ABSTRACT
The forest resources of four midwestern states, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas region (MINK), were examined as part of a larger project to assess the effect of a warming climate on the resource-based sectors and broader economy of MINK region. This chapter examines the direct effects of climate change on the forests and provides an assessment of anticipated trends in the forest sector. It presents the future forest resource under a changed climate, allowing for anticipated trends and climate-driven adaptations in forest activity. With a position on the fringe of the eastern hardwood forest, bordering the grasslands of the Midwest, these forests might be among the first affected by a changing climate. The chapter describes general changes that, in the absence of a climate change, are anticipated to occur in forestry and the forestry sector over the period 1990-2030. The forest industry in MINK region also seems unlikely to make significant positive responses to the changing forest situation.
