Climate Smart Restoration: Establishing Baselines and Developing Adaptive Management Approaches

In Hawaiʻi, a large percentage of historically forested areas have been lost, driven in part by changes in land use, such as the conversion of forests into pastures for livestock. This transformation has not only resulted in widespread loss of native biodiversity and important ecosystem functions but has also increased the risk of fire on the landscape. Though targeted restoration efforts have the potential to increase the abundance of native forests and to return important functions, a few key obstacles remain. First, existing restoration knowledge is often experiential and thus inaccessible. Second, restoration efforts face the challenges of a changing climate that is increasing temperatures and the occurrence of drought events in [...]