ATREP founder Madeline Baroli with a flag for shagbark hickory, one of the southern Michigan tree species sold by some Northern Michigan conservation district offices. ATREP courtesy photo.

By Stewart A. McFerran

I have observed ash, beech and cedar trees dying on my property and in the adjacent state forest. I wonder what this means for our Northern Michigan woods. The Assisted Tree Range Expansion Project (ATREP) offers all of us concerned about the decline of our beloved forests a way to take action, by planting trees usually found in Southern or Mid-Michigan forests.

ATREP is a community science project, one that seeks to save our forests by helping us plant trees which can better adapt to predicted climate changes, such as warmer temperatures, recurring severe weather events, and diseases and pests. The project was founded by Madeline “Maddy” Barolie, M.S., Forest Conservation, while interning with the Leelanau Conservation District. She partnered in 2019 with Kama Ross ⸺ the former regional forester for Leelanau, Benzie and Grand Traverse conservation district offices ⸺ to offer trees at the northern end of their ranges to individual landowners and groups.

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Tulip tree, swamp white oak and other saplings (in brown wrapping) were purchased from the Benzie Conservation District office. Photo: S.A. McFerran.
Tulip tree, swamp white oak and other seedlings (in brown wrapping) were purchased from the Benzie Conservation District office. Photo: S.A. McFerran.

Barolie currently works for the Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science as a climate adaptation specialist, and she manages ATREP with the help of Northwest Michigan nonprofit and for-profit partners, including five conservation district offices (Manistee, Benzie, Leelanau, Grand Traverse and Antrim), the Leelanau Conservancy, the Conservation Resource Alliance, Intercoastal Ecological Services and Design, Barker Creek Nursery and Four Season Nursery.

Some of the trees I planted this spring are named in the Assisted Tree Range Expansion Project. They were offered for sale by the Benzie Conservation District office. When I planted them, I became a citizen scientist and part of an effort to reinforce the tree canopy with new tree species that, according to ATREP’s stated goals, will “offset tree die-offs” and “increase ecosystem diversity.”

Madeline Barolie plants a sycamore tree. Photo courtesy of ATREP.
Madeline Barolie with sycamore saplings. Photo courtesy of ATREP.

Barolie said she has been “really swamped” as “people are finally realizing that they need to plan” for climate changes and take measures that will assist in the adaptation of forests.

“We consult with all sorts of groups about climate adaptation, in general, within our forested ecosystems,” she said.

Land managers, the parks, the National Forest Service and others are realizing that assisted migration and range expansion will help maintain a robust forest.

One of the trees on my list from the Benzie Conservation District is the tulip tree. I had seen huge ones growing in the Great Smoky Mountains on a college botany trip. The tulip tree is one of the species predicted to thrive in Northern Michigan under future climate conditions. Among the 35-plus others ATREP suggests planting are swamp white oak, sassafras, American sycamore, hackberry, black tupelo and shagbark hickory. My hope is that one day these trees will tower over the sites where beech and other compromised trees now stand.

The chalky white substance on beech tree bark, a scale caused by an insect called Cryptococcus fagisuga, concerns me. Once invaded, branches on the big beech lose their leaves and the dead trees come crashing down during windstorms. I have felt the earth shake when the largest trunks hit the ground.

Upstream from my house, the cedar die-off is heartbreaking. The lush foliage of cedar, a tree species which have thrived in the riverine since the glaciers pulled back, looks brittle and bleached. I recently planted swamp white oak, one of the ATREP trees. I hope they thrive along the riverbank.

Ash trees on my property are not quite history. I am encouraged by young ones thriving near the river outside my window. But I have heard the thud of ash trunks, scoured by emerald ash borers, as they hit the ground. The threat to hemlock trees at my place is real, too. The insect invader known as insect hemlock woolly adelgid is moving north and can kill hemlock trees.

In addition to these threats, the growing season is changing.

“Leaf-out and flowering dates have already moved about a week earlier,” Baroli said. She added that compromised tree regeneration, when younger trees in the understory struggle to survive and thrive, is another major concern.  This is “a result of forest health issues, browse pressure from high deer populations, (and) … higher temperatures and drought.”

The Northern Institute of Applied Science has produced an “Adaptation Workbook” to help landowners and others define and assess the effects of climate change.

The Assisted Tree Range Expansion Project (ATREP.net) is not the only effort along these lines. Forester Joshua Shields, Ph.D., of the Manistee Conservation District, said his office has been selling trees with a native range slightly south of Manistee County for years. At its plant sale in 2016, the district sold the following tree species: 100 tulip, 200 eastern redbud, 100 American sycamore and 100 shagbark hickory. This year, Manistee landowners purchased 475 paw paws and the same number of black gum trees.

Adaptation to changing conditions is a key ecological concept. Our forest is changing, and to survive it must adapt. We can help by planting trees which are slowly migrating here, and enjoy the diversity they bring to the forest.

Stewart A. McFerran illuminates current environmental issues in a historic context. He hopes readers will gain an understanding and insight into ways people interact with their environment.

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