Increasing Oak Forest Resiliency in Southern New England

Christopher Riely, Maria Janowiak, Amanda Mahaffey, and Thomas Worthley

Published May 2023 in International Oaks No. 34: 187–196

Abstract

The iconic southern New England landscape is a densely populated region in which historic villages and growing cities are set within an expansive forest. While oaks are dominant or significant species in 60% of these forests, they face pressures that compromise their health and ability to regenerate. Threats include deer herbivory and insect defoliation, while drought and climate-change stresses compound other disturbance factors. With traditional silviculture methods no longer working reliably and landowner motivations changing, new management options are needed.

A 2019-22 initiative led by the Forest Stewards Guild and state agencies has engaged partners in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island to collaborate in promoting stewardship that will support and improve the resiliency of the region’s oak forests. One promising output of this collaboration is a web-based Oak Resiliency Assessment Tool that professionals and landowners can use.

Looking forward, researchers at the University of Connecticut and University of Rhode Island are leading a study designed to test different management approaches to help regional oak forests adapt to changing climate conditions.

Keywords

adaptation, climate change, decision support tool, foresters, landowners, silviculture, stakeholder engagement

References

Abrams, M.D., and G.J. Nowacki. 2020. Native American imprint in palaeoecology. Nature Sustainability: Matters Arising 3: 896-897. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-020-0578-6

Abrams, M.D., Nowacki, G.J., and B.B. Hanberry. 2022. Oak forests and woodlands as Indigenous landscapes in the Eastern United States. Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society 149(2): 101-121. https://doi.org/10.3159/TORREY-D-21-00024.1

Buffum, B. 2015. History and ecology of Rhode Island Forests (presentation, Kingston, Rhode Island).

Butler, B.J., S.J. Crocker, G.M. Domke, C.M. Kurtz, T.W. Lister, P.D. Miles, R.S. Morin, et al. 2015. The Forests of Southern New England, 2012: A Report on the Forest Resources of Connecticut, Massachusetts. Resource Bulletin NRS-97, Newtown Square, PA: USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station. https://doi.org/10.2737/NRS-RB-97.

Cronon, W. 1983. Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England. New York, NY: Hill and Wang.

Dukes, J.S., J. Pontius, D. Orwig, J.R. Garnas, V.L. Rodgers, N. Brazee, B. Cooke, et al. 2009. Responses of insect pests, pathogens, and invasive plant species to climate change in the forests of northeastern North America: What can we predict? Canadian Journal of Forest Reserach 39(2): 231-248. https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/10.1139/X08-17.

Forest Ecosystem Monitoring Cooperative. 2021. Oak Resiliency Assessment Tool. https://www.uvm.edu/femc/oak_resiliency. Foster, D.R., and J.F. O’Keefe. 2000. New England Forests Through Time: Insights from the Harvard Forest Dioramas. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univesity Press.

Fralish, J.S. 2003. The Central Hardwood Forest: Its Boundaries and Physiographic Provinces. General Technical Report NC-234, St. Paul, MN: USDA Forest Service, North Central Research Station. https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/12317.

Fuller, J.L., D.R. Foster, J.S. McLachlan, and N. Drake. 1998. Impact of human activity on regional forest composition and dynamics in central New England. Ecosystems 1(1): 76-95. https://doi.org/10.1007/s100219900007.

Janowiak, M.K., A.W. D’Amato, C.W. Swanston, L. Iverson, F.R. Thompson, W.D. Dijak, S. Matthews, et al.. 2018. New England and Northern New York Forest Ecosystem Vulnerability Assessment and Synthesis: A Report from the New England Climate Change Response Framework. General Technical Report NRS-173, Newtown Square, PA: USDA Forest Service, Northern Reserach Station. https://www.nrs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/ 55635.

McEwan, R.W., J.M. Dyer, and N. Pederson. 2011. Multiple interacting ecosystem drivers: toward an encompassing hypothesis of oak forest dynamics across eastern North America. Ecography 34: 244-256. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0587.2010.06390.x

Millar, C.I., N.L. Stephenson, and S.L. Stephens. 2007.Climate Change and Forests of the Future: Managing for Uncertainty. Ecological Applications 17(8): 2145-151. https:// doi.org/10.1890/06-1715.1.

Nagel, L.M., B.J. Palik, M.A. Battaglia, A.W. D’Amato, J.M. Guldin, C.W. Swanston, M.K. Janowiak, et al. 2017. Adaptive Silviculture for Climate Change: A National Experiment in Manager-Scientist Partnerships to Apply an Adaptation Framework. Journal of Forestry 115(3): 167-178. https://doi.org/10.5849/jof.16-039.

Nowacki, G.J., and M.D. Abrams. 2008. The Demise of Fire and the “Mesophication” of Forests in the Eastern United States. BioScience 58(2): 123-138. https://doi.org/10.1641/b580207.

NRCS. 2020. Slash Wall: Cutting edge forestry practice comes to Rhode Island. USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/conservation-basics/conservation-by-state/rhode-island/news/slash-wall-cutting-edge-forestry.

Parshall, T., and D.R. Foster. 2002. Fire on the New England landscape: regional and temporal variation, cultural and environmental controls. Journal of Biogeography 29(10-11): 1305-1317. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2699.2002.00758.x.

Patterson, W. A., III, and K. E. Sassamann. 1988. Indian Fires in the Prehistory of New England. In Holocene Human Ecology in northeastern North America, edited by G.P. Nicholas. Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology. Boston, MA: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-2376-9_6.

Rawinski, T.J. 2014. White-tailed Deer in Northeastern Forests: Understanding and Assessing Impacts. Report NA–IN–02–14, Newtown Square, PA: USDA Forest Service, State and Private Forestry.

Reo, N.J., and A.K. Parker. 2013. Re-thinking colonialism to prepare for the impacts of rapid environmental change. Climatic Change 120(3): 671-682. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-013-0783-7

Sass, E., B. Butler, and J. Caputo. 2021. New England Family Forest Owners: Results from the National Woodland Owner Survey. NESAF News Quarterly, 82(1): 14.

Stambaugh, M.C., D.C. Dey, J.M. Marschall, and C.A. Harper. 2022. Fire in eastern oak forests—a primer. NRS-INF-39-22., Madison, WI: USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station. https://doi.org/10.2737/NRS-INF-39-22.

Thompson, J.R., D.N. Carpenter, C.V. Cogbill, and D.R. Foster. 2013. Four Centuries of Change in Northeastern United States Forests. PLoS ONE 8(9): e72540. https://doi.org/10.1371/ journal.pone.0072540.

Weiskopf, S.R., O.E. Ledee, and L.M. Thompson. 2019. Climate change effects on deer and moose in the Midwest. The Journal of Wildlife Management 83(4): 769-781. https:// doi.org/10.1002/jwmg.21649.