Foresters, ecologists, and outreach specialists from the University of Connecticut, the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, and other southern New England institutions are partnering with the Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science and Colorado State University to offer a virtual climate change adaptation workshop for folks working on the ecology and management of oak-hickory forests in Connecticut. This workshop will be held virtually on October 19, 20, and 21, 2020. 

The workshop is part of a project titled the Adaptive Silviculture for Climate Change (ASCC) Network, which is a collaborative effort between managers and scientists working to establish a series of experimental trials across a network of diverse forest ecosystem types throughout North America. Each trial is focused on understanding and evaluating management options designed to enable forests to respond to a changing climate. Site-specific treatments are developed according to local conditions and tailored to meet site-specific management objectives, while at the same time aligning under a common framework for answering questions about how different forest types will respond to future climate. 

Our workshop focused on oak-hickory forests in the exurban landscapes of Connecticut will serve three primary purposes.  

Workshop Goals:

• Engage local managers and scientists in the Adaptive Silviculture for Climate Change (ASCC) co-development framework through the co-creation of locally-relevant climate change adaptation strategies;
• Use an adaptive planning process to design specific climate change adaptation experimental treatments for a set of oak-hickory forest stands that will be part of a long-term study to be implemented at the Mohegan State Forest and University of Connecticut forests; and
• Develop specific management, research, and monitoring questions that can be addressed through the ASCC project.