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Explore the University of Minnesota's Silviculture Program, focusing on mitigating climate change, fostering biodiversity, and addressing emerging issues. Learn about ongoing research and innovative strategies in forest management.
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Silviculture in the Face of Global Change: Overview of UMN Silviculture Program Tony D’Amato Dept. of Forest Resources University of Minnesota
Overview • Context for research • Core focus of research program • Silviculture in the face of uncertainty • Summary
Current Context • Global change • Increased climatic variation • Shifts in disturbance regimes • Invasive species • Increasing herbivore populations • Concerns over decreasing biodiversity
Current Context • Changing ownership patterns • Implications to silvicultural practices • Changing land use and markets • Biofuels, carbon, etc.
Main Focus Areas Main Focus Areas • Retrospective studies of forest stand dynamics using dendroecological approaches and long-term data collections from natural and managed stands, including long-term silvicultural experiments • Large-scale manipulative studies examining the response of forest systems to emerging issues including bioenergy production and invasive species
Carbon and climate change • View of forests and forest management within the context of global change largely focuses on two approaches: • Mitigation strategies: enhance forests ability to reduce human effects on climate by sequestering CO2 and reducing greenhouse gas emissions • Adaptation strategies:improve forest resilience/resistance to changes
Age-class diversity Species/functional diversity Photo: J. Bradford, USGS
Looking back to inform the future • Have different management regimes and stand types been more resilient to past climactic and biotic perturbations? • Experimental Forest Monitoring Project • Cooperators: J. Bradford, J. Brissette, S. Fraver, L. Kenefic, B. Palik (USFS) Examine inter-annual variability in growth across 5 long-term silviculture experiments
Looking back to inform the future Trade-offs in achieving emerging objectives
Looking back to inform the future What factors have led to compositionally complex aspen systems in MN? • Aspen mixedwood productivity and dynamics Collaborators: M. Reinikainen (UMN), J. Almendinger (MN DNR), S. Fraver (USFS)
Looking back to inform the future FTC/SBW • Suggest opportunity for early stand entries to foster increases in compositional complexity • Later gap-phase dynamics suggest alternative to purely even-aged approaches FTC
Looking back to inform the future Productivity implications
Black ash project • Anticipating and mitigating EAB impacts on lowland black ash systems in northern MN • How will loss of black ash affect vegetation communities and site hydrology? • Can we mitigate these impacts?
Black ash project • Large-scale study on Chippewa NF • 4 treatments: • 1)EAB mortality (girdle ash), 2) Pre-emptive harvest (clearcutting), 3) Group selection, 4) Unharvested control • Each treatment is 4 acres and is replicated 4 times • Project team: B. Palik,G. Swanson, R. Venette (USFS); K. Brooks, A. Ek, C. Lenhart, P. Reich (UMN); R. Slesak, (MFRC)
Black ash project • Evaluating strategies to mitigate impacts • Planting non-host species within each treatment: • 11 species, including northern white cedar, American elm, yellow birch, tamarack, Manchurian ash, and swamp white oak • Can sites remain in forested wetland condition following ash mortality?
Biomass harvesting impacts • Assessing the environmental sustainability of biomass harvesting within the northern Lake States Project team: J. Bradford, S. Fraver, D. Linder, R. Kolka, M. Ostry, B. Palik (USFS); C.Blinn (UMN), R. Slesak (MFRC), J. Forrester and D. Mladenoff (UW), F. Aguilar (UMO)
Biomass harvesting impacts • Examine impacts of varying levels of biomass removal on: • Biodiversity (vascular plants, wood-inhabiting fungi, amphibians) • Long-term productivity • Nutrient and carbon cycling, forest regeneration
Summary • Goal is to develop applied solutions to emerging and core objectives related to forest management and conservation • Reliance on retrospective approaches provides long-term insight into questions that may not be answered with short-term studies • Use of large-scale experiments can address emerging issues within an operational context
Thanks! Conclusions http://silviculture.forestry.umn.edu