• Start-up
  • Planning
  • Action
  • Evaluation
The Southern New England Exurban Affiliate Oak project, located in eastern Connecticut and southern Rhode Island, is participating in a study called the Adaptive Silviculture for Climate Change (ASCC) Network. This project is a collaborative effort to establish a series of experimental silvicultural trials across different forest ecosystem types. We are currently implementing an affiliate trial within Southern New England to test different silvicultural approaches to climate change and forest health adaptation that will also serve as useful examples across the U.S. and Canada.
SNE ASCC site tour. Photo Credit: Amanda Bunce, University of Connecticut
Mohegan State Forest site tour. Photo Credit: Amanda Bunce, University of Connecticut
Research partners at Mohegan State Forest. Photo Credit: Amanda Bunce, University of Connecticut

Project Area

Mohegan State Forest field visit. Photo Credit: Amanda Bunce, University of Connecticut
The University of Connecticut is leading the development of an ASCC affiliate project site targeting oak forests in southern New England. Oak forests in southern New England often extend across multiple wooded parcels of varying size and ownership status in a parcelized and fragmented landscape. This project also includes considerations of the social dimensions of managing small parcels in the context of an exurban landscape. Rather than a single site, treatments will be replicated across the regional landscape on multiple ownerships.

Replicates of the Southern New England Exurban Affiliate site have been developed in eastern Connecticut and southern Rhode Island. The initial replicates were developed for the Mohegan State Forest, University of Connecticut Forest, and Lee Farm in Connecticut. The newest addition to the project is located on the DeCoppet Preserve in Rhode Island, which is nearly 40-acres and managed as a research site for upland forests and habitat. These upland central hardwoods are an even-aged, stratified mixture consisting of an oak-hickory canopy with more shade-tolerant subcanopy.

Management Goals

Partners at SNE Oak Workshop. Photo Credit: Amanda Bunce, University of Connecticut

A team of natural resource managers from the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and several local organizations teamed up with regional scientists from the University of Connecticut and the Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science for a virtual workshop in October 2020 to develop the study design for the ASCC project site. The team developed a set of Desired Future Condition statements (DFCs), Objectives, and Tactics for each climate adaptation trajectory (resistance, resilience, transition). These DFCs, objectives, and tactics also provided the foundation for the discussions at the DeCoppet Preserve replicate of this affiliate ASCC site led by the University of Rhode Island and the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management. Goals for the three treatments are summarized briefly below:

Resistance:

  • Maintain current composition and structure with oak dominance with current components of hickory, but also including shade tolerant species and minor species such as hemlock
  • Maintain a fully stocked stand
  • Initiate regeneration that reflects the current species composition
  • Maintain or reduce impacts from forest pests, insects, disease, and invasives
  • Reduce competing understory vegetation to promote regeneration
  • Protect key ecological and physical characteristics of the site
  • Retain habitat features, such as dead wood, to support the current assemblage of birds and other wildlife

Resilience:

  • Increase species and structural diversity
  • Increase the abundance of historically native species that are adapted to future climate conditions and increased climate variability
  • Create multiple age classes that are spatially heterogeneous
  • Reintroduce fire as a natural disturbance when possible and increase the resilience of the forest to wildfire
  • Improve health and vigor of forest to a variety of insects and diseases (e.g., gypsy moth, forest caterpillar, etc.) and to reduce risk from drought
  • Reduce impacts from nonnative invasive plants and undesirable competing vegetation to facilitate future-adapted tree species

Transition:

  • Alter the forest community composition to an oak-hickory forest dominated by that contains a novel assemblage of future-adapted species
  • Increase overall tree species diversity with a substantial component of native and novel future-adapted species and genotypes that are windfirm and drought-tolerant
  • Create diverse canopy cover conditions over space and time that is heterogeneous for regeneration
  • Promote age class diversity and structural complexity
  • Increase proportion of stand in early successional stage of development, at least temporarily
  • Improve health and vigor of forest to a variety of insects and diseases (e.g., gypsy moth, forest caterpillar, etc.) and to reduce risk from drought
  • Reduce impacts from nonnative invasive plants and undesirable competing vegetation to facilitate future-adapted tree species

Climate Change Impacts

Key climate change impacts that the project team considered for the Southern New England Exurban affiliate ASCC site included:
Uncertain changing precipitation patterns, less snow during winter months and potential for drier and drought conditions later in the growing season
Longer growing seasons
Increased risk of disturbances such as insect pest, diseases, invasive plant species, and deer herbivory
Extreme storms, including heavy precipitation events, hurricanes and other extreme wind events are expected to increase and influence trees and forest infrastructure

Challenges and Opportunities

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

Challenges

Many “northern” tree species will face increasing stress from climate change (red oak and hickory)
Increased tree mortality of overstory oak due to gypsy moth outbreaks and other factors
Changes in suitable habitat for tree species found on site
Changes in tree establishment and growth
Changes in forest species composition and structure

Opportunities

Increased growing seasons
Potential for increased distribution of southerly tree species that are better adapted to future conditions (shade-tolerant maples, birches, beech, and other mesic species)

Adaptation Actions

The ASCC project was designed to explicitly test three different adaptation options: resistance, resilience, and transition. A detailed silvicultural prescription was designed for each adaptation option, which was replicated several times across the study site. Detailed silvicultural prescriptions can be found in the Adaptation Workbook. Some of the adaptation tactics employed in this project include:

Area/Topic
Approach
Tactics
Resistance
1.4. Reduce competition for moisture, nutrients, and light.
2.2. Prevent the introduction and establishment of invasive plant species and remove existing invasive species.
3.4. Promptly revegetate sites after disturbance.
4.2. Prioritize and maintain sensitive or at-risk species or communities.
5.2. Maintain and restore diversity of native species.
5.4. Establish reserves to maintain ecosystem diversity.
Remove invasive plant species and reduce abundance of competitive vegetation prior to any harvest treatments
Implement a 3-stage shelterwood harvest
Preparatory treatment in response to recent disturbance events, allow for new regeneration of oak and hickory, and increase crown space around residual trees to increase vigor and value
Shelterwood cut to reduce stand density and facilitate growth of new regeneration
Overstory removal (partial or complete) at 20-30 years into the future to maintain conditions suitable for the desired regrowth
Create reserves within the shelterwood to protect key features: areas with rare species, sensitive sites, or recreational areas for reserves; areas that are topographically sheltered
Retain wildlife trees and standing dead trees for habitat when they do not pose a safety hazard
Use hazardous trees to create dead downed wood when possible
Resilience
1.4. Reduce competition for moisture, nutrients, and light.
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.
9.1. Favor or restore native species that are expected to be adapted to future conditions.
Remove invasive plant species and reduce abundance of competitive vegetation prior to or in conjunction with any harvest treatments
Consider use of prescribed fire or fire surrogates to control invasives and competing vegetation and encourage oak and hickory
Create patch cuts to enhance advance regeneration and create light and growing conditions suitable for additional natural regeneration and planting (can be centered on areas of gypsy moth mortality, when conditions present)
Openings should be at least ½ acre to allow for full sun in the center and a gradient of light conditions
Consider larger openings up to 2-5 acres in size where opportunities allow
Conduct a low thinning between patches to reduce density in these areas and increase the wind firmness of residual trees
Plant American chestnut and other tree species that were historically present and are expected to be adapted to future conditions
Protect planted and natural regeneration from deer herbivory
Retain wildlife trees and standing dead trees for habitat when they do not pose a safety hazard
Use hazardous trees to create dead downed wood when possible
Transition
2.2. Prevent the introduction and establishment of invasive plant species and remove existing invasive species.
5.4. Establish reserves to maintain ecosystem diversity.
9.4. Protect future-adapted seedlings and saplings.
9.7. Introduce species that are expected to be adapted to future conditions.
Remove invasive plant species and reduce abundance of competitive vegetation prior to or in conjunction with any harvest treatments
Consider use of prescribed fire or fire surrogates (e.g., flame torches) to control of invasive and competing vegetation and encourage oak and hickory
Create patch cuts or clear cuts with reserves to create light and growing conditions suitable for future-adapted planted trees
Openings should be at least 2 acres to create early successional conditions and areas suitable for planting novel assemblages
Maintain reserves for structural heterogeneity, wildlife habitat, and locations for shade tolerant species
Feather edges to create a gradient of light conditions
Consider targeting species that are not expected to be adapted to future conditions for removal
Plant a variety of tree species that are expected to be adapted to future conditions and would create a novel assemblage in this location, including southern tree species and genotypes
Protect planted trees from deer herbivory
Retain wildlife trees and standing dead trees for habitat when they do not pose a safety hazard
Use hazardous trees to create dead downed wood when possible

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:
Natural regeneration and planted seedling survival and growth, including browse protection and avoided trampling of seedlings
Soil moisture and microclimate conditions
Social considerations and acceptance of climate-adaptive management treatments for small-parcel woodland owners

Next Steps

Project participants have been refining and implementing the adaptive management treatments determined during the October 2020 workshop for the Southern New England Exurban Affiliate site. Treatment areas have been delineated and mapped, and initial stand inventory data has been collected. Permanent plots have been measured across the replicates in CT and RI. Next steps for site managers and researchers include:

• Implementing the additional study sites for landscape-scale replication in CT and RI
• Ordering future-adapted seedlings for planting
• Conducting focus groups to evaluate perceptions of the proposed treatments
• Additional outreach and training with partners

Learn More

Keywords

Forest types
Management plan
Oak
Planting
Research
Urban
Wildlife habitat

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