Active management is being undertaken to restore native ecosystems in the Midwest Driftless Area, but largely without attention to historical vegetation and disturbance dynamics in the region. We inform restoration practice by providing insights into the historic role of land use and fire within these ecosystems.

The causes and consequences of forest change are often found to be associated with complex and dynamic ecological and social factors.  In many Midwestern forests, forest composition has changed with a decrease in oak dominance.  A changing forest composition can impact the region both ecologically and economically.  In this research project we are evaluating the implications of forest change in the Driftless Area of the Midwest and potential future conditions given various ecological and social threats.  To better understand social factors that can shape future forest conditions, we incorporate stakeholder driven management prescriptions in our modeling efforts.

As the Corn Belt enters a time of fast-paced and uncertain land-use change driven by the demands of the emerging bio-economy, regional landscape change will take place, impacting the resilience of rural social and ecological systems for years to come. In this project, we work with rural stakeholders to examine the dynamic and interlinked social, ecological, and economic variables underlying agricultural land use change.

Contemporary harvesting practices frequently result in simplification of structure and composition in managed forest stands in comparison to their natural counterparts. Loss of heterogeneity within stands may pose a problem for maintaining of biodiversity in perpetuity. In this research project we are assessing forest bird response to alternative forest management practices within red pine ecosystems by determining which elements of heterogeneity are important and whether some harvesting scenarios provide more beneficial habitat than others.