Yet he hopes within 20 years the vista will have changed. With luck, by then, those species will have been joined by others, such as bur oak, red maple and black cherry. Just two decades ago, those varieties would have struggled to survive in the part of Northern Minnesota where Palik lives.is changing the landscape and its flora.
The saplings Palik and his team planted when the project was launched in 2016 – the black cherry, bitternut hickory, white oak and others – were collected from forests 200 miles to the south. It is hoped they will thrive at Cutfoot and soon establish themselves, meaning they will self-replenish. The Cutfoot Experimental Forest, located 220 miles north of Minneapolis, is one of a dozen or so experiments in assisted forest migration currently under way in North America.
The US Forest Service, which Palik works for, describes “silviculture” as the “art and science of controlling the establishment, growth, composition, health, and quality of forests and woodlands to meet the diverse needs and values of landowners and society”. It is not just businesses and human communities that rely on or benefit from the presence of forests. Birds and other wildlife depend on them for habitats and food and they too are intensively sensitive to climate change.
Dale Gentry is Audubon’s director of conservation for Minnesota Iowa Missouri and the Upper Mississippi River, and backs the Cutfoot project’s work. He says there is some potential concern that bringing in new tree species could have unforeseen impacts, but that it is worth the risk to try and act.