OBJECTIVES 1) to present a case study of a focused, multi-institutional effort to address ecosystem response to climate change through applied landscape scale conservation in a National Forest and in Northern Wisconsin, and 2) to engage discussion about the available science, needed science, practical considerations, and social considerations in adapting ecosystems to climate change at large scales. BACKGROUND Global climate is warming and will continue to do so, although the regional distribution and extent of future temperature and precipitation changes are uncertain. This concept of uncertain but changing climate, with the attendant range of ecosystem responses to changing climate, will need to be incorporated into current management decisions. Many of these decisions will affect ecosystem trajectories for decades to come and are not quickly or easily altered. There is thus a clear and pressing need to begin integrating considerations of ecosystem response to climate change into ecosystem management decisions and planning, and these considerations should include the best available science. The Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest (CNNF), located in northern Wisconsin, has been designated as a “Climate Change Model Forest for Landscape Management”. As a model, the CNNF will foster exceptional collaboration among scientists, managers, other landowners, and the general public to most effectively address climate change adaptation at the landscape scale. Further, the lessons learned from these scientific, management, and social activities will be widely distributed to the public and applied in other landscapes. DESCRIPTION The proposed session will describe the model forest project as a whole and then delve deeper into individual components, such as practical considerations and needs when incorporating ecological science into management in an actively managed forest, challenges to simulating habitat and species changes during climate change and at different scales, exploring silvicultural choices in adapting to climate change, and the potential of regional forests to sequester carbon. The final presentation will expand on the preceding concepts to discuss the expansion of the “model” to larger areas through collaborative landscape scale conservation. These presentations will follow a case study approach by describing activities and results at a specific project and place, but using the description to engage discussion of broader concepts.