The Adaptive Silviculture for Climate Change network is a replicated, operational-scale experiment testing the effectiveness of climate adaptation strategies in a diversity of forest ecosystem types across the U.S. and Canada.
SCIENCE APPLICATIONS
The Adaptive Silviculture for Climate Change (ASCC) Network fosters manager-scientist collaboration to co-develop and implement demonstrations of adaptation actions in a variety of forest ecosystem types. ASCC study sites are rigorously designed adaptation installations that further our understanding of potential management interventions and adaptation best practices, explicitly testing silvicultural treatments that encompass resistance, resilience, and transition related to climate change and a no-action control. ASCC Network sites complement the broader network of 500+ adaptation demonstration sites.
"I just want to take a moment to express my gratitude and appreciation for the process and thoughtful coordination Courtney and Linda are stewarding for the ASCC Network. This is how conscious communities of practice are created."
- Jarel Bartig, Wayne National Forest, USDA Forest Service
2022 SPOTLIGHTS
NETWORK GROWTH
Since its inception in 2012, the ASCC Network has grown to include 14 sites across the U.S. and Canada. Four new sites joined the Network this year: the Driftless Area series of affiliate ASCC sites located in Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin; the Ohio Hills site on the Vinton Furnace Experimental Forest in an oak-dominated forest in Ohio; the Taylor Park site on the Gunnison National Forest in a lodgepole pine forest in southwest Colorado; and the Robinson Forest site with the University of Kentucky in an Appalachian mixed-mesophytic forest.
INTERPRETIVE SIGNS AT MISSISSIPPI NATIONAL RIVER AND RECREATION AREA SITE
The Mississippi National River and Recreation Area affiliate ASCC site in Saint Paul, MN, installed interpretive signs designed by a local Dakota artist and featuring Dakota and Ojibwe language that describe both the cultural significance of the trees and the scientific questions being asked as part of the experiment. These signs were made possible through a partnership with the Lower Phalen Creek Project.
THE NEXT GENERATION OF ASCC
This year, we hired our first ASCC Network Intern, Kirsten Martin. Kirsten was instrumental in updating the ASCC website, creating outreach materials for our ASCC sites and the network, and compiling the summer newsletter. Kirsten will be graduating with a B.S. in Human Dimensions of Natural Resources from Colorado State University in December 2022. Congratulations, Kirsten!
COMING UP
After adding several new sites in the past year, we will shift our focus to strengthening the ASCC Network to enhance collaboration among the site scientists and managers, as well as sharing successes and lessons learned with diverse management audiences. Network leads and co-founders Linda Nagel (now at Utah State University), and Chris Swanston (now at the Forest Service Office of Sustainability and Climate), and Maria Janowiak remain committed to the success of the ASCC Network and are working with network collabortors to support robust coordination, networking, and site monitoring into the future.
