• Continental-interior winter warming is among the fastest in eastern North America — projections push the western half of this ecoregion into a USDA zone shift by mid-century.
• Beech bark disease, oak wilt, and emerald ash borer compound the climate stress on northern hardwoods; oak-hickory and prairie species are gaining ground in successional gaps.
• Increasing summer heat-and-humidity extremes raise the value of selecting deep-rooted natives (Baptisia, Liatris, Echinacea) over moisture-dependent ornamentals.