Lee Frelich is Director of the University of Minnesota Center for Forest Ecology. He has authored 200 publications with 275 coauthors from 25 countries. He is listed among the top 1% of all scientists in the world (Ecology and Environment category) by the Web of Science. His research has been featured in the news media 500 times, including The New York Times, Newsweek and Washington Post. Current research interests include large-scale fire and wind, earthworm invasion, and climate change in temperate and boreal forests…
Beginning in 2010, a group of Minnesota botanical artists applied their skills and knowledge to create a visual archival record of Minnesota’s threatened boreal forest. This collection is important because the ecology of the boreal forest is undergoing slow and silent but significant change due to disturbances caused by fire, invasive insects and stressful climate conditions. Lee Frelich, Ph.D., director of the Center for Forest Ecology consulted with the artists to identify the trees and understory plants at risk in Minnesota’s boreal forest. Frelich identified 10 trees most at risk in northeastern Minnesota are the iconic Balsam Fir, White Spruce, and Balsam Poplar followed by Red Pine, Black Spruce, Jack Pine, then Quaking Aspen, Tamarack, Paper Birch and possibly Black Ash…
