KINGSTON, R.I. – April 14, 2025 – A forestry extension specialist at the University of Rhode Island, Christopher Riely works with faculty and students across campus, and off-campus partners, to help improve Rhode Island’s forests and the wildlife they support. A certified forester, Riely is also involved with research and practice in the emerging field of climate-adaptive forest management, taking place in Rhode Island, just five miles away from campus.

At URI, Riely frequently works with students in the University’s College of the Environment and Life Sciences, often accompanying students to the 1800-acre Hillsdale Preserve to study Rhode Island’s other main ecosystem: its woods.

Rhode Island is still more than half woodland.

Previously managed as a gentlemen’s hunting preserve for a Wall Street banker, the site was deeded to the state for scientific forest management and is now managed by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) in research partnership with URI. It’s a place full of history and beauty, but also damage and warning, including scores of dead trees.

“It’s devastating to lose parts of our forests,” says Riely, looking at photos of the bare trees, decimated by the spongy moth. “Forests are an important ecosystem in our state. There is recognition here of both the value that forests provide, and also the need for affordable housing and smart growth. We can preserve and support both trees and business, too.”

Studying forests

Riely says there are reasons for concern, but also hope.

“Forests are part of the answer and solution to climate change,” he says, providing benefits for humans and animals and also pointing the way to adapt to change. He says trees are stressed by climate change, but some species have the capacity to adapt, too. Together with colleagues in URI’s Natural Resources Science department and at the University of Connecticut and other institutions, Riely is studying ways people can help northeastern forests adapt.

“Trees aren’t bound by human life spans or funding cycles,” Riely chuckles. He says that makes them majestic and worth supporting but also unique to study, to watch their slow periods of growth and change.

Strategies for helping forests adapt to change can include promoting resistance to pests, fostering resilience through accommodating some change, and even facilitating transition to new combinations of tree species better adapted to future climate conditions. An example of a “transition” strategy could include assisted forest migration, which involves intentionally moving and planting tree species in new places where they may grow in changing climate conditions, such as chinkapin oak and Southern red oak in Rhode Island.

“URI can bring in research capacity to analyze what we’re seeing and to manage it,” he says.

Leading up to Arbor Day on April 25, Riely answered some questions about New England forests.

What is the state of local forests?

In the forest, researchers can test and see how our surrounding tree landscape is changing. In Rhode Island, we have oak, hickory and white pine, and also the red maple, our state tree. Over the past century, oaks have come to dominate the regional tree canopy.

We have variety here in our tree landscape, but climate change will slowly alter the kinds of trees present in our local forests due to changes in weather, temperature and precipitation.

New England’s iconic pitch pine, for instance, which lines the way to Cape Cod, is at risk from the Southern pine beetle which, with warmer winters, has migrated here. This insect may be an issue for these trees in the future.

Rhode Island is also seeing some forest fragmentation. The gradual loss of forest land is the death by a thousand cuts, as they say, from trees being felled for homes or even development of solar arrays. You see development nibbling at the edges of the forest in many places.

Tell us about the URI’s climate adaptive forestry project with DEM.

URI is conducting climate-smart forestry research as part of a collaborative effort to test experimental forest management strategies across the U.S. and Canada. We’re testing forest management methods at the Hillsdale Preserve, an 1,825-acre property in Richmond, in collaboration with DEM. The preserve is dominated by oak-hickory forest and is experiencing forest health issues exacerbated by climate stress, which makes it an interesting study site.

We are implementing different types of forest management strategies there to compare the effectiveness of different approaches. We’re monitoring vegetation growth to analyze how the area’s forest canopy and understory conditions are changing in response to different treatments.

Tell us about Rhode Island Woods – what is it and what are some of its current initiatives and goals?

I always recommend people to go to their nearest local woods to spend time but we also maintain Rhode Island Woods, an online resource for information on Rhode Island forests. The site aims to be a hub of information and an avenue to resources that promote good stewardship and forest health, whether you’re looking for wild mushrooms, a professional forester, or tips to promote wildlife around your home.

The site offers information on sustainable cutting practices, forestry research, land planning, tree identification, and a listing of forest-friendly local businesses.

What are some ways people can support healthy trees and forests?

The tree canopy here has been hit hard by the spongy (gypsy) moth. Along with many partners, we’re trying to work with DEM to improve the health of the tree canopy in the state.

This region has seen other tree change and issues, such as the loss of the chestnut trees in the forest and the elm trees on Elmwood Avenue in Providence and, more recently, the arrival of the emerald ash borer and beech leaf disease.

We want to hold the line on climate change as much as possible and build resilience into our forests. Rhode Island has some advantages in this area. As a small state, you have to learn to work with one another. There’s a lot of interest in partnerships and connecting, and now working across state lines.

Northeastern and New England forests are changing: as temperatures increase and precipitation patterns change, these are stresses on trees. And change is happening at a faster rate here in Rhode Island and the Northeast than in many parts of the country.

In my time in the profession, I’ve seen a shift in homeowners and landowners becoming more interested in these issues because they recognize the changes they are seeing in their own backyards. People see changes in the environment in their own lives.

To help trees and local forests, follow your interests. The more people spend time in the natural world, the more they are likely to understand and appreciate it. Lend your expertise where you can, whether on a small local land trust or conservation commission or by joining a neighborhood planting program.