USDA Forest Service, Raleigh, NC * steve_mcnulty@ncsu.edu Climate Change Mitigation Impacts on Community Water Supply: Or A Tale of Unintended Consequences Steven McNulty USDA Forest Service, Raleigh, NC * steve_mcnulty@ncsu.edu

WASSI-CB

Model Rationale Land use Climate Anthro change Demand Supply Ground water Demand Supply

FS Chief’s Goals for Reducing the Buildup of Greenhouse Gases A national effort: To sustain and strengthen the role of America’s forests as a net carbon sink To increase the amount of America’s energy that comes from forests

Potential Additional Role of Forests in Mitigating Greenhouse Gas Emissions U.S. forests currently sequester 700 million tons of CO2 per year – 12% of emissions from using fossil fuels There is potential to sequester an additional 1,000 million tons of CO2 per year Avoid deforestation Afforestation Restore (increase) C stocks This will be covered in greater detail in the second part of the presentation.

WASSI-CB

Forest Carbon Sequestration Forest Water Use nother A Inconvenient Truth nother Forest Carbon Sequestration Forest Water Use

Forest Carbon Sequestration 101 Forest take in carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air, and using sun light, convert it to wood, while releasing oxygen back to the atmosphere. The process is called carbon sequestration Because CO2 is a major greenhouse gas, the more CO2 removed from the atmosphere the less global warming Unfortunately, it takes water to make carbon. (Which is why you will not find giant redwoods in the desert!) 4) The more carbon that trees sequester the more water trees will use 5) Anyone see a problem developing here?

Relationships Between Ecosystem Services (Sun Model) Water Availability WaSSI-CB Carbon Sequestration Biodiversity (Constanza Model) (Law Model)

Take Home Messages For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction Newtons Third Law First do no harm  Hippocratic Corpus Always look both ways before you cross the street My Mom Carefully consider ALL aspects of policy decisions to avoid unexpected and unwanted consequences at the community level Steve McNulty