Scientists planting 400 acres of Minnesota pines to survive climate change

[NickB79]

http://www.startribune.com/saving-minnesotan-s-northern-forests-one-site-at-a-time/423853843/

Scientists from the Nature Conservancy and elsewhere now think they know. This summer they’re embarking on a project to plant 400 acres with cold-loving evergreens like jack pine and tamarack in carefully selected “conifer strongholds” — places that they predict will stay cooler or wetter or have better soil, increasing the chances that a few of each species will survive for the next generation as Minnesota grows warmer.

“We are trying to get us in better shape for the centuries to come,” said Meredith Cornett, a forest scientist with the Nature Conservancy in Minnesota who is heading up the project.

The aim is to preserve northern forest species — not just the trees but also the mosaic of plants and animals that rely on them — to maintain biodiversity.

Both will be exceedingly difficult thanks to a double whammy of the region’s past and its future.

Funny, I'm about 200 miles south of where they're doing this planting, and I'm propagating trees native to more southern states on my property to get ahead of the curve when our local trees start dying off from climate change.