Project abstract summaryproject title: climate adaptation in northeastern forests to support birds of conservation concern and ecosystem services project dates: 10 1 2024 through 9 30 2026AWARD…

Project abstract summaryproject title: climate adaptation in northeastern forests to support birds of conservation concern and ecosystem services project dates: 10 1 2024 through 9 30 2026AWARD purpose: climate change and related threats like invasive species and diseases are impacting the forests of the northeast and the birds that live and breed within them. Across the region, managers at tribal, federal, and state natural resource agencies are grappling with how to protect habitat for forest-dependent birds and sustain other key ecosystem services like forest carbon storage in the face of these ongoing threats. In response, members of this research team, among others, have devised climate change adaptation recommendations for forest and wildlife managers. Now, on-the-ground experiments of these recommendations are underway, which will help scientists and managers alike learn how well these adaptation strategies work. This project will use existing and newly-collected data from ongoing experiments to evaluate how effective these strategies are at sustaining habitat for songbirds and grouse, priority species that federal, state, and tribal partners seek to protect. The project will then compare these results with carbon storage metrics for each site that we will derive from a forest growth model. This will enable the recipient to evaluate potential trade-offs and win-wins with regards to stewarding habitat and maximizing carbon storage, which the recipients partners have highlighted as a management concern. The project will synthesize findings from these analyses to create a refined set of adaptation recommendations for managers, which will be shared through site-tailored guidance, a regional guidebook, and an in-person learning exchange, among other avenues. Finally, this project will broaden the scope to explore how much adaptation is necessary to maintain forest bird habitat. Activities to be performed: the primary activities for this project are: 1) field-based evaluations of forest-dependent bird responses to, and habitat outcomes of, climate-adaptive silviculture 2) quantification of near- and longer-term carbon dynamics associated with climate-adaptive silviculture, and identification of both trade-offs and synergies with habitat outcomes and 3) evaluation of functional diversity and connectivity of forest-dependent bird habitat under regional climate adaptation scenarios.deliverables and expected outcomes: deliverables and expected outcomes include 1) site-tailored guidance on climate adaptive strategies for sustaining focal species at forests managed by the penobscot nation, US fish and wildlife service, NH fish and game, and vermont forest, parks and recreation 2) a digital practitioner guidebook on best adaptation practices for USFWS, tribal, and state resource managers, and 3) several webinars and an in-person learning exchange at the silvio o. Conte national wildlife refuge on climate-adaptive strategies for focal wildlife species.intended beneficiary(IES): US fish and wildlife service, penobscot nation, NH fish and game, VT forests, parks and recreation, VT fish and wildlife, US forest service, NH forests and lands, maine inland fisheries and wildlifesubrecipient activities: the university of massachusetts will subaward to the university of vermont to execute the research objectives of this project. The university of vermont has the following additional subaward partner who will contribute to the accomplishment of project goals and objectives: conservation science partners.