A new program looks to replant warm weather trees in northern Minnesota to help them adjust to a rapidly warming world
CLIMATEWIRE | Never has a swamp white oak thrived in the Superior National Forest. The lower Great Lakes? Sure. Even Missouri and Kentucky.
One possibility? Swamp oak. It's a candidate species for what may be one of the Forest Service's most ambitious climate adaptation efforts to date — the physical relocation of seeds and seedlings from more southern latitudes into warming northern forests. Enter "human-assisted migration," where foresters physically introduce new species — or more heat-tolerant varieties of native species — to see how they fare under changing conditions. Superior National Forest will be an early proving ground for the approach.
According to the Forest Service’s Climate Change Resource Center, “species with very specific habitat needs or ranges limited by physical barriers, such as fragmentation or geographic features … could be at risk of extinction or extirpation due to climate change.” Where species collapse does not occur, “climate change may result in large-scale mortality and population extirpation due to maladaptation of populations.
Officials say the Superior National Forest pilot project could become a model for migration programs in other forests. Field scientists and project managers with the Superior National Forest did not return calls for comment.
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