• Start-up
  • Planning
  • Action
  • Evaluation

Tribal environmental staff attended a Forest Adaptation Planning and Practices training in February 2014 and are currently building support to implement the adaptation actions they identified. A first step for NHBP will be to inventory forest and understory communities on the reservation, which is scheduled to begin this summer. NHBP environmental staff are also building support for several of these activities with the Tribal Environmental Advisory Council and the local drain commission.

The tribal environmental staff are work to prioritize and implement a suite of adaptation actions recommended for this project. As the NHBP land base expands over time, this adaptation mindset can be applied to a larger area.

Project Area

The Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi (NHBP) manages a relatively small land base in southwestern Michigan called the Pine Creek Reservation. For this project, tribal natural resources staff assessed the impacts of climate change on the forest lands managed by the tribe and designed several adaptation actions that could be pursued over time.

Management Goals

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NHBP does not have a large forested land base, or a legacy of active forest management. Nevertheless, the tribal environmental staff have identified several goals to guide the protection and restoration of natural resources. Major areas of emphasis include inventory work for canopy and understory species, invasive species monitoring and eradication, market development for forest-based products including maple syrup, and creating suitable wildlife habitat. Potential project partners include the local drain commission, Kalamazoo Conservation District, Michigan DNR, BIA, NRCS, and other organizations.

Climate Change Impacts

Staff from the NHBP environmental department used the Adaptation Workbook from Forest Adaptation Resources to evaluate the potential climate change impacts on forested areas the Pine Creek Reservation and for the surrounding landscape in general. Potential climate change impacts that are of major interest include:
Non-native invasive species such as garlic mustard are currently a major challenge to maintaining the integrity of natural communities, and climate change is expected to increase the competitive advantage of many invasive species.
Culturally significant species such as paper birch, ash, northern white-cedar, and white pine are projected to decline in southern Michigan across a range of climate scenarios.
Reduced summer moisture could result from shifting precipitation patterns, longer growing seasons, and warmer temperatures under climate change. This stressor could be amplified in southwestern Michigan because much of the landscape has been tiled and dr

Adaptation Actions

Several actions were identified using the Adaptation Workbook to accommodate changing conditions and pursue the management goals for the Pine Creek Reservation. Examples include

Area/Topic
Approach
Tactics
Forest Lands
1.3. Maintain or restore riparian areas.
1.5. Restore or maintain fire in fire-adapted ecosystems.
2.2. Prevent the introduction and establishment of invasive plant species and remove existing invasive species.
2.3. Manage herbivory to promote regeneration of desired species.
9.4. Protect future-adapted seedlings and saplings.
Break drain tiles and restoring a more complex riparian structure
Continue the invasive species control plan
Promote hunting within the NHBP community to reduce deer herbivory
Conduct prescribed burns in upland forests
Raise awareness among the NHBP community with increased interpretive signage and forest products like maple syrup
Develop a tribal nursery and seedbank to generate seedlings of future-adapted cultivars and tree species

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Keywords

Agriculture/ Agroforestry
Fire and fuels
Water resources

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