The Driftless Area’s forests will be affected by climate change and other stressors during this century. An assessment put together by a team of researchers describes the vulnerability of forests in the Driftless Area. It includes information on observed and future climate trends and summarizes key vulnerabilities. The Landscape Change Research Group recently updated the Climate Change Tree Atlas, www.fs.fed.us/nrs/atlas/.
The updated Tree Atlas presents information helpful to interpret tree species changes. It includes a tree’s suitable habitat, adaptability, migration potential and capability. The assessment shows the following trees with a good climate change capability along with a high to medium adaptability (ability to respond favorably to disturbance making a specie adaptable to future stressors) include American elm, bitternut hickory, black oak, black walnut, bur oak, eastern cottonwood, eastern red cedar, green ash, hackberry, honey locust, ironwood, northern red oak, silver maple, sugar maple and white oak.
The assessment model projections can’t account for all factors that influence future species success.
The Root River SWCD has several of these species available. If you are interested in a species not listed on our order form feel free to contact us at (507) 724-5261 ext. 3.