Please note, this project, repository and webpage are still under development.

Welcome

Welcome to the webpage for the Open Redcedar Adaptation Network! Here you will find information, resources, data, and examples of analyses for you to explore.

Together we can study the climate adaptation potential of a important tree to the Pacific Northwest.

Help Shape This Project

Want to help develop or co-produce the Open Redcedar Adaptation Network? Anyone is welcome. Connect with us and let us know you’re interested.

Get Involved

Want to be involved or engage your students in this project?

Connect with us here: https://foresthealth.org/adaptation

Purpose

The purpose of this network is to provide opportunities for education about climate adaptation. Anyone is welcome to visit a planting site, measure trees to collect data, do some analyses, and share what they’re learning!

The Problem

Western redcedar is a important tree species in the Pacific Northwest, but it may need our help to stay healthy. Unfortunately, many redcedar trees have been observed dying recently and we’re concerned about its survival in future climates. You can help accelerate research about the dieback by contributing to the Western Redcedar Dieback Map project. These observations are valuable for understanding why redcedar is unhealthy, but the next step is to explore what we can do about it.

What can we do to help keep this species healthy?

Possible Solution

Together we can explore the genetic diversity of western redcedar as a tool for keeping trees healthy in a climate adaptation study. We can investigate if trees adapted to climates in Oregon will be better suited for upcoming climates in Washington.

Study Approach

We’ve established a network of plantings with trees grown from populations in two seed zones. Trees from each zone are planted in alternating rows at each site.

Are trees from Oregon better adapted to future climates in Washington? You can help answer this question!

The Network

There are three plantings of western redcedar trees at three sites in western Washington.

  • Planting Locations
    • Discovery Park, Seattle (Planted February 8, 2022)
    • Swan Creek Park, Tacoma (Planted March 19, 2022)
    • Black River Riparian Forest, Renton (Planting Date May 7th or May 14th, 2022)

Each planting location has or will have trees from both seed zones planted in rows.

Western redcedar planting at Discovery Park in Seattle Volunteers planting trees at Swan Creek Park in Tacoma


Link to Google Map with planting locations


Openness

The data of this project are maintained openly so others can participate and learn from the study. If you collect data, please consider sharing it here so others can benefit. More instructions coming soon!

Preliminary Data

Below you can explore some of the data available already.

Note the trees were not stored in a manner to compare tree heights or diameters at this time. For example, we kept the trees separate to avoid accidentally mixing an Oregon tree with a Washington tree.

We will want to monitor the change in heights and diameters each year to compare between seed zones, sites, and annual clmate variables.

Download Data

This webpage and data are hosted in a github repository. The content on this page is compiled using R Markdown, but the data is maintained as a .csv file.

Download the data by visiting: https://github.com/jmhulbert/adaptation

Anyone is welcome to collaborate to add or make changes to the github repository (https://github.com/jmhulbert/adaptation).

  • As a repository collaborator:
    • You are welcome to clone the repository to your system and work from the R Project file (adaptation.Rproj) in Rstudio or you can make changes to the .csv files (./data/).
    • You can also make changes directly to the .csv file through your browser.
    • Or you can make changes by downloading the .csv file, altering, committing and pushing it back to the repository.
    • You can also drop new .csv files into the ./data/ folder in the repository.

Note that you need a github account to collaborate or make changes. Feel free to contact JM Hulbert for additional details and instructions, or to request a change or addition.

Note that the Markdown (index.Rmd) file will need to be knit before the changes will be visible on this webpage.

Summary

Number of Trees

The below table lists the number of trees that were remeasured in 2023 at each site, excluding outliers. It also shares the number of days that trees were planted between measurements, and the number of days between the initial measurements and the planting date.

Note the initial tree measuresments were collected on different days depending on the site (depending on when they would be planted). Therefore, comparisons between sites should be taken lightly.

Site Seed.Zone.x n Date.Planted Measurement.Prior.Planting Between.Measurements
Renton OR 37 2022-05-07 2 342
Renton WA 38 2022-05-07 2 342
Seattle OR 32 2022-02-08 8 430
Seattle WA 36 2022-02-08 8 430
Swan Creek OR 38 2022-03-19 2 384
Swan Creek WA 32 2022-03-19 2 384

For example, trees at the Seattle site were remeasured 430 days after intial measurements, where trees at the Renton site were remeasured 342 days after initial measurement. Therefore, trees at Seattle are likely not growing faster, but rather, had larger time interval between measurements.

Mean Height and Diameter Increase

The below table lists mean height and diameter increases between seed zones.

Seed.Zone n mean.height.increase mean.diameter.increase
OR 107 8.05 3.91
WA 106 6.71 3.59

Trees from Oregon had a mean height increase of 8.05cm and trees from Washington had a mean height increase of 6.71cm

Mean Increase by Site

The table below provides the same data, expect the means were calculated across seed zones and sites.

Site Seed.Zone n mean.height.increase mean.diameter.increase
Renton OR 37 8.28 3.15
Renton WA 38 6.70 2.59
Seattle OR 32 9.25 5.68
Seattle WA 36 8.73 5.02
Swan Creek OR 38 6.80 3.18
Swan Creek WA 32 4.45 3.16


Tree Height Increase

The below plots show the distributions in increases in tree height for each seed zone.


The below plots show the distributions in increases in tree height for each seed zone and site


Tree Diameter Increase

The below plots show the distributions in increases in tree diameter for each seed zone


The below plots show the distributions in increases in tree diameter for each seed zone and site

Mortality




Western redcedar planting at Swan Creek Park in Tacoma


Collaborators, Partners and Supporters

  • The Open Redcedar Adaptation Network is powered by
    • Washington State University
    • Seattle Parks and Recreation
    • MetroParks Tacoma
    • Tacoma Tree Foundation
    • City of Renton
    • Manulife Investment Management
    • Weyerhaeuser

This project is part of the Forest Health Watch program.