Kansas Forests, 2005
Kansas Forests, 2005

Author: W. Keith Moser

Publisher:

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 132

ISBN-13:

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S2The first completed annual inventory of Kansas forests reports 2.1 million acres of forest land, roughly 4 percent of the total land area in the State. Softwood forests account for nearly 5 percent of the total timberland area. Oak/hickory forest types make up 56 percent of the total hardwood forest land area. Elm/ash/cottonwood accounts for more than 30 percent of the timberland area. The proportion of Kansas' timberland with trees 19 inches and larger remained about the same over the last 40 years (38 percent in 1965 versus 38 percent today). Kansas' forests have continued to increase in volume. In 2005, net volume of growing stock on timberland was an estimated 1.5 billion cubic feet compared with 0.5 billion cubic feet in 1965. Live-tree biomass on forest land in Kansas amounted to 72.3 million dry tons in 2005. More than 3 percent was in small stands, 26 percent was in medium-size stands, and 71 percent was in large stands. Oak species account for nearly 15 percent. About 95 percent of Kansas forest land is held by private landowners. The first completed annual inventory of Kansas forests reports 2.1 million acres of forest land, roughly 4 percent of the total land area in the State. Softwood forests account for nearly 5 percent of the total timberland area. Oak/hickory forest types make up 56 percent of the total hardwood forest land area. Elm/ash/cottonwood accounts for more than 30 percent of the timberland area. The proportion of Kansas' timberland with trees 19 inches and larger remained about the same over the last 40 years (38 percent in 1965 versus 38 percent today). Kansas' forests have continued to increase in volume. In 2005, net volume of growing stock on timberland was an estimated 1.5 billion cubic feet compared with 0.5 billion cubic feet in 1965. Live-tree biomass on forest land in Kansas amounted to 72.3 million dry tons in 2005. More than 3 percent was in small stands, 26 percent was in medium-size stands, and 71 percent was in large stands. Oak species account for nearly 15 percent. About 95 percent of Kansas forest land is held by private landowners.S3.

Towards an Integrated Impact Assessment of Climate Change: The MINK Study
Towards an Integrated Impact Assessment of Climate Change: The MINK Study

Author: Norman J. Rosenberg

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 174

ISBN-13: 940112096X

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General circulation models state that the central United States (and other mid-latitude continental regions) will become warmer and drier as the result of greenhouse warming. On this premise the dustbowl period of the 1930s was selected as an analogue of climate change and its weather records imposed on the Missouri--Iowa--Kansas region to assess how current agriculture, forestry, water resources and energy and the entire regional economy would be affected. The same climate was also imposed on a MINK region forty years into the future, by which time climate change may actually be felt, to assess whether technological and societal change would alter the region's vulnerability to climate change. Another premise of the study was that people would not suffer the impacts of climate change passively, but would use availabe tools to ease the stress. The rising atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide, expected to be the major cause of greenhouse warming, also works to improve plant growth and reduce plant water use. So the effects of this `Co2 fertilization' were also considered in the analysis. The results, some of them surprising, of this first, fully-integrated analysis of climate change impacts and responses are reported in this book.