Forest Stewards Guild

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.

New Mexico Tribal Forest and Fire Summit
2024-01-30 07:30 - 2024-02-01 14:00 (America/Phoenix)
Register
January 30, 2024: 7:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (Mountain Time)
January 31, 2024: 7:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. with optional social mixer until 7:30 p.m. (MT)
February 1, 2024: 7:30 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. (MT)
Santa Ana Star Casino, 54 Jemez Canyon Dam Rd, Bernalillo, NM 87004
There are a limited number of rooms reserved for folks traveling from long-distances.
Agenda
Though the event is focused on New Mexico, you’ll find many of the topics are relevant across the Southwest.
Day 1: To equip tribal or tribal-affiliated natural resource managers and practitioners with an understanding of the burn planning process to work towards good and thorough surveying, burn plans, and implementation. Together we’ll learn about elements of prescribed fire planning, which parts of burn plans can be co-created, and BIA’s process for approving burn plans. We’ll share lessons learned from challenges and successes throughout.
Day 2: This workshop session will bring everyone together to share challenges, concerns and roadblocks that are affecting Tribal projects. We will break into small groups to discuss these obstacles and brainstorm ideas and solutions on how to overcome them. The expected outcome is to have a clearer idea on common challenges and obstacles affecting Tribal projects and how we can tackle these collectively.
Day 3: Field visits in Jemez Pueblo and Sandia Pueblo, New Mexico.
This event is sponsored by the Forest Stewards Guild, New Mexico Forestry Division, The Nature Conservancy, and Trees, Water & People.

Rooted in Research: Adapting to Extreme Weather Wild Cards - Ice Storms
2024-01-31 10:30 - 11:30 (America/New_York)
Register for this or entire series
Ice Storms in the Northeast – Lindsey Rustad (NRS, USDA Northeast Climate Hub) and Lloyd Irland (The Irland Group)
January 31, 2024
10:30-11:30 a.m. Eastern Time
Approved for 1 CFE credit through the Society of American Foresters and The Wildlife Society.
Full series summary:
Join the USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station, USDA Northeast and Northern Forests Climate Hubs, and the Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science (NIACS) for this webinar series.
Between floods, severe storms, and wildfires, nearly everyone in North America has recently experienced an extreme weather event firsthand. Extreme events will become more commonplace as the climate continues to change. These events pose new challenges for forestry and natural resource management that may require new, adaptive ways of thinking to address them.
An introductory presentation on “Wild Cards” in natural resource planning and NIACS’s Adaptation Workbook will set the stage for this mini-series and provide context for the following sessions. Thereafter, we will explore three different types of extreme weather events, showcasing the latest research on these topics and discussing relevant management implications.

Prescribed Fire as a Restoration Tool for Savanna Communities: Rx Fire for Forest Management ​Series
2024-02-07 08:30 - 10:00 (America/Chicago)
Registration and full series information
February 7, 2024
8:30 – 10 a.m. Central Time
Online via Zoom
Join Jeb Barzen and Brendan Woodall as they discuss ​Restoring Savanna Communities in Wisconsin with Rx Fire at Ecologically Meaningful Scales
Jeb Barzen will focus on addressing the potential for restoring savanna communities in Wisconsin at ecologically meaningful scales through use of prescribed fire and through expanding social tools such as carbon credits or environmental labels. Most vegetative communities in Wisconsin, including a variety of savanna communities, are fire-dependent and the Wisconsin landscape is approximately 85% privately owned. A 10-fold increase in the implementation of prescribed fire is needed and our current capacity to implement those fires is limited by the number of trained people to burn safely and the incentives necessary to allow private landowners to deploy Rx fire sustainably over decades and across broad landscapes to achieve ecologically significant impacts. ​ ​​ ​​
Brendan Woodall will dive into the details on what he does as a Private Lands Biologist through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and discuss how fire is used as a restoration and management tool in savanna communities on private land. There are many barriers and limitations to actually being able to get fire on the ground safely, such as socially, financially, and logistically.
This webinar is part of the Wisconsin Forestry Center’s free webinar series that explores several facets of prescribed fire related to forests and forest management. They invited speakers to provide their perspectives and offer advice on how to advance prescribed fire as a forest management tool.

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.

Mycorrhizal Fungi in Northeastern Forests webinar
2024-02-21 13:00 - 14:15 (America/New_York)
Register
February 21, 2024
1:00 pm – 2:15 p.m. Eastern Time
This event is hosted by University of Vermont Extension Forestry and is approved for 1.0 CFE credit through SAF.
Are you curious about the role of mycorrhizal fungi in forest ecosystems or want to know how mycorrhizal fungi could interact with silviculture? In this webinar, we will outline the foundations of the mycorrhizal-plant symbiosis and explore how mycorrhizal fungi affect forest diversity, regeneration, and soil functions. Lastly, we’ll showcase the current silviculture-related work from northeastern forests to set the stage of where we are in our understanding and which questions are left to answer.
About the speakers:
Dr. Amelia Fitch earned a PhD in 2023 from Dartmouth College in the Hicks Pries Lab where she studied mycorrhizal fungi in Northeastern forests. She earned her MS from the University of Cambridge studying boreal lake sediments, and BS from the University of Oregon studying tidal wetlands. Amelia is currently working at Oregon State University studying how silviculture can help working forests mimic traits of old growth forests that buffer the effects of climate change.
Eva Legge is a first year MS student at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY ESF). Her research in Dr. Andrew Vander Yacht’s Applied Forest and Fire Ecology Lab and Dr. Christopher Fernandez’ Mycorrhizal Ecology Lab investigates how seedling-mycorrhizal symbioses are affected by different forest management practices, from prescribed fire to timber harvest. Eva earned a BA in Biology in 2023 from Dartmouth College, where she studied mycorrhizal-mediated forest management as a member of Dr. Caitlin Hicks Pries’ Soil Ecology Lab. Eva is an avid science communicator, a practice which was inspired by her science writer grandfather. She believes good communication is necessary for any scientific practice that strives to be wide-reaching and inclusive.
To request a disability-related accommodation to participate in this program, please call or email Ali Kosiba at 802-656-7631 or akosiba@uvm.edu by 2/6/24 so we may assist you. For more information on the event in general, contact Dr. Ali Kosiba (akosiba@uvm.edu).

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.

Communicating Forestry - Every Picture Tells A Story, Don't It?
2024-02-27 19:00 - 20:30 (America/New_York)
Register
February 27, 2024
7:00 – 8:30 p.m. ET
Zoom webinar (join information will be provided after registration)
Webinar goals and objectives
Approved for 1.5 Category 1 Continuing Forester Education Credits by SAF.
This is part of our Communicating Forestry webinar series, led by Guild members. This one will be led by Roger Merchant.
Forest Photography is an effective medium for informing and conveying interpretive messages about our changing forests. Understanding how to photograph, frame and cut through the visual chaos inherent in many forests, requires an opening up of the visual and intellectual senses, heart and mind – important keys to creating human receptivity and connectivity to information and ideas about forests and forestry. As the classic rock n’ roll artist Rod Stewart from Scotland sang of this, “every picture tells a story, don’t it?

2024 Yankee SAF Annual Meeting
2024-03-01 09:30 - 14:45 (America/New_York)
Register
March 1, 2024
9:30 a.m. – 2:45 p.m. Eastern Time
The Publick House, Paige Hall
277 Main Street
Sturbridge, MA 01566
Event flyer and agenda for download
The 2024 Yankee Annual Meeting, includes a gourmet hot buffet lunch. The program will feature presentations on Massachusetts’s Forests as Climate Solutions Initiative, NRCS opportunities to advance implementation of climate-smart practices, and resiliency and equity in urban forestry.

Maine Forest Climate Change Webinar & Field Tour Series: Pests & Pathogens
2024-03-06 12:00 - 2024-03-08 13:30 (America/New_York)
This topic session has moved from it’s original May dates.
Full series website
March 6, 2024
12:00 – 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time
Register for this webinar or entire series
Restoration and sustainable forestry at GPMCT with Roger Greene, forest consultant to GPMCT. Beech management, forest defoliators, and disease threats with University of Maine Angela Mech and state entomologist Aaron Bergdahl.
March 8, 2024
9:00 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Great Pond Mountain Conservation Trust, East Orland.
Register for this field tour
5,000 acres of mountains, woods, and water managed for wildlife habitat, sustainable forestry, and community trails. 2023 Maine Outstanding Tree Farmer Award.
Full Series Summary:
Science and Practice: Addressing Forest Climate Change in Maine
An Interactive Webinar Series for Stakeholders and the Interested Public
Join us as we dig into forest health concerns due to climate impacts at new sites around the state. Our panelists will address management & restoration efforts, relevance of long-term research, fire as a tool, biohabitat concerns, forest health threats, and unique adaptation strategies at each site.
Noontime webinars are free (registration required). $25 field tour registration includes lunch, snacks, and van transport. Each tour has limited space.

Webinar Series: Climate-Smart Silviculture
2024-03-18 08:00 - 2024-03-20 09:30 (America/New_York)
Learn more and register for one or both remaining in the series
Dates and topics are listed below.
While climate-smart forestry is a hot topic in forestry today, there are many questions about what practicing climate-smart silviculture looks like. In this webinar series, participants will hear from some of the leading silviculturists, ecologists, and foresters – including two Guild members – about how we can adapt silviculture, manage for old-growth a with novel threats, and balance carbon, forest health, wildlife habitat, and other important goals. Each topic will be covered in-depth by one of the experts in a presentation, and the series will be capped off with a panel where the presenters take questions from participants. All webinars will be recorded and can be viewed for free. This webinar series is presented by the Forest Owners Climate and Carbon Education program.

March 11 at 8 am: “Adapting Silviculture to a Changing World” presented by Guild member Maria Janowiak, Acting Director of the USDA Northern Forests Climate Hub and NIACS.

March 13 at 8 am: “Managing for Old-Growth with Novel Threats” presented by Paul Catanzaro, Professor and State Extension Forester at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

March 18 at 8 am: “Having it All: Balancing carbon, forest health, and other goals” Presented by Guild member Anthony D’Amato, Professor, Director of Forestry Program, and the Director of Research Forests at the University of Vermont.

March 20 at 8 am: “Climate-smart Silviculture: A panel discussion”

Advancing Equitable Approaches to Climate Adaptation
2024-03-19 09:00 - 10:00 (America/New_York)
March 19, 2024
9:00 a.m. EST
University of Vermont, Aiken Center 103
Virtual via teams
Preapproved for 1 continuing forestry education credit (1.0 category)
Join Rachel H. Swanwick for her Master’s Thesis Defense titled Advancing Equitable Approaches to Climate Adaptation: Exploring Barriers, Opportunities and Cross-Cultural Socio-Environmental Collaborations for Forest Stewardship across Tribal Nations and State Agencies in Maine, USA. On Rachel’s committee is Guild member Tony D’Amato and collaborators include Guild member Tyler Everett.
Abstract: Increasingly, the socio-environmental challenges confronting forest systems such as climate change, invasive plant species, insects, and pathogens will demand that forest stewards leverage their adaptive potential across spatial and temporal scales. However, adaptation is not occurring evenly across regions, resulting in adaptation gaps. These gaps are projected to have greater impacts on vulnerable populations, such as Indigenous Nations, whose cultures and rights to self-determination are tied to the landscape. Despite this vulnerability, multifaceted relationships between Indigenous peoples and their homelands, informed their inherent adaptability to environmental change. This has led to a growing recognition that Indigenous knowledge systems hold critical insights for adaptation planning and implementation. To advance equitable adaptive actions, this thesis explores how forest stewards from state agencies and Tribal Nations in present-day Maine, in the Northeastern U.S., perceive their adaptive capacity, and potential for collaboration to enhance knowledge exchange and reduce the adaption gap. To explore these questions, we conducted interviews with 22 forest stewards across state agencies (n=12) and Wabanaki Tribal Nations (n=10). Barriers and opportunities for climate adaptation were organized into three themes i) resource availability, ii) operational capacity and iii) decision making practices. Cross-cultural collaboration was identified as a primary opportunity to enable knowledge exchange and reduce maladaptation. However, challenges related to socio-political tensions, institutional incongruities, and finite capacity limited cooperation. Final study results suggest that adaptive capacity is strengthened by recognizing the sovereignty of Indigenous Nations and co-creating flexible institutions that enable cross-cultural collaborations to sustain forest stewardship.

Monetization of Ecosystem Services in Forestry - Duke Symposium
2024-03-23 08:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York)
Register (by March 15 at 5 p.m.)
Saturday, March 23, 2024
9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time (refreshments and check in start at 8 a.m.)
Virtual or in-person attendance options are available
In person sessions will be held at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment, with lunch provided.
SAF CFE credits are available.
Full schedule can be viewed online

Tree Identification in Vermont
2024-03-26 17:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York)
Register
March 26, 2024
5:00 – 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time
Champlain Valley Union High School, room 124
369 C V U Road, Hinesburg, VT
Many people rely on leaves to identify a tree, making tree identification during “stick season” a daunting task. Join Chittenden County Forester and Guild member Ethan Tapper for a one-night course in learning to identify Vermont’s most common trees and shrubs by looking at their bark, buds, and other clues.
This course will use primarily outdoor instruction to teach participants to identify some of the most common trees in Vermont’s forests.
This class will meet inside CVU to start and then move outside. Please dress appropriately for the weather, as the class will take place outside CVU and may involve walking over some muddy and uneven ground. This class will meet rain or shine.

Guild Gathering (dinner) concurrent with New England SAF meeting
2024-03-28 18:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York)
RSVP link ($20 covers event costs)
Thursday, March 28, 2024
6:00 p.m. ET
Halvorson’s Upstreet Cafe, 16 Church St., Burlington, VT.
We know that many Guild members will be attending the New England SAF meeting in Burlington. Based on interest in a recent poll of members, we have reserved the Barn Bar space at Halvorson’s and ordered up some tasty appetizers: wings, sliders, flatbread pizzas, mac & cheese, and garden salad.
We are asking for a $20 contribution to help cover these costs. Drinks and full dinner are on your own. You can pay the Guild online or bring your payment with you to Halvorson’s on the 28th (cash or check).
We are so excited to see you there. A Guild Gathering is always a highlight of any week!

University of Alabama Student Chapter Guild Gathering
2024-03-30 08:30 - 16:30 (America/Chicago)
Cahaba River NWR. Photo By/Credit: Amelia Plemons/USFWS
Register
Date: March 30, 2024
Backup date in case of inclement weather: April 6, 2024
8:30 am – 4:30 pm CT
We will paddle from the Cahaba River National Wildlife Refuge to Pratt’s Ferry. We will focus on the effects of forestry practices on the environmental health of the Cahaba River.
This trip is around 5.5 miles. Starting in the Refuge, we will see the flattened, foliated rocky shoals, the habitat of the Cahaba lily, Hymenocalis coronaria. We will also sample for fishes and aquatic macroinvertebrates here in the shoals. Assessing the biota in the river gives an indication of the health of the system. There are species which are intolerant to changes in the water chemistry which will die off with increased pollutant loads or habitat loss. We will look for these indicator species as well as intermittently testing the chemical composition of the water and discussing how land use, even miles away from the riverbanks, affects life in one of the most biodiverse rivers in the nation.
Contact Dakota Wagner with questions.
Accessibility: We will canoe a beginner-friendly route. Boats and gear are provided with the cost of registration.

Beyond the “Illusion of Preservation”
2024-04-17 12:00 - 13:30 (America/New_York)
Register
April 17, 2024
12:00 – 1:30 p.m. ET
This webinar will host a panel discussion of the new report Beyond the “Illusion of Preservation” with three of the seven authors (two are also Guild members). The report addresses the imbalance of wood production and wood consumption in New England and encourages taking regional responsibility by protecting forests, reducing consumption, and expanding ecological forestry in New England. We will review the report content and the imperative laid out for the future of New England’s forests. The discussion will explore the authors’ proposed three-step approach to improving the balance so that we can sustainably produce the wood to meet the region’s needs.
Building the New Forest Future is a webinar series by the Northern Forest Center that amplifies stories, practices, and lessons from community development, sustainable tourism, and rural economy in the Northern Forest. It features communities and organizations that have demonstrated innovation and progress in critical sectors.

Maine Climate Resilient Forest Management Workshops – Eastern
2024-05-01 09:00 - 2024-05-02 16:30 (America/New_York)
Register (by April 19, 2024)
(Note: We ask each team to bring a real-world project to set context for discussions and activities. This workshop is designed to help you customize a site-specific climate adaptation plan that complements existing management and conservation efforts. There are worksheets to submit with registration. Please see more instructions at the “Full workshop information” link below.)
May 1 – 2, 2024
Eastern Maine workshop
Viles Arboretum, 153 Hospital St., Augusta, ME
Draft workshop agenda
Full workshop information
Summary: As our climate shifts, land trusts and conservation organizations stewarding Maine forests are focusing on ways to successfully respond to those changes. To help inform these efforts, the Forest Stewards Guild along with NIACS and the USDA Northern Forests Climate Hub are co-hosting two workshops for land trusts and conservation professionals in Maine. During the two-day workshops, teams of participants will use the Adaptation Workbook to incorporate climate change considerations into their stewardship planning and identify actions for adaptation in their own real-world forest management/stewardship projects. Workshops will also explore the intersection of climate change adaptation and Tribal needs in Maine forests and ways land trusts and conservation landowners can support the Tribes of Maine.

Bird-Friendly Forestry in West Virginia – Landowners Workshop
2024-05-03 09:00 - 12:30 (America/New_York)
Golden-winged Warbler male. Photo by Kyle Aldinger, NRCS.
Register (no charge)
May 3, 2024
9:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Near Beckley, WV (exact location provided after registration)
This event is intended for private forest landowners.
Accessibility: We will be walking on uneven ground in the woods.
Join the Forest Stewards Guild, Aurora Sustainable Lands, Appalachian Mountains Joint Venture, West Virginia Department of Natural Resources, Wildlands Network, and West Virginia NRCS to learn about forestry for birds in West Virginia.
We will learn about:

The concepts of bird-friendly forestry
How to look at a forest through the eyes of a bird
How to find a forester
Bird identification tips and tricks

Participation gets you a hard copy of the newly published Bird Friendly Forest Management Silviculture Guide!
Agenda:
8:30 am – Check In
9:00 am – Welcome
9:30 am – Walking Tour
12:30 pm – Wrap Up
Contact Dakota AT forestguild.org with questions.

Southern Michigan Prescribed Fire Training Exchange (TREX)
2024-05-06 08:00 - 2024-05-15 17:00 (America/Chicago)
Apply by end of the day January 30, 2024
May 6 – 15, 2024
Fort Custer, MI
Full information can be found in the Training Announcement
This TREX will provide prescribed fire training opportunities to local and regional fire practitioners while supporting management of natural resources on state, federal, and private lands.
Target Group: Prescribed fire and wildfire personnel, including Department of Defense, National Guard, federal, state, tribal, and non-governmental agencies, private practitioners and university faculty and students.
Registration Fee: The fee is $350 for non-DOD participants. DoD participants’ fees are paid for by the Michigan Army National Guard. The fee for university students is $100. Waivers may be available for participants who bring equipment (e.g. engines, UTVs, etc.). A limited number of scholarships may be available for participants.

Bird Communities of the San Juan Mountains of Colorado: A Citizen Science Project
2024-05-07 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Denver)
Bluebird on a branch has caught an insect dinner
Register
Tuesday, May 7, 2024
12:00 – 1:00 p.m. MT/1:00 – 2:00 p.m. CT
This webinar is one in a two-part series. See the full event flyer for details.
Over the past 5 years, community volunteers from the Weminuche Audubon Society have conducted a study of bird communities in Ponderosa Pine-dominated forested sites that received wildland fuels reduction treatments. This webinar from the Forest Stewards Guild dives into the effects of these treatments, specifically prescribed fire or shrub-layer thinning, on the composition of bird communities in the southern Rocky Mountains, showing that tree canopy and shrub-layer composition and structure have important influences on the number of bird species present and the predominate feeding and nesting behaviors of the avian community.

For the Love of Trees: Orion bi-annual awards gala
2024-05-07 18:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York)
Register
May 7, 2024
6:00 p.m. Eastern Time
Online
Full event website
Event will feature:

Robin Wall Kimmerer, receiving the Orion Jane Goodall Award for Inspiring Courage in Action
Maria Popova
Richard Powers, receiving the Orion Barry Lopez Award for Achievements in Letters and Environments
Ed Yong
And many others….with their favorite trees!

Forestry for the Birds in Michigan and Minnesota - webinar
2024-05-09 10:00 - 11:00 (America/Chicago)
Register
May 9, 2024
10 – 11 a.m. Central Time
The Northern Forest Birds Network presents Michael Paling (Michigan Forester with American Bird Conservancy) and Christian Nelson (Lakes States Coordinator with Forest Stewards Guild) who will give an overview of Forestry for the Birds in Michigan and Minnesota! Forestry for Birds initiatives are built on partnerships among landowners, academics, foresters, non-profit agencies, and government agencies. We are excited to hear their updates and provide a platform for further discussion.

Wildlife Field Day featuring Forestry for the Birds
2024-05-11 10:30 - 12:30 (America/Denver)
Register ($5)
May 11, 2024
8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Pacific Time
Hopkins Demonstration Forest
16750 S Brockway Road, Oregon City, OR
Join OSU Extension and the Forest Stewards Guild for a discussion and forest tour featuring the Forest Stewards Guild’s Forestry for the Birds: Western Oregon Guide. The Guide was developed to assist woodland caretakers including landowners, loggers, foresters, natural resource managers, or practitioners, to identify, assess, and support a healthy forest with birds in mind. We will review the guide while walking through various habitats and forest stages. Learn more about the birds within the Guide, bird habitat preferences, and forest structure and variability that make appealing habitat for different bird species.
Bring your stories, curiosity, and binoculars if you have them. We will have coffee and snacks for the early birds!

Bird Population Trends and Climate Effects in Southwestern National Parks - webinar
2024-05-14 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Denver)
Rainbow over Southwestern National Forest mountain range.
Full event title: Bird Population Trends and Climate Effects on Breeding-Season Densities Across an Elevational Habitat Gradient in Southwestern National Parks
Register
Tuesday, May 14, 2024
11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. PT / 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. MT / 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. CT
This webinar is part of a 2-session series. Full details are in this flyer for download.
Climate change is considered a major driver of recent avian population declines, particularly in the drought-stricken southwestern United States. Predicting how bird populations will respond requires understanding the climatic drivers influencing population density across the region’s diverse habitats. In this webinar from the Forest Stewards Guild, Harrison Jones of The Institute for Bird Populations discusses his research modeling breeding-season densities of 50 bird species in relation to spring and summer drought and the timing of North American monsoon rainfall.

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!

Stewardship opportunities: Becoming an NRCS Technical Service Provider
2024-05-30 13:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York)
Register
Thursday, May 30, 2024
1:00 p.m. ET
Peter Hoagland- Northeast Regional TSP Coordinator, USDA-NRCS
In this webinar foresters and other natural resources professionals will learn about the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Technical Service Provider (TSP) Program. Technical Service Providers (TSPs) work on behalf of private landowners and land-managers to offer conservation planning and project implementation support services that meet the criteria of USDA NRCS programs. TSPs are certified by NRCS through a formal training process to develop planning and practice design documents, such as Forest Management Plans, to help eligible customers assess the current condition of their lands and to recommend conservation practices that meet NRCS standards and specifications.

A Forest of Your Own: The Pacific Northwest Handbook of Ecological Forestry
2024-06-03 19:00 - 20:00 (America/Denver)
Full presentation details
June 3, 2024
7:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Location: Northwest Nature Shop, 154 Oak Street, Ashland, OR 97520
Seth Zukerman, co-author of A Forest of Your Own: The Pacific Northwest Handbook of Ecological Forestry, will discuss forest management and ecological forestry. From those who own forested property already to those who dream of someday having a forest to call their own and everyone in between, this presentation will explore how to “read” a forest, sustainable management, wildfire risk reduction, climate change adaptation, ways to enhance wildlife habitat, and watershed protection.
As a journalist, Seth Zuckerman reported extensively on forests, salmon, and the human communities that depend on them. He is the executive director of the Northwest Natural Resource Group and author of several books, including Saving Our Ancient Forests and Salmon Nation.
The presentation is at Northwest Nature Shop. Seating is limited so arrive early to secure a seat. There is no charge for this event.

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.

Learning to Identify Appalachian Cove Forests
2024-06-12 12:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York)
Register
June 12, 2024
12:00 – 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time
Meeting at Standing Rock Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway. We will walk a segment of the Mountains to Sea trail near Waynesville, NC
We invite forest practitioners and others interested in forest management to a workshop about Appalachian Cove Forests with MountainTrue. This workshop is field-based and primarily focused on how to identify cove forests. We will also touch on ecological forest management and operations in cove forest sites. The workshop will be a “Walk & Talk”-style and include a 1.5-mile hike held at a segment of the Mountains to Sea trail near Waynesville, NC.
Agenda
12:00 Check in
12:15 Welcome and Introductions
12:30 Hike

What is a cove forest?
How to manage invasive species in coves
Tree and understory plant identification
Forest operations
The importance of best management practices for water quality

3:30 Return to Overlook
4:00 End of Workshop
Contact Dakota Wagner with questions: dakota AT forestguild.org
