© 2024 Michigan State University Board of Trustees
Public Media from Michigan State University
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Climate Change Transforming Great Lakes Forests

Samantha Harrington
/
GREAT LAKES TODAY
Island in Lake Namekagon

To illustrate the future impact of climate change, he gives the landowners red and green ribbon and sends them into the woods. Trees projected to decrease in population, like sugar maple and balsam firs, get marked with red ribbon. Trees projected to increase, like bur and white oak, get a green ribbon. 

When they’re done, red ribbons dominate the area. And many of the landowners are overwhelmed.

But Handler says they can do a lot to help their forests thrive. He lists three responses: resistance, resilience and transition.

Resistance means protecting valuable trees.

"Imagine you have an 80-year-old red pine stand," he says. "Or maybe you are a national forest and you're required to maintain some habitat for an endangered species, you're going to try to protect that red pine stand until it's end of life."

So landowners might thin out competing trees to make sure there’s enough water and light.

Resilience means making sure a forest has many types of trees – and they’re not all the same age.

And transition means favoring species that are likely to do well in a changing change.

The landowners listening to Handler are already seeing unusual weather patterns -- like more intense storms.

Steve Arenholtz, who recently inherited 40 acres, says some of the land is much wetter than usual. 

"We have an area that the ferns are growing really well, that will be wet for a lot longer periods where they might have dried out in the past," he says.

Mike Fauerbach, who owns 191 acres, says recent winters have not been good for logging machinery that requires hard, frozen ground.

"I've had a timber sale that's gone on for three years," he says. "The ground was not hard enough to allow for that. If you tell a logger around us that the climate isn't changing you would be laughed at."

Still, he’s up for the challenge of climate change.

"We ought to prepare for it," he says. "If you're in northern Wisconsin, you better figure out what you can do here, because it's not going to go away.

Before the landowners leave, Handler has some important words of caution. He points out that computer models don’t account for pests like the emerald ash borer.

So even though white ash are projected to do well in the climate models, they’re not necessarily a safe bet.

Related Content
Journalism at this station is made possible by donors who value local reporting. Donate today to keep stories like this one coming. It is thanks to your generosity that we can keep this content free and accessible for everyone. Thanks!