Michigan

Michigan’s forests will increasingly be affected by a changing climate. Understanding these potential impacts is an important first step to sustaining healthy forests in the face of changing conditions. As part of the Northwoods Climate Change Response Framework project, more than 30 scientists and forest managers collaborated to assess the vulnerability of forest ecosystems in Michigan’s eastern Upper Peninsula and northern Lower Peninsula.

The area’s forests will increasingly be affected by a changing climate. Understanding these potential impacts is an important first step to sustaining healthy forests in the face of changing conditions. As part of the Northwoods Climate Change Response Framework project, more than 40 scientists and natural resource professionals collaborated to assess the vulnerability of forest ecosystems in northern Wisconsin and Michigan’s western Upper Peninsula.

Many landowners have begun to ask how their forest management strategy affects the carbon within their forest and thus the forest’s ability to mitigate climate change. Every strategy has its tradeoffs; therefore, to meet all of society’s needs, we will ultimately need a mix of passive and active strategies across the region.

The tool provides a rapid and simple process to assess forest resiliency. This publication contains background information on important characteristics of resilient and healthy forests and examples of potential adaptation strategies. It is accompanied by a scorecard to be used in the field to evaluate the resiliency of a forest.

In this report, we describe several climate-driven problems that are projected to affect, or are already affecting, particular wildlife species and ecosystems, and solutions that conservation groups are implementing to help plants and animals respond and adapt. These projects are tangible examples of climate-informed conservation, and can serve as inspiration for others grappling with similar issues.

Many of the management practices that are already “smart forestry” can have valuable win-win benefits for climate change adaptation.