Adaptation strategies in high elevation infrequent fire forests of Western North America

Organizers: Mike Battaglia, USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station; Sarah Bisbing, University of Nevada-Reno; Jonathan Coop, Western Colorado University

This session will discuss various adaptation strategies and outcomes in infrequent fire North American forests including assisted migration, different silvicultural strategies, and other management activities.

Aspen On Fire: ‘The Report of My Death Has Been Greatly Exaggerated’

Organizers: Paul Rogers, Western Aspen Alliance, Utah State University; Brad Pinno, University of Alberta

Quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) forests are considered both fire resistant and fire dependent.   Forest managers widely acknowledge that fire plays a central role in long-term resilience. We will use an alternating presentation format featuring a mix of Canadian and U.S. researchers currently investigating both established and emerging aspen-fire themes.

Boreal forest in transition

Organizers: Spencer Vieira, Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center – ORISE Fellow (USGS/UAF); Anna Spiers, Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center – ORISE Fellow

Climate change is reshaping disturbance regimes in boreal forests. This session synthesizes new insights on disturbance effects, post-disturbance recovery, and vegetation transitions, highlighting thresholds and feedbacks that determine resilience versus state change across boreal landscapes.

Drought in forested ecosystems: early career perspectives from across disciplines

Organizers: Michael Howe, Utah State University; Shealyn Malone, University of Minnesota

In this session, we invite early-career researchers to share perspectives on drought in forest ecosystems, culminating with a discussion and panel on the state of drought research.

Dusting off the toolbox: restoring (pyro-) silvicultural action to western forests to meet wildfire & climate mitigation objectives

Organizers: Sarah Bisbing, University of Nevada, Reno; Mike Battaglia, USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station; Mike Jones, University of California Cooperative Extension; Derek Churchill, Washington Department of Natural Resources

The focus of this session is on the critical need to move beyond fire and fire surrogates in management of western forests. Speakers will provide examples of how conventional and novel silvicultural action may be used to proactively increase resilience and meet forest management objectives before and after disturbance.

Forest ecophysiology and fluxes

Organizers: Troy Magney, University of Montana; Paul Stoy, University of Wisconsin; Loren Albert, Oregon State University; Bill Smith, University of Arizona

This session explores how forest ecophysiological processes respond to climate change and how these responses scale to ecosystem carbon and water fluxes. We invite studies using flux towers, experiments, and models that link plant-level mechanisms to forest function and inform management strategies for climate resilience.

Forest ecosystem vulnerability assessments: regional approaches and tools to assess climate change risks

Organizers: Rebecca Rooney, USDA Northern Forests Climate Hub; Stephen Handler, USDA Northern Forests Climate Hub

This session features presentations on several regional vulnerability assessments developed by the USDA Climate Hubs that describe forest ecosystem vulnerability to climate change. Tools related to assessment development and use will be highlighted, including the USFS Forest Ecosystem Atlas.

From inventory to resilience: Rethinking forest monitoring for a disturbance-prone era

Organizers: John Battles, University of California Berkeley; Helena Kleiner, University of California Berkeley; Yihong Zhu, University of California Berkeley

Forests are changing faster than we can monitor them, yet we know enough to conclude that forest resilience is declining worldwide. New technologies provide opportunities to accelerate our ability to measure and manage forests. This session explores how and under what conditions these tools can be effectively deployed.

Leveraging Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data to meet forest ecology information needs

Organizers: Dr. George C. Gaines III, USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Forest Inventory and Analysis; Dr. David L.R. Affleck, University of Montana, W.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation

The Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program administers the national forest inventory of the US. FIA data are applicable to a wide range of ecological questions. We discuss ecological applications of FIA data in the context of small area estimation, Wilderness inventory, forest growth model calibration, and measurement error.

Leveraging the ForestGEO plot network to advance our understanding of temperate forest dynamics

Organizers: Sara Germain, University of Wyoming; Tucker Furniss, University of Wyoming

We highlight research using large-scale, longitudinal forest plots to study temperate forests of North America and monitor resilience to global change. The session includes: 1) an oral symposium of work emerging from cross-plot comparisons, and 2) a workshop to cultivate collaborations and supplementary data streams that support new research.

Long-term ecological responses to fuel treatments: 25+ years of the Fire & Fire Surrogate Network

Organizers: Scott Ferrenberg, University of Montana; Gibson Blankenship, University of Montana; Isabella Smith, University of Montana; Kara M. Fox, USFS PNW Research Station

This session explores the long-term ecological outcomes of fire-adapted forests following repeated fuel reduction treatments within the 25+ year-long Fire and Fire Surrogate (FFS) study. Presentations evaluate how prescribed burns and mechanical treatments, including re-treatments, influence forest structure, resilience, and management outcomes.

Meeting the wildfire challenge with proactive wildfire and prescribed fire management

Cameron E. Naficy, GreenFire Geomatics LLC and Oregon State University; Paul Hessburg, University of Washington; Matthew Hurteau, University of New Mexico

Western North America is experiencing dramatic increases in wildfire activity. To meet the challenges this poses, cultural, operational and strategic shifts in wildfire management and prescribed fire use are needed. This session brings together fire ecologists, practitioners, and managers for discussion of how we are failing, why it matters, and how we can meet this challenge.

No surprises: Emerging tree mortality events in the Anthropocene

Organizers: Drew MP Peltier, School of Life Sciences; University of Nevada, Las Vegas; Henry Adams, School of the Environment; Washington State University

Under advancing climate change, aridification, and altered fire regimes, novel mortality events are emerging in species previously considered highly resistant. Our session seeks to bring together researchers with unique expertise around these mortality events to synthesize a broader understanding.

Partial disturbance and stand development: applications for ecology & silviculture

Organizers: Audrey Barker Plotkin, Harvard Forest; Robert Fahey, University of Connecticut

This session brings together new approaches and long-term experiments on how live and dead legacies shape forest ecosystem development after partial disturbances including wind, insect outbreaks, and timber harvest. Talks and discussion explore how this work is transforming models of forest development and informs ecological silviculture.

Prioritizing forest function and resilience in wildfire planning and incident response

Organizer: Kit O’Connor, USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station

While investments in fire suppression technologies have multiplied, opportunities for restoring fire to forested ecosystem under ecologically and socially appropriate conditions have dwindled.  Here we feature research, experiences, and decision frameworks designed to leverage the fire management system as a tool supporting restoration of functional, resilient forests and communities. 

Promoting resilient forests using molecular approaches

Organizers: Lynne Rieske-Kinney, University of Kentucky Department of Entomology; Flavia Pampolini, University of Kentucky Department of Entomology

RNA interference (RNAi) is a molecular mechanism that induces gene silencing and disrupts protein synthesis leading to mortality; it is a promising technology with potential for pest and pathogen control. This session summarizes research demonstrating proof-of-concept, providing evidence that RNAi technology may be able to alleviate emerging forest health challenges.

Rehabilitative silviculture for degraded northern hardwood stands

Organizer: John Foppert, Paul Smith’s College

Rehabilitative silviculture can restore forest productivity, increase tree diversity, and enhance habitat quality in high graded hardwood stands. In this special session, an ecologist, economist, biometrician and wildlife biologist report and reflect on their collaborative project advancing the practice of rehabilitative silviculture in the Adirondack Mountains of New York.

Scale it up: lessons learned from landscape-scale pyro-silviculture

Organizers: Derek Churchill, Washington DNR; Hugh Safford, Department of Environmental Science & Policy, UC-Davis; Travis Woolley, The Nature Conservancy; Sarah Bisbing, University of Nevada, Reno

This session will focus on the science and practice of implementing large-scale resilience projects with a combination of mechanical and fire treatments (i.e. pyro-silviculture). Speakers will cover examples of successfully implemented projects, including enabling conditions, landscape planning approaches, silvicultural and fire-management strategies, monitoring results, barriers overcome, and lessons learned.

Simulation and modeling approaches for estimating wildfire risk to build resiliency in the forests of CONUS

Organizer: Karin L Riley, US Forest Service, Missoula Fire Sciences Lab, Missoula, Montana

Building resilience to wildfire is increasingly important given recent climate change. We leverage machine learning and simulation modeling to present analyses that examine changes in risk due to projected climate change and given different land management techniques including prescribed fire and mechanical fuel treatment.

Successes and challenges of using spatial pattern as a foundation for forest management

Organizers: Taylor Richmond, Resilient Forestry; Miles LeFevre, Resilient Forestry; Russell Kramer, Resilient Forestry; Sean Jeronimo, Resilient Forestry

This session explores how reference spatial patterns guide restoration design and implementation across forest types. Through short case studies and discussion, we highlight lessons from implementation in moist and dry forest types and explore how pattern-based approaches support restoration, social license, and new opportunities in other forest types.

Tree planting for adaptation: How the North American Adaptive Silviculture for Climate Change network has operationalized assisted migration and other planting strategies

Organizer: Peter Clark, University of Vermont & Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science

This organized session uses the Adaptive Silviculture for Climate Change (ASCC) network to explore how tree planting is being operationalized for climate adaptation, including assisted migration and other reforestation tactics. Speakers will highlight cross-site lessons, implementation challenges, and practical guidance for managers planning adaptation-focused planting in North American forests.

Water-carbon interactions in tree defense and resilience

Organizers: Amy M. Trowbridge, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Henry D. Adams, Washington State University

In the face of abiotic and biotic stress trees depend on tight coupling between water and carbon processes as well as investment in effective physical and/or chemical defenses. This session examines how interactions between carbohydrate, water, and defense economies determine tree resilience to multiple threats currently facing our forests.

Wet doesn’t burn: Emerging trends in the integration of aquatic restoration in pre and post wildfire management

Organizers: Alexander Funk, Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership; Dr. Emily Fairfax, University of Minnesota; Amy McNamara, National Resources Defense Council; Alicia Marrs, National Wildlife Federation

In a landscape with increasingly frequent severe wildfires, freshwater ecosystems are emerging as an important part of wildfire management. This presentation touches on the role of beaver dams and their analogs in creating wetlands, the nexus between freshwater systems and fire, and how this information can be utilized to enact policy change to conserve these ecotypes.