Assisted migration (AM) has been proposed as a silvicultural tool to mitigate the effects of climate change on ecosystem services including biodiversity, carbon sequestration and forest-based products. Foresters and natural resource managers in the northeast U.S., however, lack guidelines on selecting climate-adapted species and seed source populations for nursery inventory and AM implementation. This project will considerably expand our understanding of the variation in functional traits within northeastern tree species to assess acclimation potential and inform AM strategies that promote climate-ready forests. Through measurements of morpho-physiological traits and seed quality, this project will document intraspecific variation in potential seed source populations at 12 sites across elevational-latitudinal climate space in 6 northeastern states, targeting the northern forest region.

This project leverages a well-established NSRC-funded long-term study on seedling and sapling recruitment and contributes to the USFS Green Mountain National Forests Range Expansion Seed Collection Project. Outreach activities include educational programs for diverse stakeholders on AM as a silvicultural tool and the significance of functional trait variability, scientific and professional papers and presentations, and catalyzing a long-term common-garden experiment to support future AM efforts. This project involves collaboration between the USFS-VT, universities across NH, NY and ME, multiple stakeholder groups and will support one early career scientist, a University of New Hampshire PhD student/intern for the USFS Pathways Program and undergraduate field/laboratory technicians. We will provide a trait-based approach to guide AM strategies for maintaining the ecologically, economically and culturally important Northern Forest in the face of climate change.