Forest Change in the Midwest : The Impact of Stakeholder Perceptions and
Management Actions on the Fate of Our Oak Forests
Principal investigators: Tricia Knoot, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI
Lisa Schulte, Iowa State University, Ames, IA
Brian Palik, USDA Forest Service North Central Research, Grand Rapids, MN
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Issue At Hand In many areas of the Midwest, oak forests are declining, and are largely being replaced by later successional forest types dominated by sugar maple, basswood, and American elm. Because the causes and consequences of forest change are often found to be associated with complex and dynamic ecological and social factors, research addressing forest change and future conditions has increasingly become a collaborative process incorporating social science perspectives. More recently, forests are being managed using an ecosystem approach, creating a need for greater participation and collaboration by a variety of stakeholders such as private landowners. Because much of the forested land in the Midwest is privately owned, management decisions made by private landowners could have a profound impact on forest composition. |
Private landowner knowledge and perceptions of forest change can influence their motivation to apply forest management techniques and willingness to cooperate with coordinated management efforts. Thus, there is a need to determine how social perceptions of oak forests can impact the trajectory of forest change. |
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Through a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods, we evaluated the state, resilience, and potential future of oak forest ecosystems within the Driftless Area of the midwestern U.S., with the intention of providing information that can inform the design of timely and targeted oak-specific policy and management strategies. What We Found In-depth interviews with 32 regional natural resource professionals suggested a widespread decline in the extent of oak-hickory timberland and a shift towards more shade-tolerant forest types (i.e., maple-basswood forests). Analyses of forest surveys, collected through the U.S. Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) national program, supported interviewees’ perceptions of the trajectory of forest change and revealed that the composition and age structure of timberland across ecoregion subsections is becoming less variable. We also found a general shift towards the elm-ash-cottonwood forest type group; system state deemed undesirable by the professionals. |
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The interviewees identified private landowner decision making as central to oak regeneration success. Ecological, economic, and social factors—including but not limited to deer herbivory, understory competition, forest parcelization, exurban housing development and short land tenure—were thought to constrain landowner decision making regarding oak at multiple spatial scales, and to decrease system resilience. Conversely, interpersonal relationships between natural resource professionals and landowners, in addition to economic incentives, were identified as promoting landowner adoption of oak management practices. A holistic and in-depth understanding of the complex system relationships, feedbacks, thresholds, and uncertainties offered potential leverage points from which to enhance oak system resilience. Experimental knowledge (e.g., quantitative evaluation of thresholds related to understory competition and the economic expense of oak regeneration) is now needed to isolate cause and effect and provide access to those seeking action. |
This research has been funded by the EPA STAR program, US Forest Service Northern Research Station, and Iowa State University. For more information, please contact Tricia Knoot (knoot@wisc.edu), Lisa Schulte (lschulte@iastate.edu), or Brian Palik (bpalik@fs.fed.us) directly, or see the following publications:
Knoot, T.G. 2008. The state, resilience, and potential future of oak-dominated forests in the Driftless Area of the Midwestern U.S. Ph.D. Dissertation, Iowa State University, Ames, IA.
Knoot, T.G., L.A.Schulte, and B.P. Palik. 2007. The potential loss of oak: A legacy and treasure of the Driftless Area landscape. BetterFORESTS IX:16-17, 19.
