The Science of Carbon Forestry webinar
2021-04-08 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Halifax)
Register today!
April 8, 2021
11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. ET
As the global climate warms, questions are arising about the role of carbon in our forests and forest management options. To solve the climate crisis, we need a portfolio of options, each of which carries a different set of carbon values, co-benefits, and risks. No one approach is risk-free in the context of global change, or in the constantly-shifting global wood product markets.
In this webinar on the science of carbon forestry, we will explore the multiple co-benefits of well-managed forests and examine the nuances behind applying these concepts to forests over the long term.
Presenters:
Dr. Bill Keeton is a Professor of Forest Ecology and Forestry at the University of Vermont’s Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources. Dr. Keeton researches forest ecosystem sustainability through the lenses of forest carbon management, climate change mitigation, natural disturbance ecology and silviculture, and the structure and function of old-growth and riparian forests.
Dr. John Gunn is a Research Assistant Professor of Forest Management at the University of New Hampshire and Executive Director of the nonprofit Spatial Informatics Group – Natural Assets Laboratory (SIG-NAL). Dr. Gunn’s research falls within the realm of understanding what ecological forestry “tools” we can use to reduce this divergence between managed and natural ecosystems

The Good, the Bad, and the Fuzzy: A Practical Toolkit for Forestry
2021-04-15 09:00 - 2021-04-29 12:00 (America/New_York)
Register ($60 SFEC Members, $110 Non-Members (others), $30 Students)
April 15, 2021 from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. CT, and
April 22 and 29, 2021 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m CT
This workshop is eligible for 10 CAT1 SAF CFE credits.
During this three-day online workshop we’ll provide you with tools to navigate ethical decisions in professional forestry context. We‘ll examine Professional Codes of Conduct, explore case studies, and develop systematic skills of critical thinking for ethical deliberation. You’ll leave this workshop equipped with skills in argument analysis, which will enable you to think through ethical decisions methodically, and explain why your decision is justified.
Host: University of Minnesota’s Sustainable Forests Education Cooperative. For questions about the event, accessibility, or registration, please contact Kaitlyn Wilson at kaitlynw AT umn.edu.

Economics of US Forests as a Natural Climate Solution
2021-04-29 12:00 - 13:30 (America/Halifax)
Register
April 29, 2021
12:00 – 1:30 p.m. ET
A joint program between The Ohio State University, North Carolina State University, the University of Maine, the University of Idaho, and IUFRO.
Presenters will provide recent results from leading forest economic models that estimate the costs and potential of carbon sequestration in U.S. forests and provide U.S. scale estimates of forest-based mitigation potential and costs for various activities (afforestation, reforestation, forest management, rotation extensions), as well as at the regional, county and mill-shed scale for relevant activities.
A panel discussion will focus on how to move from ambition to reality on the landscape with experts on market design and implementation.

The Long View: Sustaining Our Oak Forests - Crowdcast
2021-05-12 11:00 - 13:15 (America/Halifax)
Register
May 12, 2021
11:00 a.m. – 1:15 p.m. ET
Hosted by the Ruffed Grouse Society and American Woodcock Society
Agenda:
11 – 11:05 AM: Welcome and Introduction – Charlie Faires, RGS
11:05 – 11:20 AM: Land-use History of Upland Oak Forests of the Central Hardwood Region, Landowner Perspectives on Oak Silviculture -Mason Danheim, North Carolina Forest Service
11:20 – 11:50 AM: The Birds and the Bees: Songbird and Pollinator Responses to Oak Regeneration in the Central Appalachian Mountains – Dr. D.J. McNeil, Cornell University
11:50 AM – NOON: BREAK
NOON – 12:30 PM: Ecology and Silviculture of Upland Oak Forests – Dr. Daniel Dey, United States Forest Service
12:30 – 12:50 PM: A Practical Strategy for Managing Oak Forests – Chris Will, Central Kentucky Forest Management
12:50 – 1:05 PM: Panel Discussion

North American Forest Insect Work Conference
2021-05-26 08:00 - 2021-05-28 12:30 (America/New_York)
Register
May 26 at 8:00 a.m. – May 28 at 12:30 p.m. CT
Program is available online
Full event information is available at the conference website
Theme: “Shaping Forests: Action in a Changing World.”
The future of forest entomology will be shaped by cooperation and collaboration among researchers and educators from all professional and personal backgrounds. Therefore, it is our hope that this meeting will effect positive change in the field of forest entomology and beyond.

Fire Breaks: Fire Suppression, the "Light-Burning" Controversy, and the Return of Indigenous Flames (webinar)
2021-06-10 13:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York)
Register
Thursday, June 10, 2021
1:00 – 2:00 p.m. ET
Historian Char Miller’s talk “Fire Breaks” probes the varied forces advocating the suppression of wildfire in the United States, with a focus on California’s 250-year-long experience with this controversial effort to snuff out blazes, both wild and managed. Using primary sources dating back to the Spanish settler-colonial initiatives to tamp down the Indigenous Nations’ longstanding use of fire to manage their lands, Miller’s talk will also draw on subsequent and controversial efforts by California and the U.S. Forest Service to eradicate fire from the state’s public lands. This so-called “light burning” controversy erupted in the first decades of the twentieth century and has had profound implications for Indigenous communities for whom fire was, and remains, an essential tool. It has also had a clear impact on the diverse ecosystems that fire had helped nurture and for the land-management agencies at the state and federal level. The talk concludes with a discussion of the slow return of indigenous flames to forests, woodlands, and grasslands.
Once feared, fire has been embraced, even if only partially, as a vital force in contemporary forest management. Of late, a reckoning has compelled agencies and communities to acknowledge historic and contemporary harms pressed upon Indigenous peoples and to develop social policies that amplify Indigenous knowledge in a way that hitherto settler-colonial society has failed to do.
Char Miller is the W. M. Keck Professor of Environmental Analysis and History at Pomona College. He is author most recently of Hetch Hetchy: A History in Documents and America’s Great National Forests, Wildernesses, and Grasslands, as well as coeditor of Theodore Roosevelt: Naturalist in the Arena. Forthcoming in August 2021 is West Side Rising: How San Antonio’s 1921 Flood Devastated a City and Sparked a Latino Environmental Justice Movement, a portion of which is previewed in “Reclamation Project: Rediscovering W. W. Ashe and the Origins of Watershed Stewardship,” Forest History Today, Spring/Fall 2020.
Funding for this lecture is provided by the Forest History Society’s Lynn W. Day Endowment.

Northern Hardwood Conference 2021 (virtual)
2021-06-15 08:00 - 2021-06-16 17:00 (America/New_York)
Save the date!
Conference title: Bridging Science and Management for the Future
June 15 – 16, 2021
Full conference details will be online as they are available
Northern hardwood forests occupy millions of acres in the eastern United States and Canada, representing one of the most economically important and ecologically diverse forests in eastern North America. Northern hardwood silviculture is diverse and complex as well and has been the focus of extensive research for over 80 years. Today, managers continue to seek innovative sustainable management solutions to address the expanding challenges facing this forest type, including serious threats such as invasive species, inadequate tree regeneration and shifts in composition, degraded timber quality, herbivory, climate change, nitrogen deposition, and forest fragmentation.
The 2021 Northern Hardwood Conference (NHC) will give researchers, academicians, and forest managers from across the range a forum to learn, share, and discuss cutting edge science and innovative management practices to sustain healthy and productive northern hardwood forests.
The Northern Hardwood Conference was initiated by a diverse group of professionals wishing to facilitate collaboration across the northern hardwood range. A major northern hardwood conference has not been held in the Lake States in over 30 years, and rarely has there been an opportunity for researchers and forest managers from across the range to compare notes. In addition, we hope to establish the Northern Hardwood Conference as a valuable forum to be held on a biennial basis throughout the eastern United States and Canada.

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.

Oak Resiliency Assessment Tool Workshop (hybrid online/in-person)
2021-07-27 09:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York)
Register today (no charge). In-person attendance max of 20 people. Online attendees will receive join information for the meeting closer to the event date.
July 27, 2021
9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. ET
Optional on-site field tour for in-person attendees only: 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. ET
Location: Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary, 30 Peck Road, Wales, MA
This workshop is intended for professional foresters who are managing forested land.

The morning workshop is eligible for 3 SAF category 1 CFE credits.
The afternoon field tour is eligible for 2 SAF category 1 CFE credits.

Draft agenda for download
Join the Forest Stewards Guild, online or in-person, to learn how you can use a web-based Oak Resiliency Assessment Tool to assess the resiliency of oak on land you manage. During the workshop, you will learn why this tool can provide value to you and the landowners you work for, the resources the tool provides, and practice using the tool in a meaningful way to assess the resiliency of oak forests.
In-person attendees please bring:

your own water bottle,
your own lunch and snacks,
a computer.

For field tour:

footware that can get muddy,
insect repellent,
sunscreen, and
be prepared to caravan to the field site in your own vehicle.

We will follow all current local and federal Covid safety guidelines in place at the time of this event.

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.”

Guild Gathering in Lake States: Simultaneously Managing Forests for Timber, Birds, and the Future
2021-08-03 08:30 - 2021-08-04 15:30 (America/Chicago)
Register today! ($50, $25 for students)
August 3, 9:30 a.m. – August 4, 2:30 p.m. ET
Location: Michigan Technological University’s Ford Center (Alberta, MI), with field tours throughout Houghton County
Continuing education credits:
Category 1 SAF:

day 1: 4.5 credits
day 2: 3.5 credits

Category 1 Wildlife Society: 6 credits total for full event.
Detailed agenda for download
Gathering Overview:
Day 1: Lecture style presentations at the Ford Center will be followed by an afternoon field tour including the surrounding Ford Forest. A cookout style dinner and a campfire/social hour will round out the evening. Overnight lodging will be available at the Ford Center or in Baraga.
Day 2: Field tours in Hancock and Atlantic Mine to visit a pair of parcels that are owned and managed by the Forest Stewards Guild will start and stop at the Ford Center for caravan or carpooling. Please be prepared to caravan in your own vehicle or carpool with other attendees. We do not anticipate any arduous hiking but please come prepared with appropriate clothes and footwear for short forest walks on uneven terrain. Long pants and footwear that can get muddy are recommended.
Food:
Your registration covers:

Day 1 Ford Center lunch (choose option in registration)
Day 1 snacks
Day 1 host-made dinner (pulled pork on buns and whole wheat pesto pasta)
Day 2 breakfast pastries and refreshments
Day 2 snacks
Day 2 boxed lunch in the field (veggie and meat options will be available)

Lodging:
Option 1: Baraga Lakeside Inn is about 12 miles from the Ford Center. We have 15 rooms blocked for the nights of August 2nd and 3rd at $80 each. The block expires on July 19. If you’d like to stay at the Inn, call (906) 353-7123 asap to reserve your room and ask for the Forest Stewards Guild room block to get the discounted rate. This lodging is not included in your registration.
Option 2: There are 10 beds available at the Ford Center’s Ash House for the night of August 3rd only. These are twin beds in semi-private rooms for $35 per bed. Linens included. You can choose this option in your registration for the event until the max availability is met.
We are excited to get people back together in an enjoyable and safe setting. We will be tracking COVID-19 trends and following all local and federal safety guidelines.

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

WPFC Webinar – Increasing Prescribed Burn Capacity in Wisconsin
2021-12-02 10:00 - 14:00 (America/Chicago)
Register
December 2, 2021
10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
The Wisconsin Prescribed Fire Council is pleased to present our first ever webinar, Increasing Prescribed Burn Capacity in Wisconsin – Getting More Fire on the Ground Safely! This event is the first of a series of discussions focused upon increasing prescribed burn capacity in Wisconsin!
This event will feature presentations from WDNR Fire Ecologist and Natural Resources Research Scientist Jed Meunier and WPFC Vice Chair and Researcher Stacey Marion on the historic, current, and future use of prescribed fire in Wisconsin and updates to the Wisconsin Prescribed Fire Needs Assessment. A panel discussion featuring diverse perspectives within the prescribed fire community will follow. Panelists from the WDNR, US Forest Service, The Nature Conservancy and Quercus Land Stewardship Services (a WPFC supporting member!) will discuss current fire initiatives, future goals, and how to achieve those goals.
Come prepared to join the discussion and engage with our panelists. We look forward to igniting the conversation of why and how to get more fire on the ground safely with you!

Akinomaage: Teaching from the Earth (webinar)
2022-01-20 15:30 - 17:00 (America/Chicago)
Register
January 20, 2022
3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. CT
Vern Northrup (Fond Du Lac Band of Ojibwe), artist and retired wildlands firefighter, will present his photographs and teachings that offer Anishinaabe perspectives on the place of humans in the world, the seasons, and more. An audience Q&A will follow.
This event is one of a series of public talks entitled “Transdisciplinary Engagements with Indigenous Thinkers.” Learn more about the IAS Research and Creative Collaborative presenting this work here.
Funding is provided by the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) and the Institute on the Environment (IonE).

Forest-carbon focused Adaptation Planning and Practices Course (2022)
2022-03-21 09:00 - 2022-05-11 17:00 (America/New_York)
Apply here
Full course information at the Climate Change Response Network website
March 21, 2022 at 9:00 a.m. – May 11, 2022 at 5:00 p.m. ET
The Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science and USDA Northern Forests Climate Hub are offering the Adaptation Planning and Practices training as an online course for natural resources professionals seeking to manage forests for carbon.
This unique opportunity provides hands-on training in considering climate change information and identifying adaptation actions for natural resources professionals in forested ecosystems. Participants will receive coaching and feedback while using the Adaptation Workbook to develop their own real-world climate adaptation project. The course consists of seven weekly web sessions, three discussion sessions, with independent work time occurring between sessions.
This course will have a special regional focus on forest ecosystems in the Midwest and Northeast.
Through this course, participants will be able to:

Identify locally-important climate change impacts, challenges, and opportunities
Develop specific actions to adapt forests to changing conditions
Use the Adaptation Workbook to create their own “climate-informed” projects
Better communicate with stakeholders about key climate change impacts, challenges, and opportunities
Access post-training support from NIACS staff during project planning and implementation

2022 Virtual Wild Rivers Conference
2022-03-24 08:00 - 2022-03-25 17:00 (America/Chicago)
Register ($40)

Virtual portion: March 24, Thursday 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. CT
In Person options (more detail below): March 25 throughout the St. Croix Watershed

CFE credits available.
The conference is designed for local, state, federal, and private foresters, land managers and other natural resources professionals, and landowners interested in maintaining a healthy forested watershed.
Topics for this conference will include:

Sustainable forest management
Soil Regeneration
Diversity and Inclusion in the forestry world
And much more!

This conference is in partnership with the MN Woodland Owner Workshop Team which includes the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Minnesota Forestry Association, Minnesota State Horticultural Society, Minnesota Women’s Woodland Network, and St. John’s Outdoor University.
In person events on March 25 are:

Hike at Better Place Forests property in Scandia, Minnesota, 1:00 – 2:00 p.m.
Hike at Horst Rechelbacher property in Osceola, Wisconsin, 3:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Hike in the Twin Cities area, to be determined.

Questions? Please contact Nichole Henger at nhenger@wildriversconservancy.org or call 715-483-3300 Ext. 23

Learn and Burn at Camp Ripley, MN
2022-04-22 09:30 - 15:30 (America/Chicago)
Register by end of day today, April 20th!
April 22, 2022
9:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. CT
Meet at Camp Ripley Environmental Classroom (Bldg. 11-1)
15000 Hwy 115, Little Falls, MN 56345
Agenda for download
No charge for registration and lunch is included. There will be options for various diets.
Landowners in the greater Camp Ripley landscape are invited to attend a full day workshop on prescribed fire. This workshop will happen rain or shine and we will use alternative demonstration tools if we are unable to conduct a burn on April 22nd.
We hope to build interest and awareness in prescribed burning among landowners in the region. This is a brief introduction to prescribed fire and will not qualify participants to conduct a prescribed burn. Our hope is it allows you to start the planning process and ask questions.
Outline of the day’s agenda:
Our morning classroom session covers fire history, ecology, and uses, including fire behavior and safety.
Then we will discuss the planning of a prescribed fire – including burn unit selection, burn planning, weather, equipment, and ignition.
After lunch we will go out in the field and visit a minimum of three sites:

Unit prepped for burning where we can discuss unit prep, burn breaks, etc.
A unit that has been recently burned where we can look at immediate fire effects and talk about anticipated longer term effects.
From a safe distance we will watch the Camp Ripley’s Burn team ignite and manage a low-complexity prescribed burn.

If you have questions about this event, please contact Mike Lynch at mike@forestguild.org.

Northwoods TREX (Minnesota)
2022-05-02 08:00 - 2022-05-15 17:00 (America/Chicago)
Apply today (deadline is March 20)
Space is limited!
May 2 – 15, 2022
Full event details, partners, objectives, requirements, and contact info
Gain experience and training with prescribed fire. MN TREX will be based in northern Minnesota with burning conducted on traditional lands of the Fond du Lac, Leech Lake and Grand Portage Ojibwe Bands.
MN TREX is open to all interested in prescribed fire. Requirements for this training are outlined in the application. If at any time you are unsure about the questions asked during this application, please reach out to MN TREX organizers for assistance.
During the two-week training participants will learn, practice, and share knowledge, skills, and experience in a unique, hands-on training environment focused on fire management, ecology, outreach, monitoring, and operational dimensions of planning and implementing prescribed fire.
Application forms are due Sunday, March 20th. Space is limited and selections will be announced by March 31st.

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.

Silvicultural strategies for climate change adaptation & mitigation in northern hardwoods
2022-07-20 09:30 - 16:00 (America/Chicago)
Register by July 1, 2022
July 20, 2022
9:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Central Time
Ford Center in Alberta Village, Michigan
Rogge Room in the Dormitory and Cafeteria Building
5 SAF Continuing Forestry Education credits are anticipated.
Please join us on July 20th for a workshop on silvicultural strategies for climate change adaptation and mitigation being co-hosted by Julia Burton (silviculturist at Michigan Tech), Rexx Janowiak (Green Timber) and Stephen Handler and Maria Janowiak (USDA Forest Service Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science). We’re inviting a diverse group of foresters from federal, state, private and tribal organizations to help us develop a range of approaches.
Our goals are to:

Gather information and share ideas on climate change risk and adaptation in northern hardwoods,
Develop preliminary prescriptions for a silvicultural experiment at the MTU Ford Forest,
Include lunch and a field trip to the experimental site.

Lake States Guild Gathering - Stewardship in Perpetuity in Wisconsin's Driftless Region
2022-08-26 08:30 - 16:30 (America/New_York)
Register today (Guild members attend free of charge. Others, $10)
Friday, August 26, 2022
8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Central Time
Optional social 5 – 8 p.m.
Just outside of New Glarus, Wisconsin (exact location will be shared after registration)
5.5 SAF Category 1 Continuing Ed Credits approved.
Agenda for download
Join the Forest Stewards Guild and the Driftless Area Land Conservancy (DALC) to explore a land trust parcel temporarily named the Spring Valley Tract. These 308 acres were donated to DALC and hold a lot of restoration potential, in a landscape where many neighbors are dedicated to healthy forest and oak savanna systems as well, so landscape scale results are a huge opportunity here.
All who are interested in ecological forestry, and how that intersects with land stewardship are welcome. One main focus of this Guild Gathering will be to provide opportunities for people involved in holistic land management in the region to meet each other, learn from one another, and build connections that help further ecological, economical, and socially responsible forestry on lands that are protected in perpetuity. It’s important that land trusts know the foresters who are “putting the forest first” for ecological benefit in management. It’s also important that land trusts, ecological restoration practitioners, and foresters in the Driftless Region of Wisconsin have access to resources for responsible forestry, even on landscapes dominated (and surrounded) by other ecosystem types such as prairie or sedge meadow.
We will also walk a small portion of this site, as a case study from a very early vantage point in stewardship toward healthy natural communities. We’ll discuss what’s been done so far, what’s possible, what unique opportunities exist here for Guild-style forestry, and how to accomplish worthy goals. Come join this rich discussion! There are often many management options…let’s brainstorm the whats and whys together.
Key to planning at the Spring Valley Tract is community engagement. So, included is a bit about how stewardship can be supported by public involvement and how stewardship activities can help inspire an understanding and connection to land.

North Central Forest Pest Workshop
2022-09-12 15:00 - 2022-09-15 12:00 (America/New_York)
Register
September 12-15, 2022
Timberlake Lodge Hotel
144 SE 17th St.
Grand Rapids, MN 55744
SAF Continuing Forestry Education (CFE) credits are available for this meeting: Category 1 – 10.5 CFEs
Full event website
Preliminary Agenda
Lodging and location info
NCFPW 2022 will center around “Forest Health in a Changing Climate.” In addition to a field tour and state forest health reports, presentation topics will encompass climate change, oak wilt, eastern larch beetle, citizen science, and other important health concerns facing north central forests.

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.

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
