Northwoods Climate Change Response Framework

Project Summary

The Climate Change Response Framework Project began in 2009 to provide information and resources for land managers in northern Wisconsin. The project's overall goals are to help land managers adapt ecosystems to changing climate, mitigate carbon emissions, respond to climate change impacts across ownership boundaries, and rapidly incorporate science and monitoring information into management activities. This project was expanded to the Northwoods Climate Change Response Framework in 2011 to include 64 million acres of Laurentian Mixed Forest within northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan.

Outcomes

To meet the challenges brought about by climate change, a team of federal and state land management agencies, private forest owners, conservation organizations, and others have come together to accomplish three objectives:

1. Provide a forum for people working across the Northwoods to effectively and efficiently share experiences and lessons learned.
2. Develop new user-friendly tools to help public and private land managers factor climate change considerations into decision making.
   Jump to publications>>
3. Support efforts by public land managers, private landowners, and others to implement new tools for addressing climate change.

Maria Janowiak and Stephen Handler are coordinating the Northwoods Framework.

Collaborators

The Northwoods Framework builds upon and expands a broad network of collaborators:

• American Forest Foundation
• Boreal Forest and Community Resilience Project
• Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest
• Chippewa National Forest
• Department of Natural Resources in Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, and Michigan  
• Dynamic Ecosystems and Landscapes Lab at Portland State University
• Forest Landscape Ecology Lab at University of Wisconsin-Madison
• Great Lakes Forest Alliance
• Hiawatha National Forest
• Huron-Manistee National Forest
• Michigan Climate Coalition
• Minnesota Forest Resource Council
• MTU School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science
• National Council for Air and Stream Improvement
• National Wildlife Federation
• Northeastern Area Association of State Foresters
• Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science
• Ottawa National Forest
• Superior National Forest
• Trust for Public Land
• The Nature Conservancy teams in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and the Great Lakes region
• The Nature Conservancy LANDFIRE Team
• Upper Midwest and Great Lakes Landscape Conservation Cooperative
• USDA Forest Service Eastern Region
• USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station
• USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station: Climate, Fire, and Carbon Cycle Sciences
• USDA Forest Service Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry
• Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts

Products and Publications

• Climate change science applications and needs in forest ecosystem management: a workshop organized as part of the northern Wisconsin Climate Change Response Framework Project summarizes key findings from the 2010 Climate Change Science Applications and Needs workshop for northern Wisconsin.
• An Ecosystem Vulnerability Assessment and Synthesis was created to evaluate key ecosystem vulnerabilities in northern Wisconsin under a range of future climate uncertainty using existing models and information. Additional vulnerability assessments are in development.
• A Mitigation Assessment was developed to consider the potential for and efficacy of different forest carbon mitigation options in northern Wisconsin. A preliminary version of the Mitigation Assessment has been completed, and scientists are working together to produce an expanded assessment.
• Partnership efforts are vital in all Northwoods Framework activities. As part of the initial activities in Wisconsin, the Shared Landscapes Initiative and Science Applications and Needs workshops helped launch new partnerships.
• Forest Adaptation Resources: Climate change tools and approaches for land managers provides perspectives, information, and tools to help managers incorporate climate change considerations into management and adapt forest ecosystems in northern Wisconsin to a changing climate.