“Weather whiplash” is a colloquial phrase for describing an extreme event that includes shifts between two opposing weather conditions. Prior media coverage and research on these types of extremes have largely ignored winter weather events. However, rapid swings in winter weather can result in crossing from frozen to unfrozen conditions, or vice versa; thus, the potential impact of these types of events on coupled human and natural systems may be large. Given rapidly changing winter conditions in seasonally snow‐covered regions, there is a pressing need for a deeper understanding of such events and the extent of their impacts to minimize their risks. Here we introduce the concept of winter weather whiplash, defined as a class of extreme event in which a collision of unexpected conditions produces a forceful, rapid, back‐and‐forth change in winter weather that induces an outsized impact on coupled human and natural systems. Using a series of case studies, we demonstrate that the effects of winter weather whiplash events depend on the natural and human context in which they occur, and discuss how these events may result in the restructuring of social and ecological systems. We use the long‐term hydrometeorological record at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire, USA to demonstrate quantitative methods for delineating winter weather whiplash events and their biophysical impacts. Ultimately, we argue that robust conceptual and quantitative frameworks for understanding winter weather whiplash events will contribute to the ways in which we mitigate and adapt to winter climate change in vulnerable regions.

Although leadership development programs are seen as key to equipping individuals with the tools to navigate the challenges facing their communities, there is relatively little evidence of their impact at the community level. In this paper, the evaluation findings of a rural leadership development program are situated within a framework of community change to illustrate the pathways of program impact. The analysis reveals that the program has increased the human capital and network resources of rural communities, and in most cases, this has resulted in increased community capacity. Some communities have gone on to experience additional environmental, social, and economic changes as a result of community processes that stemmed from the leadership program. The findings suggest that the evaluated leadership development program can serve as a model for efforts to build community capacity, but to realize more social, environmental, and economic changes, the scope of the program should do more to encourage residents to intentionally leverage their new capacity by engaging in processes to address community issues.

Historical land and fire management practices coupled with climate change and modern human development pressures are contributing to larger, more frequent, and more severe wildfires across Western U.S. forests. Human ignitions are the predominant cause of wildfire throughout the United States, necessitating wildfire management strategies that consider both the causes of human ignitions and the factors that influence them. Using a dataset of over 104,000 ignitions from 1992 to 2018 for Oregon and Washington (U.S), we examine the major causes of wildfire ignitions and build regression models to evaluate the potential influence of both biophysical and socioeconomic factors on human and natural ignitions across distinct fire regimes west and east of the Cascade Range. Our results corroborate prior findings that socioeconomic factors such as income, employment, population density, and age demographics are significantly correlated with human ignitions. In the Pacific Northwest, we found that the importance of socioeconomic factors on human ignitions differs significantly between the west and east sides of the Cascade Range. We also found that most human ignitions are linked to escaped fires from recreation or debris and open burning activities, highlighting opportunities to tailor wildfire prevention efforts to better control higher risk activities and reduce accidental ignitions.

Economic transitions have a wide variety of impacts on rural forest-located communities. Uncertain employment prospects and a lack of local higher education institutions may increase out-migration, while individual connections to the local natural environment and community itself may bind youth to their community of origin. We analyzed over 2,000 survey responses from middle and high school youth from traditionally forest-dependent communities in greater Piscataquis County, Maine, and Coos County, Oregon (USA). We explored the role of school and community perceptions, place attachment, and educational aspirations in students’ desired future residential location (rural or non-rural). Community perceptions and place attachment were positively related to desired future rural residence, while educational aspirations were negatively related. We conclude that rural forest-located communities may better retain or attract rural youth by focusing on community attributes and connections to the outdoors for continued community sustainability.

Retaining women in forestry and other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields is a challenge. University education represents a critical point along the forestry pipeline in which women might leave the profession. Concerned with the low number of women graduating with bachelor’s degrees in forestry from the University of Maine’s School of Forest Resources, a group of faculty and students formed Supporting Women in Forestry Today (SWIFT) in 2016. An organization guided by literature on improving gender diversity in the workplace, SWIFT has taken an adaptive and evidence-based approach while hosting events throughout each academic year. Surveys indicate that SWIFT has been effective at helping participants increase awareness of gender-related issues, gain strategies, and develop connections. Although challenges still exist for women in forestry, this case study suggests that SWIFT is an effective model that could be used elsewhere to support the retention of women in the forestry profession.