Flathead National Forest/Coram Experimental Forest

Site Description

Flathead National Forest and Coram Experimental Forest staff are collaborating in a nation-wide study called Adaptive Silviculture for Climate Change (ASCC). The goal of this project is to test different silvicultural approaches to climate change adaptation that will also serve as useful examples across the country.

Densely forested area in Flathead National Forest/Coram Experimental Forest.
Flathead National Forest/Coram Experimental Forest. Photo Credit: Molly Roske.

The Flathead National Forest/Coram Experimental Forest is located in northwestern Montana. This Northern Rockies ASCC site is influenced by the warm, wet maritime airflows from the Pacific Ocean and the cooler, drier airflows from Canada. The study site consists of second-growth western larch-mixed conifer forests that regenerated after clearcutting in the 1960s, and provides habitat for lynx, grizzly bear, and many bird species. The Flathead/Coram ASCC site is part of the “Crown of the Continent,” a unique and diverse ecosystem whose rivers feed the Pacific Ocean, Hudson Bay, and the Gulf of Mexico.

Learn more about stewardship of western larch forests in an era of uncertainty here

Key Projected Climate Change Impacts

Key projected climate change impacts that the project team considered in developing treatments for the Flathead National Forest/Coram Experimental Forest include:

  • Uncertain precipitation patterns; expect drier in the summer and wetter in winter and spring
  • Earlier snowpack melts
  • Longer fire seasons with higher fire frequencies and severities
  • Increase in insect and disease outbreaks

Climate change will present challenges and opportunities for accomplishing the management objectives of the Flathead National Forest including: 

Challenges

  • Possible increase of wildfire in ecosystems where fire exclusion has led to an abundance of forest fuels and high crown fire hazard 
  • Western larch may decline in areas with lower water availability and declining groundwater flows 
 

Opportunities

  • Growth rates in western larch may increase if warmer temperatures coincide with more growing season precipitation
  • Possible changes in species distribution due to an increase in the number of frost-free days and warmer conditions

Management Goals & Treatments

Implementation

A team of natural resource specialists from the Flathead National Forest/Coram Experimental Forest and regional scientists participated in a three-day workshop in June 2016 to develop the ASCC treatments for the site. The team developed a set of management objectives, desired future conditions, and silvicultural tactics for each adaptation option:

Resistance

Resilience

Transition

Monitoring

Monitoring is an essential component of the ASCC study. Research partners are working together to investigate the effectiveness of different silvicultural treatments aimed at creating adaptive ecosystems. Some of the monitoring items include:

  • Natural regeneration survival and growth
  • Growth of tree improvement seed of western larch and ponderosa pine from high and low elevations
  • Inventories of fuels and understory plants

Progress & Next Steps

A group of people walking through the forest wearing orange hardhats.
Research partners are working together to investigate the effectiveness of different
silvicultural treatments aimed at creating adaptive ecosystems.Photo Credit: Molly Roske.
The Flathead National Forest/Coram Experimental Forest ASCC workshop took place in June 2016. Pre-treatment measurement plots were installed and pre-treatment data collected to develop a baseline database for the site. Treatments were fully completed in 2024 after which a post-treatment inventory of residual trees, forest regeneration, understory composition, and forest fuels was completed. Future sampling will continue to monitor these forest attributes to help characterize a full suite of short- and long-term forest dynamics in response to treatment.

ASCC Article Published in Forest Science

Check out the journal article titled “Initiating Climate Adaptation in a Western Larch Forest” in Forest Science authored by the team of scientists and managers in the northern Rocky Mountains that highlights the Adaptive Silviculture for Climate Change (ASCC) Network site at the Coram Experimental Forest and the Flathead National Forest in Montana.

Crotteau, Justin S., Elaine Kennedy Sutherland, Theresa B. Jain, David K. Wright, Melissa M. Jenkins, Christopher R. Keyes, Linda M. Nagel. 2019. Initiating Climate Adaptation in a Western Larch Forest, Forest Science, fxz024, https://doi.org/10.1093/forsci/fxz024

Site Leads & Partners

Justin Crotteau (USDA Rocky Mountain Research Station) is the site lead for the Northern Rockies ASCC site, whose team currently includes David Wright (USDA Rocky Mountain Research Station) and Elliott Meyer (USDA Flathead National Forest). Past team members include Elaine Kennedy Sutherland, Terrie Jain, Chris Keyes, Melissa Jenkins, and Amanda Rollwage.

Justin Crotteau
Site Lead

Research Forester
Rocky Mountain Research Station, USDA Forest Service
Missoula Forestry Sciences Lab
800 East Beckwith Ave
Missoula, MT 59801
Phone: 406-542-4169
Justin.crotteau@usda.gov

David Wright
Manager

Ecologist, Manager Coram Experimental Forest
Rocky Mountain Research Station, USDA Forest Service
Missoula Forestry Sciences Lab
800 East Beckwith Ave
Missoula, MT 59801
Phone: 406-542-4181
david.wright2@usda.gov