Julia Burton

Adaptive Capacity Through Silviculture: managing risk and maintaining ecosystem services in northern hardwood forests

Abstract: A series of changes in ecological conditions makes the sustainability of business-as-usual silvicultural practices in northern hardwoods less certain. Moreover, historical exploitation and management has degraded the capacity of northern hardwoods to self-organize and continue to provide the full suite of values and services people depend on. The Adaptive Capacity Through Silviculture Experiment (ACTS) seeks to quantify the relative risks and rewards of climate-informed Resilience and Transition strategies designed to increase adaptive capacity through restoration of structural, compositional and functional heterogeneity, and forest assisted migration, respectively, compared to Business-as-Usual and No Action.

Alex Helman

Carbon Stewardship via Improved Resiliency in Northern Hardwood Forests 

Abstract: With funds from SFI’s Carbon Stewardship funding program, The Nature Conservancy is implementing a project aimed at enhancing forest carbon storage and resilience across 600+ acres of northern hardwood forest in Baraga County. Management activities including variable density thinning, targeted scarification, and underplanting of long-lived conifers, primarily hemlock and white pine. The project seeks to strike a balance between commercial harvesting and other management actions that can increase resiliency through both legacy retention and the establishment of a new cohort of trees.

Rick Hill

Management in the Middle: Modernizing Hardwood Silviculture in the Zone of Maximum Impact. 

Abstract: Management of northern hardwood across the west UP state forests present many challenges.  In the Lake Superior watershed, we can reliably regenerate northern hardwood. We must work to improve diversity of the resource as well as providing sustainable yield of forest products. In the southern reaches of the WUP we struggle with degraded systems, high deer populations, and changing moisture regimes. These challenges will take more time, investment, and out of the box thinking to regenerate northern hardwood. In the middle we find our best opportunity for new silvicultural practices making a positive impact regenerating northern hardwood stands.  

Christel Kern

Long-term and new Forest Service research on sustainable management of northern hardwoods

Abstract: For 100 years, Forest Service Research & Development has been studying approaches to sustain northern hardwoods through management. The research includes long-term growth & yield studies as well as new climate adaptive experiments in northern hardwoods, and research that spans from detailed plots to landscape scale studies. Recent results highlight possible modifications to selection systems and importance of followup treatments for recruitment.

Amber Marchel

Managing Northern Hardwoods Amid Changing Conditions: Balancing Long-Term Objectives with Operational Realities

Abstract: Northern hardwood management in Michigan's Upper Peninsula is becoming increasingly complex as land managers work to balance long-term silvicultural objectives with evolving ecological, economic, and operational realities. This presentation will highlight several key challenges currently facing practitioners, including regeneration concerns, access and infrastructure limitations, fluctuating timber markets, and a shrinking logging workforce, a trend occurring throughout much of the country. Using examples from active forest management, the discussion will explore how these factors influence planning and decision-making on the ground.

Sara Vial

Restoring Fire as an Ecological and Silvicultural Process: Monitoring Outcomes Across Diverse Forest Types 

Abstract: As we work toward the expansion of prescribed fire across multiple forest cover types, our goal is to reestablish fire as a foundational ecological and silvicultural process, especially within pine-dominated systems where fire exclusion has altered structure and function. By integrating natural landscape features into burn planning and conducting systematic, post‑fire monitoring, we can more clearly evaluate how variations in fire intensity drive ecological outcomes.

Ron Waukau

Abstract: This presentation examines the future of sustainable forest management for the next 50 years within the Menominee Reservation and the operations of Menominee Tribal Enterprises (MTE) in Keshena, Wisconsin. It highlights how longstanding harvest practices are being challenged by emerging environmental, economic, and workforce conditions.

The presentation identifies several major pressures facing northern hardwood forests, including climate change, invasive species, biodiversity loss, and increasing frequency of severe storms and tornadoes. Visual examples illustrate landscape-scale forest impacts and historical storm patterns affecting the reservation.

Christopher R. Webster

Using silvicultural experiments to identify bottlenecks and maintain species diversity in northern hardwood forests

Abstract: A variety of silvicultural experiments have been established over the last 20 years at the Ford Forest with the goal of maintaining species diversity in managed forests. This talk will highlight key findings from gap based silviculture experiments and the Northern Hardwood Silviculture Experiment to Enhance Diversity.