Christel C. Kern

• Assisted migration for productive future forests
• Climate-adaptive stragegy models for forest management
• Mixedwood and mixed species forest ecology and silviculture
• Long-term effects of harvest gap size on tree regeneration and plant communities
• Long-term effects of cutting methods on old and second-growth northern hardwoods
• Restoration using fire, harvest, and mechical treatments to restore barrens, savannahs, woodlands, and forests of northern dry pine forests
• Role of microtopography in northern hardwood tree growth, regeneration, and diversity
• Role of tree microhabitats in managed forests
• Seedbank potential for restoration and adaptation of forest ecosystems

• Oregon white oak silviculture
• Fine-root dynamics of trees

• Integrated, multi-disciplinary research
• Collaborative research-management studies
• Long-term field studies
• Conventional, ecological, and adaptive silviculture
• Mesic and dry forest ecosystems

The scope of Dr. Kern's research is national to international, as the general ecological and silvicultural principles that are examined and tested are applicable globally, but the findings are also highly relevant across the Great Lakes region, where much of the research is conducted. Her research is complex and on-going, because driving factors (e.g., climate) and societal values (e.g., management objectives) continue to change, tree lifespans exceed a scientist’s career, and multiple lines and scales of investigation are required. Consequently, she must lead multiple studies with various team, disciplines, and scales to find solutions. Her collaborators include research and managers from a variety of sectors, including government agencies, universities, tribes, industry, and non-profit organizations at local, state, national, and international levels. The expected impacts of this research will advance the science of silviculture and applied forest ecology, inform policy regulations and management guides, such as environmental analysis, silvicultural handbooks, and harvest prescriptions. In addition, the work provides a diverse range of findings that are key to planning and sustaining a continuum of goods and services in managed forests globally. Dr. Kern's goal is to develop and interpret scientific data to achieve optimal results that matter to people and sustain forests and support the mission of the Forest Service.