By Carolyn Bernhardt
June 30, 2026
For Ferin Davis Anderson, successful forest restoration depends on trust, adaptability, and commitment—just like any relationship. She says restoration efforts require researchers and managers alike to routinely ask themselves: “How am I building relationships with the plants, animals, and places I steward?”
“Healthy forest restoration takes years,” she says. “It takes patience, dedication, and long-term stewardship.”
As the Natural Resources Manager for the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community’s (SMSC) Natural Resources Department, Anderson oversees a team of scientists and technicians responsible for managing, restoring, and stewarding prairies, wetlands, woodlands, forests, and wildlife for the SMSC. She says the team’s approach to invasive species is often novel, constantly evolving, and grounded in flexibility.
“It is our responsibility to be good stewards and think about our impact on the land,” Anderson says. “Managing non-local beings is part of that responsibility. We brought them to this landscape, and they’re new to the community. It sometimes takes a lot of guidance to bring systems back into balance.” And that balance, she says, is crucial for ensuring healthy forests for future generations.
Bridging research and management
For years now, Anderson and the SMSC team have been collaborating closely with MITPPC’s Mike Schuster’s (Department of Fores Resources) team on the Cover It Up! project and other efforts to advance buckthorn management. The initial collaboration revealed a strong alignment between the groups and led to additional projects, including one examining the relationship between elderberry plantings and buckthorn, and another testing native seed mixes and buckthorn.
Research from these projects suggests that seeding diverse native plant communities can help suppress buckthorn regeneration after removal while supporting broader forest restoration goals. The research has also helped identify which native species and planting approaches are most effective under different site conditions.
“We’re now working on a fourth project about how different deer browsing densities may impact the establishment of certain plants that would normally compete with buckthorn,” says Anderson. “We provide feedback on project design, help determine locations for the projects, collect data on some of the projects, and review reports when needed.”
According to Anderson, one of the most meaningful parts of this work has been seeing Schuster’s team build strong relationships with land managers to help “bridge the gap” between research and on-the-ground management. “Too often, research can feel disconnected from the realities of day-to-day stewardship,” she says, “but this collaboration has been focused on practical solutions that can actually be applied in the field.”
“I think for many people it might be easy to think of partnerships between researchers and practitioners as transactional, where the researchers do the science and the practitioners do the management,” Schuster says. “One of the guiding principles of our work—and of MITPPC as a whole—is to do science that has clear application and impact. We want to answer the questions that matter to practitioners, and the way that we do that is by building relationships.”
Meeting the moment
Like any relationship, restoration requires adaptation. Because ecosystems are constantly shifting, Anderson advocates for ongoing adaptability and a commitment to being a “lifelong learner” of the land—using the same few management strategies that have worked in the past won’t necessarily work forever.
And all relational work requires patience. “One challenge we’ve encountered throughout this work has been having the patience to let the plants do their thing,” says Anderson.
Invasive species management often prompts a knee-jerk reaction to intervene immediately on every resprout or seedling that pops up. But Anderson recalls an experiment with significant buckthorn seedling resprouting in the test plots. “It was concerning at first,” she says, “but instead of reacting immediately with additional herbicide treatment, we decided to wait and see how the planted native species would respond.”
Upon their return to the plots later that summer, the team noticed that while some buckthorn seedlings lingered, many native species had established themselves well. “That was an important lesson in patience and adaptive management,” she says. Had the team applied herbicide right away, Anderson says they likely would have caused non-target impacts to the very native species they were aiming to establish. “By waiting, we were able to better understand how the planted communities could compete and recover on their own.”
She was surprised by how quickly some native species reestablished themselves, which reinforced for her just how resilient these ecosystems can be when given the opportunity to recover. “There is a lot of hope in this work,” she says. “We’ve seen how quickly some native species can return when given the opportunity.”
Built to last
Anderson’s sense of hope around these efforts has been further amplified by finding a strong collaborative fit. “It’s important that researchers not only listen to the needs of land managers, but also help provide tangible, realistic strategies that can actually be implemented on the ground,” she says. “Mike didn’t just come in with his own ideas and push those on us, he took an interest in what we were already doing and looked for ways his research could help support and elevate those efforts.”
Since collaborating with Schuster and team, Anderson says the SMSC has seen more success in using native seed mixes to increase diversity on forest floors. “We’re also able to incorporate plants with long-standing traditional and cultural significance to the Community, such as elderberry, while reducing reliance on herbicides,” she says. “This supports a more sustainable restoration approach that aligns with the Community’s cultural values, stewardship priorities, and long-term vision for the land.”
After all, buckthorn management and collaboration are not one-and-done efforts. “Small, consistent efforts can lead to meaningful long-term improvements in forest health,” Anderson says. “Removing buckthorn is really just the first step.” Encouraging the development of a healthy forest is the long-term commitment.
The Minnesota Invasive Terrestrial Plants and Pests Center research is supported by the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund, as recommended by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources.
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More information
- Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community Natural Resources Department
- Seed mix recommendations from Cover It Up!
- A guide to forest understory revegetation to help manage buckthorn and other invasive plants (PDF)
- Making revegetation as part of buckthorn management feasible in Minnesota - research project
- Goats can play a role in multi-pronged restoration of buckthorn-invaded woodlands
- New research shows grasses can fortify forests against buckthorn invasion