DOE/EA-1764: Final Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact

Analyzes a proposal to study the effects of elevated temperature and atmospheric carbon dioxide on a black spruce-Sphagnum ecosystem.

Office of NEPA Policy and Compliance

June 15, 2011

Spruce and Peatland Responses Under Climatic and Environmental Change Experiment (SPRUCE) at the Marcell Experimental Forest; Itasca County, Minnesota

DOE and the U.S. Forest Service jointly issued final DOE/EA-1764 and a finding of no significant impact for a proposal to study the effects of elevated temperature and atmospheric carbon dioxide on a black spruce-Sphagnum ecosystem in the Marcell Experimental Forest in Itasca County, Minnesota. The proposal included climate change manipulation activities, collection of field data, and evaluation of the response of existing biological communities to a range of warming levels.

For more information, see Spruce and Peatland Responses Under Climatic and Environmental Change Experiment (SPRUCE) at the Marcell Experimental Forest.

  • Environmental Assessment Spruce and Peatland Responses Under Climatic and Environmental Change Experiment (SPRUCE) Marcell Experimental Forest, Itasca County, Minnesota, DOE/EA-1764 (June 2011) (2.39 MB)
    DOE and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) propose to collaborate in research on the response and effects of elevated temperature and elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) on a black spruce-Sphagnum (peatmoss) ecosystem located in the Marcell Experimental Forest (MEF), which is located approximately 25 miles north of Grand Rapids, in Itasca County, Minnesota. The purpose of the proposed research is to obtain information on how this ecosystem would respond to a range of higher temperatures and increased atmospheric CO2 that may occur in the future. Because this ecosystem plays an important role in carbon storage, its responses to these changes are likely to have important feedbacks on the atmosphere and climate through the global carbon cycle.