Minnesota Scientists Look to Plant a Forest for a New Climate

The landscape of Minnesota is changing as the climate crisis intensifies. Animals and plants that once were only found in the southern part of the state have moved north, suggesting that as the climate changes, Minnesota, by 2100, will start to resemble an environment similar to the one found in Kansas, a few states to the south. "We have a perfectly good Kansas now. We don’t need a second one in Minnesota," said Lee Frelich, the director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Forest Ecology, to The Washington Post . He believes that if the climate crisis goes unchecked, the boreal forests that soak up huge amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere could vanish completely, taking with them a third of the state’s native species of trees, flowers, birds and pollinators. Frelich and a group of scientists are trying to understand exactly how the changing climate will affect Minnesota, what species will thrive, and are starting to plant trees that will one day take the place of the ones native to the state, according to The Washington Post . Minnesota’s remarkable natural landscape, which includes boreal forests to the north, temperate forests in the middle, and prairie […]

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