Forest Stewards Guild

Bat Responses to Silvicultural Treatments (webinar)
2021-06-29 13:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York)
Register (you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting)
June 29, 2021
1:00 – 2:00 pm ET
Approval pending for 1, Category 1 CFE from SAF.
Agenda includes one 45-minute presentation with time for questions at the end.
Researchers have been studying bat responses to silvicultural treatments since the mid-1980s, but research on the effects of silviculture on bats has increased greatly over the past decade. This webinar will present a synthesis of this research which includes the effects of regeneration harvests, thinning, gap formation, plantation forestry, and prescribed fire on bats. Dr. Loeb will also present the results of a recent review which compares the effects of prescribed fire and wildfire on bats. The talk will conclude with a discussion of the major gaps in our knowledge and where our research efforts need to be concentrated in the future.

Passenger Pigeons: A force of forest disturbance
2021-07-29 13:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York)
Register today!
July 29, 2021
1:00 p.m. ET
Join the Consortium of Appalachian Fire Managers & Scientists to learn how this extinct species impacted forests in the U.S.
Presentations by Dr. Ian Thompson (Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma) and Dr. Ben Novak (Lead Scientist, Revive & Restore) will introduce the cultural and ecological significance of passenger pigeons. We’ll consider what their disappearance means in terms of ecological disturbance processes and the implications for forest and fire management today.
From a TNC staffer: “After nearly 20 years in this field, I was disappointed to find out how little I have considered this bird as such an important influence on our historic, current, (and future?) vegetation.
Reviewing a ton of journal articles, I’m amazed how little attention is given to such significant disturbance factor, compared to fire, wind, bugs, and floods, etc.
Ben paints a heck of a picture of what it was like when these birds were around and fire managers and foresters will be able to picture how it related with fire and eastern hardwood forest structure and composition.”

A path forward: understanding and restoring degraded hardwood stands (webinar)
2021-09-22 11:00 - 13:30 (America/New_York)
Register today
September 22, 2021
11:00 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. ET
Agenda to download
2 Category 1 Continuing Education Credits through the Society of American Foresters
This webinar will explore the complexities of forest degradation as result of poor forest management planning. We will gain a basic understanding of land-use history as it pertains to forest degradation and how misconceptions of forest ecology have led to poor land management practices. Then, we will learn how forest products markets (or lack thereof) can perpetuate the mismanagement of forest resources. Once we grasp these basic concepts, we will learn from applied research on conditions of degraded forests and what we can do to restore them.
Hosted by the Ruffed Grouse Society & American Woodcock Society and NRCS Working Lands for Wildlife

Collective Action for Wildfire Risk Reduction across Land Ownerships in the West (webinar)
2022-04-19 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Denver)
Register
April 19, 2022
12:00 p.m. Mountain Time (US and Canada)
Presenter: Dr. Susan Charnley, USDA Forest Service
Brief Abstract: Over the past decade, government policies and programs to incentivize “all-lands approaches” to reducing wildfire risk have emerged that call for collective action among diverse public, private, and Tribal landowners who share fire-prone landscapes. This presentation draws on research from Oregon and California to offer insights into what collective action looks like, when it is desirable, and how to promote it to increase the resilience of fire-prone forests.

A webinar on land development shifts and declining losses of forest and ag land
2022-07-19 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Register
July 19, 2022
12:00 – 1:00 p.m. Pacific Time
Webinar Presenter: Dr. Daniel Bigelow, Montana State University
Land development, which typically results from the conversion of lands previously in agricultural and forest uses, is one of the most fundamental ways in which humans impact the natural environment. We study the remarkable decline in land development rates across the conterminous United States over the period 2000–2015, which occurred after development rates had grown rapidly over the last two decades of the 20th century. Despite relatively constant population growth since 1980, we find that the current annual rate of land development has declined consistently across several stratifications of the U.S. land base and amounts to less than 25% of the peak rate observed in the mid-late 1990s, implying that the developed land base of the U.S. has become increasingly dense in recent years. We show that the widespread shift in land development rates resulted in 7 million acres of avoided land development, roughly half of which would have come from conversions of forested lands.

Conservation and Community: Beyond the Public-Private Binary in the History of Land Conservation
2022-11-15 14:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York)
Register
November 15, 2022
2:00 – 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Zoom
Approved for 1.0 hours of CFE credit from the Society of American Foresters.
Speaker: Curt Meine
Join us for the 2022 Lynn W. Day Lectureship in Forest and Conservation History. This year’s presenter is conservation biologist, environmental historian, and writer Curt Meine.
For more than a century, conservationists have pursued their goals through various mechanisms that recognized shared interests in the land and ecological relationships that worked across legal and jurisdictional boundaries. While they have fitfully come to understand that a wider variety of people, uses, and perspectives must be considered, progress has been constrained by a mindset that reinforces a simple division of interests: private and public. Moving from this simple binary framing to a more flexible and nuanced view may allow conservationists to embrace a wider array of community-based approaches to conserving the public interest in private land. It may also allow historians to find new insights in the evolution of conservation science, policy, and ideas. Conservation biologist and environmental historian Curt Meine will discuss this reframing and the many new opportunities it presents.
Curt serves as Senior Fellow with the Aldo Leopold Foundation and the Center for Humans and Nature. He has authored and edited several books, including the biography Aldo Leopold: His Life and Work (1988/2010) and The Driftless Reader (2017).

Sustainability Is Not Enough: From Stewardship to Reciprocity
2022-11-28 15:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York)
Register
Monday, November 28, 2022
3:00 pm – 4:00 pm ET
Speaker: Roger Milliken, Former President & CEO, Baskahegan Company
All Mitchell Center talks are free and open to the public. Talks are held virtually via Zoom and in-person at 107 Norman Smith Hall, UMaine.

Virtual attendance: Complete the registration form to receive Zoom connection information.
In-person attendance: The Mitchell Center requires masks for all indoor events.

In this talk, Roger Milliken explores the conflicts between a thriving forest—and society—and the traditional practice of forest management. Building on perspectives gained from 40 years of forest management and conservation, he describes the tensions experienced by those who are called to care for the region’s forests in this time of high stakes and difficult choices. He invites us to confront the conflicts between seeing the forest as resources for our use or recognizing it as a community to which we belong.
Roger first visited the Baskahegan valley in 1977. He returned in 1981 to write the history of the land and the company founded by his grandfather in 1920. First published in 1983, Forest for the Trees; A History of the Baskahegan Company was a labor of love and discovery. Milliken led the company from 1983 to 2020, expanding its land base to 150,000 acres while practicing a high standard of economically and ecologically responsible forestry.
During the same time, Roger was active in conservation efforts across northern New England and in bringing together the environmental and forestry communities to pass Maine’s Forest Practices Act and support the creation of the state’s ecological reserves system. He co- chaired campaigns by the Maine Chapter of The Nature Conservancy (TNC) to raise $64.5 million to protect 185,000 acres along the Saint John River and the 40,000-acre Debsconeag Lakes Wilderness Area. He joined TNC’s global board of directors in 2000, and served as its board chair from 2008 to 2011.
Now formally retired, he continues to be animated by his lifelong exploration of the right relationship with nature.
To request a reasonable accommodation, contact Ruth Hallsworth, 207.581.3196 or hallsworth@maine.edu

Sparking Solutions: Wildfire Risk and Insurance
2022-11-30 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York)
Register/RSVP
November 30, 2022
Noon – 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time
Wildfire insurance is a useful tool to shield homeowners from the devastating impacts of wildfires. However, in some high-risk areas —particularly in California—it has become difficult to obtain an affordable policy. Some insurance companies have begun to charge higher premiums, increase deductibles, limit payouts, and even decline to write a policy at all. In these instances, homeowners can turn to Fair Access to Insurance Requirements (FAIR) plans, but these options are typically expensive and provide less coverage.
Join Resources for the Future (RFF) for an RFF Live event exploring wildfire insurance, the third in the “Sparking Solutions” webinar series. In this session, experts will discuss the important role that insurance plays in sending signals about risk, how to balance that with equity and affordability, and what options exist for handling the growing problem of insuring wildfire risks.
Speakers:

Carolyn Kousky, Environmental Defense Fund and Resources for the Future
Mike Peterson, California Department of Insurance
Nancy Watkins, Milliman
Penny Liao, Resources for the Future (Moderator)

Taking Action: Where to Start (Virtual ForestHer NC)
2022-12-08 13:00 - 14:30 (America/New_York)
Register
December 8, 2022
1:00 – 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time on zoom
Join other ForestHer participants as we explore the process of going from “I have land!” to actively practicing conservation on your property. It can be tough to know where to start, so we’ll be breaking things down into a clear, step-by-step guide. You, as landowners, will find out where you are in the process, and practice honing your goals to give you the best chance of success. In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, NC State will honor requests for reasonable accommodations made by individuals with disabilities. Requests can be served more effectively if notice is provided at least 10 days before the event. Please direct accommodation requests to Robert Bardon at rebardon@ncsu.edu or 919.515.5575.

Topic Forest-assisted migration in the context of climate change adaptation: Examples from the eastern USA
2023-01-25 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Chicago)
Register
January 25, 2023
Noon Central Time
Presenter: Dr. Brian Palik
There is increasing momentum to implement conservation and management approaches that adapt forests to climate change so as to sustain ecosystem functions. These range from actions designed to increase the resistance of current composition and structure to negative impacts to those designed to transition forests to substantially different characteristics. A component of many adaptation approaches will likely include assisted migration of future climate-adapted tree species or genotypes. While forest-assisted migration (FAM) has been discussed conceptually and examined experimentally for almost a decade, operationalizing FAM (i.e., routine use in forest conservation and management projects) lags behind the acceptance of the need for climate adaptation. As the vulnerability of forest ecosystems in climate change increases, FAM may need to become an integral management tool to reduce long-term risks to ecosystem function, despite real and perceived barriers for its implementation. In this webinar, we will discuss the concept of operational-scale FAM and why it remains a controversial, not yet widely adopted component of climate adaptation. We will present three case studies of operational-scale FAM to illustrate how the practice can be approached pragmatically within an adaptation framework despite the barriers to acceptance. Finally, we will discuss a path toward advancing the wide use of operational-scale FAM.

Invasive Plant Certification Program classes for 2022
2023-03-16 08:45 - 2023-04-13 14:30 (America/New_York)
Register today for one or more sessions in the series below
Via zoom online:
Mar 16, 2023 – State Regulations Pertaining to Invasive Plant Management (A2)
8:45 AM – 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time
Mar 23, 2023 – Principles and Fundamentals of Weed Science (A1)
9:00 AM – 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time
Apr 6, 2023 – The Invasive Plant Issue and Invasive Plant Identification (A3)
9:00 AM – 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time
Apr 13, 2023 – Developing an Invasive Plant Management Program (B)
9:00 AM – 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time
Full series details
Credits are approved as follows:
Pesticide: Contact hours for categories 35, 36, 37, 40, 48 and Applicators License available. Valid for all New England states for equivalent categories.

3/16/23 (A2) – 2 pesticide contact hours
3/23/23 (A1) – 4 pesticide contact hours
4/6/23 (A3) – 3 pesticide contact hours
4/13/23 (B) – 4 pesticide contact hours

Association: 2 MCLP, 2 MCA, and 1 MCH credits for EACH class. ISA credits requested.
Series Summary:
There is a growing interest in invasive plants and their management. While turf and landscape professionals might be very proficient in the development of a weed management program for turf and/or landscape, invasive plant management often reveals many new and unique challenges. This 4-part program is intended to help participants meet these challenges when attempting to develop an invasive plant management program as part of their business.
Participants may receive a certificate in INVASIVE PLANT MANAGEMENT upon the successful completion of all four webinars and and obtaining a passing grade for each.
NOTE: 2023 will be the final year we offer this certificate program.
Those who have taken some of the classes in this series in the past and still wish to earn the certificate of completion are advised to finish up any remaining classes in 2023.
Participants not interested in a certificate may also attend these webinars without taking the quizzes. While individuals from anywhere are welcome to join us, this training will have a geographic focus on Massachusetts and New England.

Strategies to reduce wildfire smoke in frequently impacted communities in south-western Oregon
2023-03-21 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Anchorage)
Register for this webinar
March 21, 2023
12:00 p.m. Pacific Time/1:00 MT/2:00 CT/ 3:00 ET
Presenter: Rick Graw, USDA Forest Service
Smoke from wildfires is a well-recognized public health and safety issue. While there have been extensive efforts to help communities be “smoke ready”, most people would still prefer not to live with weeks of unhealthy air quality during the summer and fall. This webinar will address what could be done to reduce the amount of smoke experienced by frequently impacted communities during wildfire season. By knowing the frequent pathways that air moves into these communities during wildfire season, we gain some insights as to where fuel treatments can have a greater probability of reducing smoke from subsequent wildfires. Rather than using wind roses, meteorological modeling and GIS processing techniques provide raster images of these pathways for each community. A case study illustrates that these strategic fuel treatments can reduce smoke by 40 percent from subsequent wildfires.
The webinar will also cover how raster images and fuel reduction strategies can be integrated into planning and implementation strategies including regional wildfire crisis strategies, forest restoration plans, and community wildfire protection plans. Additionally, the frequent air pathways can be used during wildfire season for decision support to reduce smoke impacts to the public.

Cross-Boundary Landscape Restoration Workshop
2023-05-02 08:30 - 2023-05-04 15:00 (America/Denver)
Registration is open (early bird pricing ends March 1, 2023)
May 2 at 8:30 a.m. – May 4 at 3:00 p.m. (Mountain time)
Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado
Lodging block rates available at the Hilton. See the event webpage at the link below.
Full event webpage and details
Event agenda and flyer for download
The 2022 Cross-Boundary Landscape Restoration Workshop will bring together land and fire managers, researchers and stakeholders to develop strategies that apply evidence-based collaborative management of forest landscapes in the Intermountain West. We invite partners to share lessons learned from your engagement in local, regional, and national collaborative forest and fire restoration processes on federal and non-federal lands.

Share successes and lessons learned on cross-boundary, collaborative efforts to restore and reimagine fire-adapted forest landscapes,
Co-develop knowledge, recommendations, strategies, and resources for collaborative landscape-scale restoration projects, and
Explore gaps and strategies to empower diverse perspectives, and enhance inclusivity and equitability of forestry and fire research and management.

Who should attend? Government, tribal, and non-government foresters, fire managers, planners, biologists, line officers, regional and national program managers, forest researchers, conservation organizations, funding partners, forest operations companies, and other stakeholders interested in applying science and tools for all-lands collaborative forest landscape restoration.

Communicating Forestry Series: ways that work
2023-07-11 19:00 - 20:30 (America/New_York)
Register
July 11, 2023
7:00 – 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time
Online webinar. Zoom link will be sent after registration.
1.5 Category 1 SAF CFE credits approved.
This webinar is the first in a Communicating Forestry series by Guild members. Part of putting innovation into practice is knowing what’s important to share about our vision, and then how and when to do so. As forest managers and stewards, we manage forests for a variety of different objectives, values and purposes, but the importance of our work is not always clear to everyone. Forestry is nuanced, complex and counter-intuitive to many. Our ability to clearly and effectively communicate the work that we do is integral to our ability to continue to do what is necessary to take care of our forests.
Join Guild member Ethan Tapper, the Chittenden County Forester for the Vermont Dept. of Forests, Parks and Recreation. Ethan will discuss how we can present forest management in ways that are engaging and exciting, including modifying our language, mobilizing partnerships, and approaching outreach in novel ways.
This event will focus on some practices and methods that have worked for Ethan in the Northeast region and will be part of an event series focusing on various aspects of forestry communication in different regions, by more Guild members.
About Ethan:
Ethan Tapper advises private landowners, municipalities, conservation organizations, foresters and loggers on the responsible stewardship of forestland, administers “Current Use” program in Chittenden County, and manages over 4,500 acres of Community Forests. He writes a monthly column for 11 newspapers and a quarterly column in Northern Woodlands magazine, maintains a YouTube channel with over 650 subscribers over 100 videos and an email list with over 700 subscribers and leads virtual and in-person public events in Vermont and throughout New England which are attended by thousands of people each year. Ethan is the Northeast-Midwest State Foresters Alliance’s 2021 CFM Forester of the Year, the 2021 recipient of the Vermont American Tree Farm System’s Education and Outreach Award, 2020 recipient of Vermont Coverts’ James B. Engle Award, and the 2022 recipient of the Vermont Urban and Community Forestry Program’s Vermont Tree Steward Award.
Explore a Story Map about Ethan’s approach to outreach and communication at a forest management project in Hinesburg, Vermont here: https://arcg.is/09zfC1
To learn more about Ethan’s work, visit his YouTube channel, read an archive of his articles or sign up for his mailing list, visit his LinkTree, here: https://linktr.ee/ChittendenCountyForester

Prescribed Fire for Forest Management: Fire in Northern Pine Systems
2023-12-06 09:30 - 11:00 (America/New_York)
Register
December 6, 2023
6:30 am Pacific / 7:30 Mountain / 8:30 Central / 9:30 Eastern
1.5 hours
Brian Palik and Jed Meunier will be the presenters in this session of the year-long webinar series from the Wisconsin Forestry Center at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Dr. Palik will explore the ecological considerations of prescribed burning in Northern Pine Systems. John Schwingel, Wisconsin Fire Manager, The Nature Conservancy will moderate.

Fueling Collaboration Panel Discussion Series: The Future is Smoky
2023-12-14 11:00 - 12:30 (America/New_York)
Register
December 14, 2023
11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. ET
Approved for 1.5 Category 1 CFE’s by the Society of American Foresters.
With increasing wildfire activity due to changes in climate, smoke will likely become more prevalent and continue to have an effect on society. Earlier this year, smoke from Canada wildfires lowered air quality in the eastern U.S. to its worst levels in recorded history. As the climate heats up and creates drier conditions, smoky skies will grow increasingly common. Health concerns and prescribed burning actions needed to restore functioning ecosystems will be impacted by already smoky conditions across the country. Panelists include research meteorologists, air quality experts, and fire practitioners. Together, they will explore how we can address and adapt to a smoky future.

Fueling Collaboration Panel Discussion Series: Phenology of Fire: Listening to the Plants and Animals
2024-01-18 11:00 - 12:30 (America/New_York)
Register
January 18, 2024
11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. ET
Approved for 1.5 Category 1 CFE’s by the Society of American Foresters.
Season of fire. Opening the burn window. Both of these focus on one of the elements that make up a fire regime – frequency, intensity/severity, extent/scale, and seasonality. Decades of spring-and/or autumn-centric fire can cause a site or landscape to respond very differently than when burned repeatedly across all flammable seasons. Summer burns can produce differing fire effects including increased species richness averages, biomass, and stem counts (especially forbs), and breaking up the plant species dominance resulting from dormant season burn windows. Our panelists will bring fresh voices to how we can learn from listening to our fire-dependent plants and animals and let the fire effects lead us toward desired outcomes.

Family forest landowner preferences for managing invasive species
2024-01-25 13:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York)
Register
January 25, 2024
10:00 a.m. Pacific Time / 11:00 a.m. Mountain Time / 12:00 Noon Central Time / 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time
Presenter: Dr. Shady Atallah, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Family forest landowners own and manage much of the world’s forests, but we know little about their willingness to control biological invasions on their properties. Using a choice experiment, we find that landowners prefer mechanical methods and strongly oppose chemical methods when controlling the spread of an invasive shrub. Their choices are heterogeneously affected by ecosystem service outcomes resulting from control, namely timber production, trail recreation, and wildlife viewing. Landowners view their decision to control the invasive species on their land as a complement to the control by neighbors, offering further support for the areawide management of forest invasive species.

Successfully Bridging the Gap: Eastern US Models of Fire Science and Management Collaboration
2024-02-15 11:00 - 12:30 (America/New_York)
Register
February 15, 2024
11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. ET
Approved for 1.5 Category 1 CFE’s by the Society of American Foresters.
Land management programs are frequently confronted with the imperative of incorporating the most advanced scientific knowledge into their decision-making processes along with filling voids in research needed to move along effective management. Nevertheless, the persistent disparities between the realms of science and management often impede effective collaboration. In this panel, we will draw inspiration from successful case studies in the eastern United States, where land managers and scientists have forged pioneering partnerships, yielding tangible advancements in the field.

Lunch and Learn: Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission Report
2024-02-23 12:00 - 13:30 (America/Denver)
Register
Friday, February 23, 2024
12:00 – 1:30 Mountain Time (11:00 PT / 1:00 CT / 2:00 ET)
Event flyer/post
For decades, the wildland fire crisis has been growing. More severe catastrophic wildfires devastate communities and ecosystems and threaten lives and livelihoods across the country. In response, the federal Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission came together in 2021 to recommend improvements to how federal agencies manage wildfire across the landscape.
Join Neil Chapman, Wildland Fire Captain with the Flagstaff Fire Department and Commission member, as he discusses the process, outcomes, and next steps following publication of the commission’s report. Learn more and read the report, with its 148 final recommendations.

Career Call! Guild Student members join Professionals in a Virtual Gathering Circle
2024-05-22 20:00 - 20:45 (America/New_York)
Register
Wednesday, May 22, 2024
5:00 – 5:45 p.m. PT / 6:00 p.m. MT / 7:00 p.m. CT / 8:00 p.m. ET
Join each other for an opportunity to:
1) meet other members,
2) hear from professionals willing to talk about their jobs, what was important to them in college, and what they wish they knew or did when graduating, (your advice and tips as students enter the workforce or choose degree programs and research projects is so valuable),
3) hear from students about their concerns or needs as they look for and prepare for their careers,
4) enjoy an informal Q&A time before the end of this term.
Guild student chapter members have requested this sequel to the career call we hosted in 2020. Please register if you are willing to share some insights, answer some questions for student members, or ask questions of fellow members!

Virtue and The Steward’s Mind - Communicating Forestry webinar series
2024-06-04 19:00 - 20:30 (America/New_York)
Register
June 4, 2024
7:00 – 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time
Join Guild member Marianne Patinelli-Dubay, a philosopher with the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, for a presentation focused on understanding Guild-style forestry in the context of virtue ethics. Following the presentation, participants will be encouraged to explore these theoretical concepts in a facilitated discussion.
A forester is trained to understand and facilitate the necessary conditions for regeneration and flourishing. Through practice and careful observation over time, your ability to recognize the natural limits of a forest stand is refined. You take an inventory and reach a conclusion about how to proceed with a harvest by inhabiting the slope and aspect of the land, reading the ground for difficulties, knowing your own limits and those of others to identify and then do the right thing.
As your steward’s mind matures, your approach becomes intuitive. Your familiarity with the land and your knowledge of what it wants in terms of optimal conditions becomes a matter of how you see more than how you see the land. Is this forestry or virtue? Is there a difference? How and when do virtue and forestry coincide? To proceed with honesty, courage, and a clear understanding of need versus desire means living in the question of what good forestry means for the way we work and live on the land.
As part of our Communicating Forestry Series, this webinar recognizes that the more we understand what motivates Guild members to do good forestry, the better we can communicate good forestry and its drivers to specific interested parties, landowners, and the general public.
Watch recordings of previous webinars in this Communicating Forestry Series, by and for Guild members on YouTube. The full list of previous sessions is in the Guild’s webinar library.

Environmental Ethics in Running a Logging Business
2024-06-13 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York)
Register
June 13, 2024
7:00 – 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time
Join us for a discussion with Guild member Katrina Amaral of Timberdoodle Farm to learn about logging for long-term sustainable land management while farming, what to consider for stand health and diversity, and Timberdoodle’s environmental ethic.
Timberdoodle Farm is a specialty logging & sawmill business based in Strafford, New Hampshire. Owners Miles and Katrina Amaral began custom sawmilling on a homemade chainsaw mill in 2010, operating out of their landlord’s driveway in Madbury. With backgrounds in mechanical engineering and conservation biology, Miles and Katrina found that they weren’t satisfied by commercial timber offerings – they believe in locally-sourced, ecologically responsible lumber. Timberdoodle Farm has been featured in NPR Marketplace, Fast Company, Northern Woodlands, The Northern Logger magazine, and various podcasts.
Katrina and Miles are members of NH Timberland Owners Association (NHTOA) and the Northeast Loggers Association (NELA). In addition, Katrina serves on the Board of NELA, as a member of the Forest Society’s (SPNHF) Forestry Committee, and a professional member of the Forest Stewards Guild.

Old-Growth Forest Stewardship: New USFS Technical Guidance
2024-06-20 13:30 - 14:30 (America/New_York)
Register for this webinar
June 20, 2024
10:30 – 11:30 a.m. PT / 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. MT / 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. CT / 1:30 – 2:30 p.m. ET
Please join Forest Stewards Guild members and colleagues for a discussion of the new US Forest Service Technical Guidance for Standardized Silvicultural Prescriptions for Managing Old-Growth Forests. This is an informal chance to share and learn together. Dr. Zander Evans will facilitate a conversation about the Technical Guidance and what can be useful for stewards of Tribal, private, and conservation lands.

Guild discussion on old-growth forest stewardship
2024-07-09 15:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York)
Register for this webinar
July 9, 2024
Noon – 1:00 p.m. PT / 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. MT / 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. CT / 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. ET
Please join the Guild’s Membership and Policy Council to discuss old-growth forest stewardship. We’ll cover protection, preservation, conservation, management, and recruiting future old forests. Guild experts will discuss current federal work on old forests and opportunities for the Guild to lead on this important issue. The MPC welcomes you and your input around this facet of our work and world.

The future of forest stewardship (virtual conversation among Guild members)
2025-04-10 19:00 - 2025-04-11 13:00 (America/New_York)
Register (choose one or both sessions below)
Thursday, April 10, 2025 at 7:00 p.m. EDT
Friday, April 11, 2025 at Noon EDT
Guild members are invited to join a conversation about the rapid change in federal priorities and what that means for the future of forest stewardship in the U.S. We are in a tumultuous time and we need a space where Guild members can talk about that change. Zander Evans will facilitate an open forum where Guild members can share information about new policies and think through implications for stewardship. For example, if states are asked to shoulder more of the forest stewardship burden as the federal workforce is reduced, what are the implications? How might different states react? What is the Guild’s role? The conversation is likely to be wide-ranging and a bit chaotic but will hopefully signal how we can serve members in the future.

Tree People: Trees, Forests and the Human Imagination (virtual retreat)
2025-04-15 16:00 - 2025-04-29 17:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
Register (free, with suggested donation)
Note: the date of the third session of this retreat has been moved. It is now scheduled for May 6. See you then!
April 15, 22 and May 6, 2025
4:00 – 5:30 p.m. PT / 5:00 – 6:30 p.m. MT / 6:00 – 7:30 p.m. CT / 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. ET
A Forest Stewards Guild 30th Anniversary Guild Gathering event over zoom!
Retreat facilitator: Jason Minton Brown, Guild member and Lecturer in the Department of Global Humanities at Simon Fraser University and founder of holyscapes.org.
Synopsis: In this 3-part online-based participatory retreat/workshop we will explore the deep connection human cultures have forged with trees and forests and how these ‘arboreal’ cultures are expressed today. We will investigate the evolutionary past of tree-beings and explore their importance to the world’s religious and mythological systems. We will track the history of the modernist camps of agricultural, conservation, wilderness and Indigenous approaches to forestry practice. And end the workshop with an imaginative exploration of the future of forests. Along the way we will ask participants to examine their own relationship to trees and ask how they understand the role of trees in a changing global civilization and climate.
Learning/Exploration Outcomes

Explore the relationship between trees, forests and human societies.
Learn about how trees and forests show up in the world’s religious and spiritual traditions.
Understand the cultural history of forestry, natural resources and ecological sciences related to trees and forests.
Deepen one’s personal relationship to trees and forest spaces.

Workshop Outline:
One-and-a-half-hour, weekly format with short slide presentation, group discussion and weekly field journal invitations:

Week 1: The Primeval Forest: The role of trees and forests in religion and mythology.
Week 2: The New Forest: The rise of conservation, wilderness and the new science of tree communication and ecology.
Week 3: The Known Forest: The ways in which we relate to and understand trees and forests on a personal level.

Retreat facilitator bio:
Jason Brown was born and raised in Southern California and studied anthropology and international development as an undergraduate at Brigham Young University. He has lived in Vancouver, BC since 2013 and is a dual citizen of the US and Canada and is a proud Cascadian. He earned joint master’s degrees in forestry and theology from Yale. He completed his PhD in 2017 from the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability (IRES) at the University of British Columbia where his dissertation explored the sense of place of contemporary Catholic monks in the American West. His book on the experience, Dwelling in the Wilderness: Modern Monks in the American West was published in 2024. As a Lecturer at Simon Fraser University Jason teaches courses in religious studies and ecological humanities for the department of Global Humanities. He teaches a course entitled Trees, Forests and the Human Imagination. He is also an un-ordained, non-aligned earth chaplaincy for Simon Fraser University. The program seeks to promote contemplative practice as a response to climate anxiety and grief. He writes at www.holyscapes.org.
You can hear more from Jason in his Contemplative Forestry podcast session and the recording of the Guild’s Communicating Forestry Webinar Series called “Give Me That Old Growth Religion.“

The Guild’s Business Plan (webinar)
2025-04-30 12:00 - 2025-05-01 19:00 (America/New_York)
Register (for one or both sessions…they will be the same presentation)
April 30, 2025 at Noon EDT
May 1, 2025 at 7:00 p.m. EDT
Guild members are invited to join a discussion about our new business plan. Ignited by the spark of shared passion, the Guild was founded in 1995 to both practice and promote forest stewardship. Our national network of members, staff, and partners have advanced the culture of forest stewardship based on ethical principles, best-available science, and diverse experience. Three decades of thought-meets-practice leadership from the Guild and partners has brought the concept of ecological forestry from the fringes to become the expected standard for management in much of the U.S., but there is much more work to do!
Zander Evans will share the strategic choices the Guild is making to expand our positive impact, increase our membership, and step up to our responsibility to keep forests healthy in the face of wildfire, droughts, invasive species, and other threats. We will host two opportunities with the hope the one option will work for members interested in the discussion.

Significant mortality of old trees across a dry forest landscape in Oregon
2025-08-27 15:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York)
Register
Aug 27, 2025
Noon – 1:00 p.m. PT / 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. MT / 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. CT / 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. ET
Continuing education credits are pending approval.
Webinar Presenter: Dr. James Johnston, University of Oregon
Description: Dr. Johnston will discuss recent forest mortality dynamics based on a network of 1617 trees in unlogged roadless areas in the Blue Mountains of eastern Oregon with precise age and growth data. There was extensive mortality of the oldest trees in stands—a quarter of trees greater than 300 years of age died over a ten-year period. There was little evidence for a difference in mortality between species in sites that experienced wildfire. Dr. Johnston will also describe a novel simulation model which demonstrated that succession of young trees is unlikely to replace recent losses of old trees. The confluence of a rare insect defoliator outbreak, drought, and past management decisions that increased competitive stress and fuel connectivity is the most likely explanation for the elevated mortality we observed. The protected areas where the team collected data are not achieving old tree conservation objectives. Active management to reduce forest competition is the most realistic pathway for old tree conservation in dry forests.

Guardians and gardeners: Managing wilderness for the twenty-first century
2026-01-22 14:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York)
Register
January 22, 2026
2:00 – 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time
Please join us for a presentation and discussion on wilderness in the 21st century. The 1964 Wilderness Act provides robust protections to landscapes designated as federal wilderness. The National Wilderness Preservation System, which includes 806 wilderness areas and 111 million acres, represents the world’s largest highly protected conservation network. However, a long-standing ethos of nonmanagement—exemplified by the philosophy that managers should be guardians but not gardeners—obscures long legacies of Indigenous stewardship and may not sustain essential wilderness values in a time of unprecedented ecological stressors. Many wildernesses are increasingly subject to complex and compounding unintentional (as well as intentional) human influences.
In this webinar, Dr. Boerigter will present how a guardians and gardeners approach would acknowledge Indigenous influence, recognize contemporary and future environmental challenges, and provide managers the necessary rationale to respond to these complex realities. In the twenty-first century, it may be necessary to carefully, thoughtfully, and compassionately reimagine the dominant wilderness philosophy. Read the full paper: https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biaf141
