Terry Root and Pascal Badiou
February 19, 2009

A report released last week by the National Audubon Society documented the northward range shift of at least 177 North American bird species in a pattern consistent with hundreds of other studies from around the world that show the increasing impacts of global warming on wildlife.

The study reviewed winter bird distributions across the continent over the last 40 years and found that many bird species have moved hundreds of miles northward. This means that new species from the south could begin showing up at your backyard birdfeeders. But some regular birdfeeder visitors could move out of your area, as the temperature they used to find in your backyard moves farther north.

It turns out that in a warming world, we need to turn our attention to the north as well to our northern or Boreal forests. Are there areas in these northern forests where species could take refuge?

North America's vast boreal forest wraps around our northern latitudes encompassing fully one-quarter of the world's remaining untouched forests.

The boreal forest is already home to some of the world's last great migratory wildlife populations and a nursery for billions of migratory birds. As the recent study demonstrates, this northern forest is an increasingly important refuge for birds fleeing warming conditions to the south.

An international team of the world's leading climate and wildlife scientists has recommended that at least half of Canada's boreal forest be placed off limits to industrial disturbance, in part to provide a refuge for species that are forced to move north by global warming.

Changes in habitat and the timing of the seasons have put these species under significant stress. The more we can defend against additional stress as these species look northward, the better their chances for survival. By preserving very large, unfragmented, and interconnected natural areas in the Boreal forest, birds, other animals, and plants will have a fighting chance to adapt and survive.

And, here, we also find some protection for our own survival.

Sometimes referred to as the Fort Knox of carbon, the boreal forest is the world's largest terrestrial carbon storehouse. The equivalent of about 27 years worth of global, industrial carbon emissions is tied up in the forest's trees and soils. When the forest is disturbed, we increase the rate at which this stored carbon is released.

When we protect the boreal forest from unnatural disturbance, we gain the added benefit of keeping this carbon in place.

Scientists also cited defending the boreal forest's carbon reserves in their recommendation to protect at least half of the boreal forest.

That's why recent pledges from the premiers of Ontario and Quebec to protect at least half of their provinces' intact boreal forest reverberate beyond Canada to the world. Providing a refuge for international bird and wildlife populations shifting northward and safeguarding the world's largest carbon storehouse transcends borders.

Birds, wildlife and plants will be forced to move north to survive as warming continues. Those that can adapt and move will survive. Those that can't will disappear from the earth forever.

We are fortunate that North America has one of the world's largest surviving ecosystems in the boreal forest. For the 177 bird species that have already begun their forced marched north and for the thousands of other animals and plants that are beginning to join them, a vast intact boreal forest may represent their one last great hope for survival. And as humans look for ways to reduce the amount of carbon in the atmosphere, maintaining the boreal forest's carbon storehouse by protecting the boreal forest is a readily available solution.

Dr. Terry Root is a professor in the biological sciences department at Stanford University. Dr. Pascal Badiou is a research scientist with Ducks Unlimited Canada's Institute for Wetland and Waterfowl Research.