Climate-driven stressors, non-native insects, and emerging diseases increasingly impact forest health across the Great Lakes region. Forest management strategies are required to mitigate these impacts.
Researchers on a MW CASC-funded project examined one of these strategies – adaptation plantings – as an approach for establishing tree species possibly better adapted to these stressors. The team assessed the state of the practice of adaptation plantings by organizations in the region by conducting surveys, informational interviews, and focus groups with a diverse set of stakeholders including forest managers/practitioners from Native Nations, states, counties, and private landowners.
On October 27 at 12:00pm CT, Lucia Fitts will share the team's findings, including challenges and opportunities for the practice in the region.
Speaker Bio
Lucia Fitts is a GIS Research Associate for Global Forest Watch (GFW). Her work focuses on helping improve land use change corporate accounting and reduce the climate footprint of soft commodity supply chains. Her current project focuses on operationalizing sections of the Greenhouse Gas protocol by working on best practices to help companies report land use change emission metrics in a more transparent, accurate, and science-based approach.
Prior to joining World Resources Institute, Lucia served as a Postdoctoral Associate at the University of Minnesota. She earned a Ph.D. in Natural Resources Science and Management with a minor in Geographic Information Sciences from the University of Minnesota.
This is the second installment of our Fall 2025 Science Seminar Series.