Project Area
Management Goals
The key goal of the Scott Road Landscape Scale Restoration Project is to restore and maintain early successional and young forest habitat for wildlife. Objectives associated with this goal include: (1) Increasing the acreage of young forest habitat and aspen regeneration through 5-acre patch cuts and clear cuts; (2) Maintaining an 8-acre abandoned field and reclaiming field edges as early successional grass/shrubland habitat through mechanical mowing and prescribed fire on a 5-year cycle. The second management goal is to protect and enhance the riparian forest zones located within the project area. Each of these riparian zones falls within a hemlock-hardwood forest type. Objectives include: (1) Maintaining moist conditions and adequate stream shading; (2) Increasing species diversity and structural complexity. The third goal for this project is to increase the age class, structural, and compositional diversity of the ~60 acres of the project area comprised of a northern hardwood forest type. The objective for this goal is to (1) Increase gaps in the forest canopy through group selection and patch cut harvesting, adding an entire new forest age class.
Climate Change Impacts
For this project, the most important anticipated climate change impacts include:
- Increased winter precipitation, along with the warming climate that favors rain over snow, could increase stream flow in riparian zones during the winter months. A reduction in snowpack and increased winter runoff may reduce groundwater recharge.
- Warmer winter temperatures in New England and fewer days with a minimum temperature below 32°F will likely lead to the range expansion and abundance of non-native forest insects and pests such as Hemlock Wooly Adelgid.
- More frequent intense heavy rain and extreme storm events could lead to more severe flooding, an increase in stream bank soil erosion, and reduce soil water infiltration.
- The extent of young forest is declining, reducing the amount of high-quality habitat for plants and wildlife dependent on early seral stages.
- Aspen forest types may be vulnerable to temperature increases and moisture stress from climate change.
- Insect pests and diseases may have more negative impacts on managed aspen stands under climate change.
- Forest productivity in New England and northern New York will increase during the next several decades in the absence of significant stressors.
- Changes in herbivore populations may have substantial effects on forest growth and composition in northern hardwood forests.
Challenges and Opportunities
Challenges
Opportunities
Adaptation Actions
Project participants used the Adaptation Workbook to develop several adaptation actions for this project, including: