What Is the Assisted Tree Range Expansion Project (ATREP)?Assisted range expansion is “the human-assisted movement of species to areas just outside their established range in response to climate change, facilitating or mimicking natural range expansion.”
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Climate change is real and we're using science to guide our long-term forest management decisions.ATREP was developed in 2019 and implemented by Leelanau Conservation District through the partnership of Madeline (Maddy) Baroli, M.S. Forest Conservation with the University of Toronto Master of Forest Conservation program, and Leelanau's Forestry Assistance Program (FAP). In tandem with Benzie and Grand Traverse Conservation Districts, we began selling species with more southern Michigan ranges at our 2020 spring seedling sales. These species were chosen using computer modeling tools such as the US Forest Service Tree Atlas and the following criteria:
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Species Selected for ATREPThere were 35 southern Michigan species that met the criteria for this project, but for keeping things simple five were originally chosen for the launch of ATREP in the districts' 2020 spring seedling sales. Now there have been eight species offered across now 4 conservation district seedling sales. Click on the species below to learn more about each, and continue scrolling to learn about the participating districts.
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Participating Conservation DistrictsApproximately 47% of Michigan’s forests are under private, non-industrial ownership. Conservation districts serve as the liaison between those private landowners and land management serves and resources. It makes sense that we would be the ones to oversee such an incredible community science initiative. Click on each district to access their webpage and learn more about their sedling sales and other services.
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Community Science - How to ParticipateATREP is a community science project, which means we want folks who buy and plant these seedlings to give us the occasional update moving forward on how they are doing. This will help us determine not only if this is a species that we should continue offering in our seedling sales, but also if this is a species that will help build climate resilience in our northern hardwood forests.
We encourage every participant to fill out this Contact Form once, so we can keep track of how many folks are involved and where they might be planting their ATREP trees: https://forms.gle/tGbkyPQghKJJ56cr7 Then, report the status and growth of your seedlings once or twice a year for us to follow the trends of which species are successful or not. Collecting data can take time, but we've created a data form that is as short and user-friendly as possible: https://forms.gle/7sQYStqYG1SEGtWm7 Thank you to the folks who have already been participating in ATREP; your feedback will continue to help guide our seedling sales and forest management recommendations. |