.