Forest Stewards Guild

Significant mortality of old trees across a dry forest landscape in Oregon
2025-08-27 15:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York)
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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.

Forest Management Tools for Songbird Conservation - Webinar
2025-09-30 12:00 - 13:30 (America/New_York)
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Tuesday, September 30, 2025
12:00 – 1:30 p.m. ET
Join the Forest Stewards Guild and partners for an in-depth look at practical tools and strategies for managing forests to support healthy songbird populations. This 90-minute session will introduce concepts like connectivity and occupancy mapping, demonstrate how these approaches can guide on-the-ground decisions, and highlight conservation programs that align with bird-friendly forestry goals. Presenters will cover operational logistics, from identifying sites and developing harvest plans to large-scale management planning and share real-world examples of successful projects. Participants will also explore hands-on management tools, including connectivity and occupancy mapping resources, a NRCS approved forest management plan template, and bird friendly silviculture guide.
This event has been approved for 1 Category 1 continuing education credit by SAF.
Agenda
12:00 – 12:10: Welcome, introductions, & housekeeping
12:10 – 12:20: Wildlands Network – What is connectivity? What is occupancy mapping?
12:20 – 12:35: AMJV – Using occupancy mapping and connectivity as a management tool + working with local foresters
12:35 – 12:50: NRCS – Available conservation programs, bird ecology, model program project example
12:50 – 1:15: Aurora – Operational logistics (site ID, harvest plan, selling timber), largescale management planning
1:15 – 1:25: Breakouts – Tools for Management:

Connectivity mapping and bird occupancy
Management Plan Template
Silviculture Guide

1:25 – 1:30: Closing remarks

Northern Forest Birds Network Conference 2025
2025-10-07 08:00 - 2025-10-08 16:00 (America/Chicago)
Register today
October 7, 8:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. at the Cloquet Forestry Center (CFC), 175 University Rd, Cloquet, MN 55720
October 8, 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. carpooling from CFC for the day at Sax-Zim Bog (limited to 40 people).
Draft agenda
Forests across the Midwest are facing unprecedented threats from a rapidly changing climate and increasing pest pressures. Simultaneously, experts are seeing steep decline in regional bird populations that could be linked to widespread habitat loss and degradation.
Join us on Tuesday, October 7th as local experts present innovative ways to create resilient and sustainable lowland conifer systems. We will also be taking a deep dive in Forestry for Minnesota Birds case examples followed by an interactive workshop. On Wednesday, October 8th we will take a tour of the world famous Sax-Zim Bog (limited to 40 attendees, secure your spot today)!
Registration details:
Registration is flexible for you to build what works for you! Lunch is available on both days if you select it in registration. It includes a small fee on top of the affordable registration rate. On-site lodging is also available for a fee at CFC on the nights of October 6th and/or 7th if you select it in registration.
Note: there will also be a virtual option for Tuesday’s portion of this event. Stay tuned…

Big trees burning: Divergent wildfire effects on large trees in open- vs. closed-canopy forests
2025-10-28 15:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York)
Register
October 28, 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

Dr. Garrett Meigs, Washington State Department of Natural Resources, will share new research on contemporary versus historical fire effects, specific impacts on large trees within closed versus open canopies, and the role of fuel reduction treatments. Focusing on the 2021 Schneider Springs Fire, which encompassed 113,689 acres in the eastern Cascade Range of Washington and burned during a period of severe drought, this study addresses three interrelated questions:

1) Are burn severity distributions consistent with historical fire regimes in dry, moist, and cold forest types?
2) How does burn severity vary among forest structure classes, particularly large trees with open versus closed canopies? 3) How do fuel reduction treatments influence forest structure and burn severity inside and outside of treated areas?

The results highlight the susceptibility of dense, late-successional forests to contemporary fires, even in events with widespread potentially beneficial effects consistent with historical fire regimes. The findings also illustrate the effectiveness of treatments that shift large-closed to large-open structures and suggest that treatments may help mitigate fire effects in adjacent large-closed forests. The full scientific paper is available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.70360

Longleaf Pine as a Source of Food, Medicine, and Craft for Tribal Nations of the Southeast
2025-11-05 13:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York)
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November 5, 2025
10:00 – 11:00 a.m. PT / 11:00 a.m. – Noon MT / Noon – 1:00 p.m. CT / 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. ET
CFE credits are pending
Join us for this ForestHer NC event! Nancy Strickland Chavis is a prominent figure in the field of Native American history and culture. She has dedicated her career to museum education and administration, with significant contributions to the Museum of Contemporary Native Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico, The National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., and The American Indian Cultural Center and Museum in Oklahoma City. Her current role is Director and Curator of The Museum of the Southeast American Indian at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. Nancy is a member of the Lumbee Tribe and has been involved in various educational and cultural initiatives, including the Ancestral Corn Reclamation Project and the Green Corn Ceremony. Her work continues to inspire and educate audiences about the rich heritage and history of Native American tribes.

Mesophytic Coves: Hope for Hemlocks
2025-11-14 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York)
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November 14, 2025
Noon – 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time
Webinar on zoom – a join link will be sent to you after registration
North Carolina’s hemlock trees need your help. We have two species of hemlock in North Carolina – the eastern and the Carolina. The invasive hemlock woolly adelgid threatens both.
Though hemlocks are declining, there is hope to bring them back to their previous glory. The mission of the Hemlock Restoration Initiative (HRI) is to work with a variety of partners and existing programs to restore hemlocks to long-term health throughout North Carolina and ensure that eastern and Carolina hemlocks can resist hemlock woolly adelgid and survive to maturity on North Carolina’s public and private lands.
Join Olivia from the HRI to learn about hemlock ecology, woolly adelgid biology, what is being done to help, and management strategies.

Influence of resources, Invasive Chinese Tallow, and environmental stress on bottomland forest species
2025-11-19 11:00 - 12:00 (America/New_York)
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November 19, 2025
11:00 a.m. – Noon ET
Presenter: Zhongqian Cheng
The survival and growth of bottomland tree species in floodplain ecosystems are largely driven by species-specific resource and environmental conditions, and invasive Chinese tallow presences. Unpredictable timing and duration of hydroperiods have introduced greater uncertainty in seedling survival and growth. Dr. Cheng will present findings from one field study and two controlled greenhouse studies on several bottomland forest seedlings. These studies examined the underground and aboveground conditions needed for seedling survival and the response of seedling height growth to the presence of Chinese tallow, shade, and flooding conditions. We will discuss the management implications for monitoring bottomland forest restoration and controlling invasive species.
Presenter Bio:
I am currently a postdoc research associate in Forest Ecology and Management at Stephen F. Austin State University. I hold a PhD in Ecology from Peking University, a master’s degree in Silviculture, and a bachelor’s degree in Forestry from Beijing Forestry University. In addition, I have worked or studied in Sweden, Finland, and Germany. My research interests focus on understanding forest dynamics and functions, and the role of silviculture practices in supporting sustainable forest management under changing climate and disturbance regimes.
This webinar is approved for 1 Category 1 continuing education credit through SAF.

This webinar is sponsored by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).

Webinar: Permanent retention of exceptional trees can improve ecosystem integrity in managed forests
2025-12-03 15:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York)
Register
December 3, 2025
12:00 – 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 us for a webinar with Drs. Stephen Sillett and Marie Antoine (Cal Poly Humboldt) as they share research on the contributions of exceptional trees—the most robust, fastest-growing individuals—to stand-level productivity and biomass in managed forests.
The discussion will highlight recent work conducted across 20 locations where exceptional trees were paired with nearby co-dominant trees. Trees were climbed and cored at multiple heights for growth history reconstruction. The same areas were scanned with airborne lidar, and new algorithms were developed for crown-level canopy segmentation. Lidar data were linked with direct measurements to allow precise estimates of landscape-level aboveground biomass.
Findings show that exceptional trees grow faster than typical trees and contribute disproportionately to forest biomass, yet are largely restricted to creek drainages protected by forest practice rules. If long-term carbon storage and forest resilience are management priorities, then silvicultural approaches to restore more large trees across the landscape should be considered. Permanent protection for a subset of robust, undamaged trees is a twist on retention forestry well-suited to all forests where tree longevity exceeds rotation ages used in timber extraction. Setting exceptional trees aside now offers a hopeful action for the future

Guild Members FSC General Assembly Update & Discussion
2025-12-05 14:15 - 15:15 (America/New_York)
Register (Limited to current Guild members)
December 5, 2025
2:15 – 3:15 p.m. ET
Join us for a Guild member–exclusive online event as we dive into insights from the Forest Stewardship Council’s (FSC) recent General Assembly (GA) held in Panama City from October 26–31.
Guest Speaker: Richard Donovan
Richard will share his firsthand experience and highlight the major takeaways from this important triennial gathering—one that plays a critical role in shaping the future of global forest certification processes.
Following the presentation, we’ll open the floor for a member discussion, offering space for conversation, questions, and shared reflections.

Tree Planting Best Practices in the Northeast - Webinar
2025-12-18 10:00 - 23:00 (America/New_York)
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December 18, 2025
10:00 a.m – 11:00 a.m. ET
Join this webinar where Guild member Dr. Tony D’Amato and Dr. Peter Clark from the University of Vermont will describe a new tree planting guide developed for foresters and natural resources professionals working in the Northeast: “Reforestation Guide: Tree Planting to Enrich, Restore, and Adapt Northern Forests.”
This webinar is jointly hosted by the Massachusetts Ecosystem Climate Adaptation Network Forests Work Group, the University of Vermont, The Nature Conservancy, and the Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science. This event has been pre-approved for SAF CFE credit.
