Future Scenarios

The Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (RPA) mandates a periodic assessment of the conditions and trends of the Nation’s renewable resources on forests and rangelands. The RPA Assessment includes projections of resource conditions and trends 50 years into the future. The 2010 RPA Assessment used a set of future scenarios to provide a unifying framework for resources analyses. Those scenarios, and their associated assumptions about population change, economic growth, land use change, bioenergy, and climate change, are described in this document.