• Start-up
  • Planning
  • Action
  • Evaluation

Testing a continuum of adaptation options in mixed pine forests along the Southeastern Coastal Plain of the U.S. 

The Jones Center at Ichauway is part of a study taking place across the U.S. and Canada referred to as Adaptive Silviculture for Climate Change (ASCC). This project is testing silvicultural strategies for climate change adaptation by establishing a series of experimental trials in diverse forest ecosystems across the United States and Canada. The Jones Center, located in southwest Georgia, seeks to foster understanding and demonstrate climate adaptation options for natural resource management and conservation planning within mixed pine forests of the Southeastern Coastal Plain of the US.
Photo of pine forest
Photo of forest understory
Photo of prescribed burning

Project Area

The Jones Center at Ichauway consists of a block of 29,000 acres within Southwestern Georgia, situated in the Dougherty Plains. This region has a diversity of trees such as the long-leaf pine forests, riparian hardwood forests, mixed pine forests, and depressional wetlands. Additionally, the reigon has shrub-scrub uplands, human cultural zones and agricultural tracts for farming. Notably, the Ichawaynochaway Creek passes through this region, and the Flint River is just 13 miles from the Jones Center’s borders.

Management Goals

This project aims to collaboratively start a series of experimental silvicultural trials within diverse ecosystems in the US. USDA Forest Service Land Managers, scientists, and other partners have commenced trial sites as part of a national study to conduct research on ecosystem responses relative to actions surrounding climate change adaptation.

Climate Change Impacts

Key projected climate change impacts that the project team considered for The Jones Center at Ichauway include:
Increased temperatures and drought severity
Changing precipitation amounts and extreme weather events
Increased insects, pathogens, and invasive species
Reduced ability to use prescribed fire as a management tool and potentially more wildfires

Challenges and Opportunities

Climate change will present challenges and opportunities for accomplishing the management objectives of this project, including:

Challenges

Altered vulnerability to future climatic conditions in pine plantations and hardwood forests
Increased mortality rates in pine species from drought
Increased abundance of hardwood stems of all size classes

Opportunities

Longleaf pines are highly resilient to drought and insect-induced mortality, and may be suitable on a wider range of sites under projected climate change

Adaptation Actions

Project participants used the Adaptation Workbook to develop several adaptation actions for this project, including:

Area/Topic
Approach
Tactics
Resistance
Forest Strategy 1: Sustain fundamental ecological functions.
Clean out the oaks and off-site pines to enhance fuelbed characteristics and improve prescribed burning effectiveness
Prescribe burn every 2 years
Apply herbicide to stumps to discourage sprouting
Resilience
Forest Strategy 1: Sustain fundamental ecological functions.
1.4. Reduce competition for moisture, nutrients, and light.
1.5. Restore or maintain fire in fire-adapted ecosystems.
Forest Strategy 5: Maintain and enhance species and structural diversity.
Thin longleaf pine to 50 ft2/acre, removing other pine species
Prescribe burn every 2 years
Retain upland and xeric oaks up to a maximum of 10ft2/acre
Remove mesic oaks which consume a lot of water

Monitoring

Monitoring is an essential component of the ASCC study. Research partners from several institutions are working together to investigate the effectiveness of different silvicultural treatments aimed at creating adaptive ecosystems. Some of the monitoring items include:
Fuel bed continuity and the effectiveness of burning
Diversity of groundcover and woody understory plants
Stand-level water use and the yield
Canopy tree growth
Activity patterns of small and large animals

Next Steps

The Jones Center at Ichauway installed permanent sample plots and collected pre-treatment data. Harvesting took place in the winter of 2017/2018. Monitoring is enhanced by remotely sensed data collected annually by NEON.

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Other Related Links

Keywords

Fire and fuels
Oak
Plantations
Research

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