The Ridges Sanctuary expands research on forests, birds and climate change

The Ridges Sanctuary in Baileys Harbor, Wisconsin, is using university partnerships and citizen science to track biodiversity, forest restoration and climate impacts. The work is already producing early findings on tree survival, carbon storage and species changes that will shape future conservation decisions.

Why it matters: - The Ridges Sanctuary is using long-term research to guide conservation decisions as climate change pressures boreal and temperate forest ecosystems. - The projects are helping identify which species survive best, how habitats change, and where restoration efforts should be focused. - The findings have direct value for conservation groups, contractors, private landowners and local restoration planners.

What happened: - The Ridges Sanctuary launched or expanded multiple research projects with universities, agencies and citizen scientists to study biodiversity, forest restoration and climate impacts. - The sanctuary is working with the Climate Change Coalition of Door County and the Lakeshore Natural Resource Partnership on the Boreal and Temperate Mesic Forest Climate Survivability Project. - More than 140 volunteers have mapped grids, planted and tagged more than 2,700 trees, collected baseline data and conducted inventories. - The project includes 2,790 trees across five research plots in open meadows, disturbed areas and partially forested regions.

The details: - The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay is studying moss carbon sequestration in wetland areas. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and the University of South Alabama are isolating and identifying fungi in orchid roots, and in one case tracking whether those fungi change over time. - The University of Wisconsin-Madison is leading an ecohydrology project on Lake Michigan levels, groundwater levels, swale water levels and tree growth response. - Citizen science remains central to the sanctuary's research model. - The Christmas Bird Count at The Ridges contributes to the Audubon Society’s western hemisphere count and tracks bird population trends over 126 years. - Local bird data has shown population changes that may reflect a changing climate. - In partnership with the Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance, The Ridges monitors more than 25 eagle nests annually. - The International Crane Foundation’s Annual Midwest Crane Count brings more than 60 citizen scientists to count cranes and report data to accessible databases. - Other citizen science projects include sucker monitoring with Shedd Aquarium, plant phenology with the Chicago Botanic Garden, stream monitoring with the Wisconsin DNR and University of Wisconsin Extension, dwarf lake iris research with the US Fish and Wildlife Service and The Ridges Sanctuary Forest School, and orchid research with the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center and the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. - Early results from the forest survivability project show an average tree survivorship rate of 86% across the five plots. - One plot is at 95% survivorship, while another is at 52%. - Onsite monitors have detected seven bat species, including the endangered northern long-eared bat. - The sanctuary is also tracking other animal species in the study area.

Between the lines: - The sanctuary is pairing academic research with volunteer labor to gather data faster and at a larger scale than staff alone could manage. - The mix of experimental plots and adjacent control plots should help separate restoration effects from normal ecological variation. - Early survivorship differences across plots suggest that site conditions may strongly influence which restoration approaches work best.

What's next: - The sanctuary will continue longitudinal tracking of the experimental plots and control plots. - Future data will cover tree survival, carbon sequestration, plant communities and animal communities. - The results are expected to inform future restoration choices and resource allocation across The Ridges Sanctuary and beyond.

The bottom line: - The Ridges Sanctuary is turning citizen science and university partnerships into a long-term conservation tool, with early data already shaping how managers may respond to climate change.