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Minnesota
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| Cover of the Climate Change Field Guide. |
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Climate change information you can keep in your pocket
One problem with a comprehensive climate change report is that folks who want to use this information in the field just aren't going to lug around a 200-page document in their backpack. To help make climate change information more useful for foresters and natural resource professionals, NIACS recently published the Climate Change Field Guide for Northern Minnesota Forests: Site-level considerations and adaptation. It's a small, laminated, spiral-bound flip book, designed for quick reference and note-taking in the woods. The University of Minnesota College of Food, Agricultural, and Natural Resource Sciences printed a large quantity of these guides, so please email Stephen Handler if you'd like a copy! |
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Michigan
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| A northern hardwood forest on the Hiawatha National Forest. |
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Extra nitrogen helps Michigan sugar maples (but only so much)
Across North America, fossil fuel consumption and high-intensity agriculture have released excess nitrogen into the atmosphere, which eventually gets deposited back to the ground. Researchers have been studying the effect of human-caused nitrogen addition to forest ecosystems at several sites throughout Michigan. The results of this 20-year project, recently published in Ecology by Ines Ibanez and colleagues, show that the extra nitrogen has benefited the growth of species like sugar maple, and that this nitrogen-caused growth boost actually increases under warmer, drier conditions. When researchers used tree growth models to estimate whether extra nitrogen would continue benefiting sugar maples under future climate change, they revealed a different story, however. Under a mild climate change scenario the positive nitrogen effect is essentially cancelled out by climate change stress, and under a more harsh climate scenario sugar maple growth was projected to decline significantly across Michigan. Read a nice summary of this research here. |
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Wisconsin
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| WICCI logo |
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WICCI group collaborates on water issues and inland lakes
The Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts has working groups on a variety of crucial topics, such as forestry, agriculture, and wildlife. The Water Resources Group held a workshop in January bringing together scientists and managers to focus on inland lakes in Wisconsin. Participants shared recent research on lakes and discussed possible adaptation strategies applicable to inland lakes. NIACS was a co-sponsor of the workshop, and Danielle Shannon attended and presented some key lessons learned on communicating climate change adaptation. The workshop was an exciting opportunity to meet and exchange ideas, and to see a community of practice form around this important topic. Contact Danielle Shannon or Madeline Magee to learn more about the WICCI Water Resources Group.
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Upcoming Events
Feb 13-14 - Grand Rapids, MN
This year's Minnesota SAF meeting will focus on collaboration with tribal forestry programs and innovative silviculture. NIACS staff will be presenting on climate change and passing out copies of the new field guide for Minnesota forests. We hope to see you there!
Feb 20-22 - Oconomowoc, WI
The Wisconsin Wetland Association holds this annual conference to cover the latest and greatest research and information on wetland ecosystems. This year, the theme is "Wetland Resilience for a Changing World," and the 2-day program will feature climate change impacts and adaptation. NIACS staff will be giving multiple presentations and also organizing a 1-day adaptation workshop the day following the conference.
Contact Danielle Shannon to learn more!
Feb 28 - Sandstone, MN
The St. Croix Forestry Conference will focus on looming challenges facing the forests that span the Minnesota-Wisconsin border. NIACS staff will be participating, and other presentations will cover topics such as the future of forest pests, wildlife responses to climate change, and working with family woodland owners. Join us at the Audubon Center of the North Woods!
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Useful Resources
Check out this new documentary from WKOW in Wisconsin. It's 55-minutes long, and it would make a great discussion piece for a classroom or a community event!
The College of Menominee Nation Sustainable Development Institute is creating a new platform for indigenous peoples to share information on climate impacts and discuss ways to adapt. The new website just launched, and contains lots of great videos and resources!
NIACS created a series of 2-page handouts that summarize how individual tree species are expected to respond to climate change across the Northwoods states. Each handout includes model projections from two future climate scenarios and models like the Climate Change Tree Atlas. We think they're a handy way to show a lot of information and get people thinking about managing climate change risk and opportunity. Contact
Stephen Handler with any questions or comments!
Vulnerability Assessments for Wisconsin's Natural Communities
The WICCI Plants and Natural Communities Working Group has released a series of short climate change vulnerability assessments for Wisconsin's natural communities. Briefs are available for 10 broad community groups (Northern Forested Wetlands, Southern Upland Forests, etc.) and 52 more specific Natural Communities (Boreal Rich Fen, Oak Woodland, etc.) These are great resources - enjoy!
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Online Education
This 8-week training will run from January to March 2018, with 1.5-hour sessions each week. Staff from the US Fish and Wildlife Service, The Wildlife Society, Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, National Park Service, Northeast Climate Science Center, and other organizations have worked together to design this course. Email
Davia Palmeri to learn more!
NIACS created the
Adaptation Workbook as an online, interactive decision-making process. This year, we've expanded the site to support urban forestry and agriculture projects, in addition to regular forestry projects. Stephen Handler gave a quick "tour" of the website in a recent webinar to the Climate Learning Network - click on the link above to watch!
The Climate Change Resource Center (CCRC) has released a new interactive online education module, "Responses to Climate Change: What You Need to Know." It provides an overview of adaptation options for resistance, resilience, and transition, and how to incorporate these ideas into natural resource management. This is the third module in a series; the first two cover the fundamentals of climate change science and an overview of climate change effects around the country.
NOAA's National Center for Environmental Information, North Carolina State University's Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites-North Carolina, along with many cooperating partners in every state has released a state-by-state assessment of climate change. They're full of great graphics and printable PDFs!
Lake States Fire Science Consortium
The Lake States Fire Science Consortium is designed to share knowledge among researchers and managers across our region. They have a searchable Science Library of great resources, and a regular webinar series. Check it out!
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Feel free to contact
Stephen Handler with any comments questions or suggestions for projects within the Northwoods Response Framework!
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