The Catskills’ brilliant fall foliage is partly a product of human activity, a Columbia University climate scientist said at a presentation at Morton Memorial Library in Pine Hill.
Richard Seager’s talk, “Nothing Permanent Except Change,” was part of FLOW, or the First Library of the Watershed. Funded by the Catskill Watershed Corporation, the four-part series examines how the region’s climate and forests have changed and how residents can adapt.
The series concludes at 3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 7, with “Too Rain or Not Too Rain,” a talk on flooding and drought by Amanda Stevens, a senior project manager at the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.
Seager, a research professor at Columbia’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, described how European settlement has reshaped forests now growing amid unprecedented warmth, moisture, and carbon dioxide levels.
Maples made up less than 10% of Eastern forests in 1800. Today they account for more than 20%, Seager said.
Fire swept the eastern United States in waves after European settlement until fire suppression took hold in the 20th century. Maples don’t tolerate fire well, so suppression helped them spread. Changes in wildlife populations, the loss of the American chestnut, and a wetter climate may also have reshaped the forests.
Maple foliage is more vivid than oak foliage, and the shift has helped draw fall visitors. Seager said efforts to diversify the forests could face local resistance because of their potential economic impact.
“One of the things that people are grappling with here is how do we maintain ourselves with these changes that are going on,” said Harold Augenbraum, the library’s treasurer, “balancing the residential versus the tourists, and using climatological information to make those decisions.”
The region turned wetter in the 1960s, Seager said, with the trend strongest in the fall. Climate models account for some of the increase, though precipitation has risen far more than they predict.
“It’s like a climate mystery as to why it’s been getting so much wetter,” Seager said.
His team is using tree rings to reconstruct past precipitation and hasn’t yet published its findings on the East’s wetting trend.
Author Jennifer Kabat discussed cloud seeding and a historic Pine Hill flood in “The Rainmakers Flood: War and Weather Come to Pine Hill” on Oct. 17. Her talk featured recorded interviews with residents who lived through the flood.
Kiyoko Yokota, an associate professor of biology at the State University of New York at Oneonta, discussed climate change’s effects on lakes in “Clean but Green” on Oct. 24. She focused on cyanobacterial blooms, also known as blue-green algae.
Stevens’ final talk will examine shifting conditions that contribute to flooding and drought across the state and their effects on communities.
The energy authority projects more frequent and intense extreme weather. It recommends permeable pavement and rain gardens to reduce flooding, moving sensitive equipment out of flood-prone basements, and installing backup generators at hospitals and community hubs. It also urges communities to factor future climate conditions into planning.
The series coincides with Ulster County’s recertification as a silver-level Climate Smart Community, the highest level in the state’s program. Certification recognizes local efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prepare for climate change.
Projects cited in the county’s recertification included solar installations at county facilities and a stream-crossing assessment and culvert improvements on Wittenberg Road in Woodstock.
Woodstock also received bronze recertification this year. Hurley, Olive, Saugerties, and Shandaken hold bronze certification.
Mia Quick is an editorial assistant and reporter at The Overlook. Send correspondence to mia@theoverlooknews.com.
