February 2015
Minnesota 
Minnesota Public Radio logo.
Minnesota Public Radio features forest adaptation projects

In early Feburary, Minnesota Public Radio released a special series called Climate Change in Minnesota, which includes outstanding audio, video, maps, and written content. The wide range of topics includes human health, agriculture, urban infrastructure, and many more subjects. One feature article examines a few on-going forest adaptation projects occuring throughout the state, including the Adaptive Silviculture for Climate Change project and The Nature Conservancy's Adaptation Forestry project. NIACS is proud to support projects like these and we look forward to the valuable information they'll provide.
Michigan 
Association of Consulting Foresters logo. 
Consulting foresters consider climate change

The Michigan Chapter of the Association of Consulting Foresters recently held their annual meeting, and they invited Stephen Handler to present to the group on climate change impacts and adaptation. Consulting foresters interact with many landowners and perform a wide range of tasks, including writing management plans, collecting inventory data, and administering timber sales. This group of professionals is a target audience of NIACS and the Climate Change Response Framework, and we hope to create several new adaptation demonstration projects with consultants and private landowners in 2015! 
Wisconsin
White-tailed deer looking for a snack.

New information on climate change, wildlife, and land management

 

Several new research papers that deal with climate change, wildlife, and management in Wisconsin have been published in recent months. Each of these papers offers a "window" into the minds of natural resource professionals and organizations. Suzanne Hagell and Christine Ribic conducted a survey of wildlife resarchers and managers to explore attitudes and barriers regarding climate change and management. Olivia LeDee and Christine Ribic held expert workshops to screen terrestrial wildlife species for climate change vulnerability and identify priorities for monitoring, research, and adaptation actions. Finally, Karl Martin and colleagues conducted surveys and interviews with natural resource managers across multiple states and organizations to assess the capacity of land managers to integrate climate adaptation into their work and to identify opportunities that exist to support adaptation. We hope you take a look at these papers and think about how their results and conclusions might apply to your own work.

 

Events
 
The Sustainable Forests Education Cooperative hosts an annual event to explore new research that natural resource managers can apply on the ground. This year's agenda includes information on Minnesota moose, red pine ecology, and woody biomass harvesting, among other topics. 

 

National Adaptation Forum - May 12-15, 2015 - St. Louis, MO

The National Adaptation Forum is held every two years, and it's meant to bring together people from all sectors to share their experiences and learn from each other. It would be great to have strong representation from the forestry sector here in the Northwoods! 

Learning Opportunities
 

Changing Weather and Climate in the Great Lakes Region

This is a free, 4-week course offered by Coursera and taught by two instructors from the University of Wisconsin. This course will focus on information specific to our part of the country, including observed data as well as stories of how local people and communities are adjusting. 

 

Northeast Climate Science Center Webinar Series

The Northeast Climate Science Center is hosting a string of interesting webinars in early 2015. Topics will range from uncertainty and decision-making, fish habitat, wildfire and insect interactions, and future forest composition.  Click the link above to get the full schedule!

 

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 5th Assessment - Webinar Series

The Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado created a seminar series featuring authors and contributors to the upcoming IPCC 5th Assessment Report. The seminars from fall 2014 focused on topics such as paleoclimate archives; sea level change; and observed changes in the ocean, atmosphere, and land surface.  The seminar recordings and presenter slides are all available online, so you can work through this content at your own pace!  

Feel free to contact Stephen Handler with any comments questions or suggestions for projects within the Northwoods Response Framework!
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Learn more about Adaptation Demonstration Projects in the Northwoods! 
 
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