Climate, Forests and Woodlands Community of Practice launches new website
The Climate, Forests and Woodlands eXtension Community of Practice is excited to announce their new website, found at www.climateforestswoodlands.org. This site is a gateway to all the science-based information housed on eXtension, but offers a user-friendly interface for also connecting to our blog, social network sites, our partners, to search our resources, and more. Keep checking back because we are adding new features and content regularly!
CLN readers may be interested in the upcoming CFW webinar on March 3rd at 3:00 p.m. EST. The folks from the Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center will be presenting on Monitoring, Assessment, and Engagement to Sustain Forest Benefits in a Changing Climate. Connect here: https://connect.extension.iastate.edu/woodlands.
PINEMAP Releases Decision Support Tool
The PINEMAP Decision Support System is a new southern regional tool that launched earlier this year which uses climate data and pine productivity models to provide information on how the two interact. This tool is based on nearly 5 years of recent research and beyond that to more than 30 years of data on southern pine plantation management. Data from these studies are linked to state of the art climate models and specific location to allow the user to find out what environmental conditions are likely to be in the future, and how that may impact forest growth and productivity. Climate data is projected to the end of the century, but is broken up into 20 year time slices. So, for example, someone in Athens, GA could go to the tool to find out what summer precipitation conditions may be like from 2040-2060, or they may find out what what changes in temperature can be expected within that time period. Information which is very useful when planting trees with a 15-30 year harvest cycle. For more information go to http://climate.ncsu.edu/pinemap or contact Leslie Boby at lboby@sref.info.
Southeastern Regional Climate Hub Workshop presentations available now
On January 20-21, 2016, The CLN hosted a virtual Mitigation and Adaptation Workshop with the USDA Southeastern Regional Climate Hub. The workshop featured experts in agriculture and forestry adaptation and mitigation practices. A major output of this workshop was the production of 16 climate specific webinars which will be available at climatewebinars.net. Climatewebinars.net is a new webinar portal which hosts a wide variety of topics concerning the effects of climate change on agriculture and forestry. With the addition of this content the site will have over 20 webinars to provide Extension Agents, ANR professionals, crop advisers and professional foresters with information to help them make climate smart decisions for their clients.
California Regional Climate Sub Hub: Focus on drought in 2016
The California Regional Climate Sub Hub (based at UC Davis) wrapped up its second year by co-organizing the Southwest Climate Summit in Sacramento, CA, on Nov. 2-3, 2015. The Summit included 250 attendees from state and federal government, academia, NGOs, consultancies, and stakeholder groups. The Summit used an interactive approach to explore how to use climate science in decision making and promote two-way conversations between scientists and stakeholders.
One of the Sub Hub’s new initiatives for 2016 is working with partner agencies to highlight field demonstrations of climate adaptation. For example, at the Plant Materials Center in Lockeford, CA (run by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service), cover crops take center stage. The Sub Hub will work with the PMC to create a series of educational materials for land users highlighting the ability of cover crops to survive drought, improve soil water-holding capacity, and increase infiltration rates. This aligns with the Sub Hub’s overarching theme of 2016: coping with California’s historic drought. 
CLN To Host Southeast Regional Climate Hub Virtual Workshop on Agricultural Solutions Jan. 20-21
This virtual Southeast workshop will focus on adaptive strategies that 
make working lands more resilient to an increasingly variable climate, while at the same time mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. State and federal programs that support these efforts will be highlighted, along with tools for improving resilience and communication.
In an effort to be more inclusive and respect the tight travel budgets of many organizations, SERCH decided to make our Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Workshop a virtual event instead of an in-person one. The workshop, which was originally scheduled for November 17-18, will be moved to January 20-21. The workshop will have an agenda of fantastic speakers, but without the cost and carbon emissions of an in-person workshop. Register at serch.us/workshop, and contact Sarah Wiener (sswiener@ncsu.edu) with any questions. View the flyer here.
