AUTHOR=Clark Peter W. , D’Amato Anthony W. , Fitts Lucia A. , Janowiak Maria K. , Montgomery Rebecca A. , Palik Brian J. 

TITLE=Forest assisted migration and adaptation plantings in the Northeastern US: perspectives and applications from early adopters

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Forests and Global Change

VOLUME=Volume 7 - 2024

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/forests-and-global-change/articles/10.3389/ffgc.2024.1386211

DOI=10.3389/ffgc.2024.1386211

ISSN=2624-893X

ABSTRACT=Threats to the future function of forested ecosystems and stability of ecosystem service provisioning due to global change have motivated climate-adaptive forest management strategies that include various forms of tree planting termed “adaptation plantings”. Despite the emergence of these strategies, less is known how foresters and other natural resource managers perceive or are engaged with adaptation plantings like forest assisted migration (FAM). This knowledge gap is most pronounced in regions like New England and the North Central US where tree planting is less common but expected to be important for adaptation. We surveyed 33 natural resource managers in this region actively engaged in climate change adaptation (i.e., early adopters) to assess how tree planting for adaptation is pursued against the perceived barriers, opportunities, and future engagement. Survey respondents (93.5%) forecast increases in the future use of adaptation plantings in their work, attributed to increased awareness, acceptance, and interest in the practice. Respondents expressed interest in diversification and most types of FAM (e.g., assisted population expansion and assisted range expansion), but hesitancy to engage with more contentious planting types like afforestation or the long-distance translocation of exotic species (e.g., assisted species migration). Although examples of local enrichment plantings (i.e., non-FAM) proliferate, nineteen of the top twenty most common tree genera planted contain at least one example of FAM in the study region. The most notable barriers reported were 1) biotic and abiotic, 2) information and material, and 3) policy, social, and economic factors. While most respondents report difficulty obtaining adequate planting material from nurseries, over 80% placed orders shortly before planting (<1 year) likely generating difficulty in sourcing seedlings suited for a range of environmental conditions. Although this study is limited by focusing on a subset of forest managers who are early adopters of adaptation planning, valuable inferences into the barriers and trends are possible from this population serving on the front lines of forest adaptation. Together, these results from early adopters suggest a potentially growing need for resources that engage forest stewards in adaptation planting to refine policy, financing, and management practices to support adaptation in this region and beyond.