Ecological Restoration and Adaptive Management
This chapter provides guidance for planning and implementing red spruce ecosystem restoration. It covers landscape scale goal setting, spatial prioritization, climate informed planting, silvicultural treatments, freshwater restoration, soil remediation, and adaptive management approaches that support long term ecosystem recovery and resilience.
Subject Tags
- Forests
- Habitat restoration
- Land management
Abstract
Red spruce ecosystem restoration goals and methods have been advanced by the restoration community over the last several decades. This chapter covers contemporary planning processes and methods for red spruce restoration. Defining landscape-scale desired conditions is an essential first step and considers desired landscape connectivity, vegetation composition and structure, and ecosystem processes and functions. After defining restoration goals for desired conditions, spatial assessments and prioritizations can inform next steps for restoration activities. Assessments can involve comparing past, current, and future desired ecosystem conditions. Restoration activities are described via four broad categories: plantings, silvicultural treatments, freshwater treatments, and soil remediation. Successful plantings depend on climate-informed seed sourcing, site suitability, and relevant site preparations. Silvicultural prescriptions have been refined to create gaps to accelerate the release of red spruce to the canopy, likely decades faster than by natural succession dynamics. We cover restoration activities to restore red spruce ecosystem functions and processes of in-stream conditions, riparian corridors, wetlands, and soils, with a case study in mine-land reclamation that incorporates multiple goals and restoration activities. The success of restoration activities in achieving goals should be continually monitored and adjusted through an adaptive management process. The planning processes and methods described in this chapter provide natural-resource managers a guide for implementing red spruce ecosystem restoration.
Citation
Landau, D. et al. (2026). Ecological Restoration and Adaptive Management. In: Brown, D.J., Thomas-Van Gundy, M.A., Diggins, C.A., Silvis, A., Shallows, K.M. (eds) Ecology and Restoration of Red Spruce Ecosystems in the Central and Southern Appalachians. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-19616-3_8
TNC Authors
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Deborah Landau
Applied Scientist II (MP). Maryland and District of Columbia
The Nature Conservancy
Email: dlandau@tnc.org -
Will Evans
WV Ecological Restoration Manager
The Nature Conservancy
Email: william.evans@tnc.org -
Kathryn M. Shallows
The Nature Conservancy