Forest Stewards Guild

Forest Ecology and Management Webinar Series event
2021-02-16 13:00 - 14:00 (America/Halifax)
Register
February 16, 2021
1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. ET
Event flyer for download
Title: New Applications for Terrestrial LiDAR Systems, Monitoring Forests, Fuels and Ecosystem Health
Presenters: J. Kevin Hiers and Scott Pokswinski of Tall Timbers Research Station in Tallahassee, Florida.
Summary:
Traditional forestry, ecological, and fuels monitoring methods are costly, error-prone and are rarely analyzed. The application of Terrestrial LIDAR System (TLS) units to monitoring methods can help standardize data collection resulting in improved efficiency, reduced error, and datasets that can easily be analyzed to better inform management decisions.

Canada Forest Pest Management Forum
2021-02-16 13:00 - 2021-02-17 17:00 (America/Halifax)
Register (free with deadline of February 12, 2021 at noon ET)
February 16 & 17, 2021
1:00 – 5:00 p.m. ET
Draft agenda
Organized by Natural Resources Canada in support of the National Forest Pest Strategy, the Forum is the largest and most significant gathering of forest pest management experts, managers and practitioners in Canada. The objectives are to share information on current and future pest conditions, pest control operations, environmental issues and the development of alternatives to chemical insecticides, as well as to discuss new technology and the latest research findings.

Timber Management and Prescribed Fire - Fueling Collaboration Panel Discussion Series #4
2021-02-18 12:00 - 13:30 (America/Halifax)
Register (for one or more in the series)
February 18, 2021 – Timber Management and Prescribed Fire
Noon – 1:30 p.m. ET
This discussion has been approved for 1.5 Category 1 CEU’s by the Society of American Foresters.
How can we best use fire in sites with timber management objectives? Our panel will discuss their work and your questions on this topic. Check back here for updates, resources, and eventually the recording of this discussion.
This series of interactive panel discussions is designed to encourage collaboration between fire managers and researchers. The series will be built on questions from the registered attendees. Join us for a chance to get the latest in fire science and management and answers to your burning questions.

Woods to Home. #2 in the Local Wood: Grow, Build, Live webinar series
2021-02-24 14:00 - 15:30 (America/Halifax)
Register
February 24, 2021
2:00 – 3:30 p.m. ET
Learn about the process of building a home with locally harvested lumber and the benefits of using local wood products.
Join us for a session on building a home with locally sourced wood products, featuring discussions with Massachusetts Woodlands Institute (MWI) Board Chair Brian Donahue, MWI Board Member David Bowman, and Nicole St. Clair Knobloch, Principal at Oliphant, a firm focused on mitigating climate change and protecting biodiversity, in part by encouraging the use of climate-friendly, renewable building materials.
Wood is a strong, durable, carbon-sequestering product that comes from our local forested lands. Producing this abundant, renewable resource can benefit woodland landowners, wildlife, and our local economy. Participants will hear about the process and journey of building a timber-framed home with locally harvested lumber, the benefits of using local wood products, and then how new technology in cross-laminated timber construction is changing and expanding the way we think of building with wood. The discussion will also explore the ripple effect of good forest management and how we can create resilient forests, a strong forest-based economy, and long-lasting homes and buildings made from local wood products.
About the full webinar series:
Massachusetts Woodlands Institute, New England Forestry Foundation and Northern Woodlands present the Local Wood: Grow, Build, Live webinar series. Join us as we explore examples of how to grow, build, and live with beautiful and sustainable local wood products at different scales—from furniture to homes to institutional buildings. We will hear from presenters about their experiences working with local and regional wood, what role the material and forestry can play in a sustainable economy, and new technologies and applications for wood products that can help mitigate global climate change and spur innovation.
Three 90-minute webinars will explore these themes through conversations between the presenters and staff leaders at Massachusetts Woodlands Institute and NEFF. We hope you will join us in these engaging discussions on the beauty and benefits of this local resource for communities across Massachusetts and New England.

Working Lands for Wildlife webinar
2021-02-25 10:00 - 13:30 (America/Halifax)
Register
February 25, 2021
10:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. ET
Event flyer and agenda for download
This webinar has been approved for 2.5 Category 1 CEU’s by the Society of American Foresters.
This free webinar hosted by Ruffed Grouse Society & American Woodcock Society and the NRCS Working Lands for Wildlife program will educate landowners and natural resource professionals on working lands conservation programs intended to benefit wildlife species and promote forest diversity.
The event will start with an overview of historical natural disturbances to forests in the Central Hardwood Region of the US. We will look more closely at current research examining breeding bird responses to natural and silvicultural disturbances, as well as how management can be applied through federal programs on private lands.

Forest Ecology and Management Webinar Series
2021-03-02 13:00 - 14:00 (America/Halifax)
Register (free but required in advance)
March 2, 2021
1:00 – 2:00 p.m. ET
Event flyer for download
Title: Assessing Future Changes in Fire Risk in the Northeastern United States using the Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KBDI)
Presenter: Daniel Miller – Hydrologist, Division of Natural Resources and Conservation Planning, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Northeast Region
Summary: The webinar will focus on one poorly understood consequence of climate change, its effects on extreme events such as wildfires. Robust associations between wildfire frequency and climatic variability have been shown to exist, indicating that future climate change may continue to have a significant effect on wildfire activity. The Northeastern United States (NEUS) has experienced severe, catastrophic historic wildfire outbreaks, such as the Miramichi Fire of 1825 and the Maine fires of 1947. However, little is known about how the direct effects of climate change (temperature & precipitation) will impact fire risk in the NEUS under future climate scenarios.

Managing Invasive Plants in Your Forest
2021-03-02 18:30 - 20:00 (America/Halifax)
Register
Tuesday, March 2, 2021
6:30 – 8:00 p.m. ET
Whether you own a large woodlot or just a small yard, you have probably struggled with invasive exotic plants. On a small scale, these resilient plants are a nuisance. On a larger scale, they are a major threat to ecosystems and biodiversity across Vermont’s landscape, and across the globe.
In Vermont invasive plants are an existential threat to the health of our forests and other ecosystems, and the wildlife that depend on them. They also diminish the capacity of forests to perform many other important functions, cleaning our air and our water, sequestering carbon and providing habitat for our pollinators, in addition to many more.
If you have ever faced-off with invasive exotic plants, you know that they spread like wildfire and are extremely difficult to control. Join Ethan Tapper, the Chittenden County Forester, for a virtual discussion of the threats posed by woody invasive plants, how to identify them, and options for treatment. Please bring your thoughts and questions about invasive exotic plants and how to deal with them.

Trees to Tap: Forest Management and Drinking Water Virtual Conference
2021-03-11 13:00 - 2021-03-12 12:30 UTC
Register
March 11, 2021 (1:00 – 5:15 p.m. PT) & March 12, 2021 (8:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. PT) via Zoom
In this virtual conference, experts will share key findings from the recent Trees to Tap Science Review, and connect research findings with management actions for the future of Oregon’s drinking water. Participants will engage with project scientists, forestry and water professionals, regulators, and conservationists through presentations and breakout discussions. This event is free but registration is required. CEUs available.
For more information please visit the event website.
Sponsored by OSU College of Forestry, Institute for Natural Resources, Oregon Association of Water Utilities, and Oregon Forest Resources Institute.

Annual St. Croix Forestry Conference
2021-03-12 08:30 - 15:00 (America/New_York)
Register ($40)
March 12, 2021
8:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. CT
Agenda and flyer for download
This year, the annual St. Croix Forestry Conference will be held virtually. 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. CFE credits are available.
Expert speakers for the conference are from state, academia, private, and non-profit organizations. Presentations this year include:

Climate Change and Ecosystems
Forest Pollinators
Impacts of EAB on Wildlife
Jumping Worms in Minnesota: What to Know about these Emerging Species

Forest to Cities. #3 in Local Wood: Grow, Build, Live webinar series
2021-03-17 14:00 - 15:30 (America/Halifax)
Register
March 17, 2021
2:00 – 3:30 p.m. ET
Learn how engineered wood products allow us to build bigger with wood, and how this new technology is an effective alternative to carbon-intensive concrete and steel construction.
learn how engineered wood products, also known as mass timber, allow us to build bigger with wood, as an alternative to carbon-intensive concrete and steel construction. This webinar will highlight a flagship mass timber building in Massachusetts—the John W. Olver Design Building at UMass Amherst. With Dr. Peggi Clouston, Professor of Wood Mechanics and Timber Engineering in the Building and Construction Technology program, as our featured speaker, we will hear about the innovative design and construction of the building, how it functions as a space of education and inspiration for the next generation of builders, and new research on the types of local tree species that can be used for mass timber.
Together with New England Forestry Foundation Chief Operating Officer Frank Lowenstein, we will then turn to where the raw material for mass timber is typically sourced and the potential for big climate change mitigation benefits when it is generated from Exemplary Forestry practices that are designed to store more carbon in the woods, while continuing to produce renewable wood products.
About the full webinar series:
Massachusetts Woodlands Institute, New England Forestry Foundation and Northern Woodlands present the Local Wood: Grow, Build, Live webinar series. Join us as we explore examples of how to grow, build, and live with beautiful and sustainable local wood products at different scales—from furniture to homes to institutional buildings. We will hear from presenters about their experiences working with local and regional wood, what role the material and forestry can play in a sustainable economy, and new technologies and applications for wood products that can help mitigate global climate change and spur innovation.
Three 90-minute webinars will explore these themes through conversations between the presenters and staff leaders at Massachusetts Woodlands Institute and NEFF. We hope you will join us in these engaging discussions on the beauty and benefits of this local resource for communities across Massachusetts and New England.

Northeast Virtual Guild Gathering
2021-03-25 16:00 - 17:00 (America/Halifax)
Register
March 25, 2021
4:00 – 5:00 p.m. ET
The Forest Stewards Guild’s Northeast Office is hosting a Virtual Guild Gathering for Northeast Guild members. During the meeting, you’ll meet the Northeast Region Coordinator, Logan Johnson, and hear about the active projects the Guild has underway in the region. We will also connect you with fellow Guild members in breakout room Introduction Circles (a Guild member favorite when we have in-person activities). We’ll close the session by discussing how the Northeast office can support Guild members in the Northeast for 2021 and beyond. If you have questions, please direct them to logan@forestguild.org.
Agenda (60 Minutes)

Welcome (5 Minutes)
2021 Guild Project and Activities in the Northeast (20 Minutes)
Break Out Room Introduction Circles (20 Minutes)
How can the Guild’s Northeast Office support Northeast Guild Members? (10 Minutes)
Wrap up (5 Minutes)

Northwest Innovative Forestry Summit (NIFS)
2021-03-30 16:00 - 2021-04-01 18:00 (America/Denver)
Registration is closed $20, or free for students.
If you have registered, but have not received an email with a welcome and the event’s join instructions, please email colleen@forestguild.org right away.
March 30 – April 1
4:00 – 6:00 p.m. PT (each day)
Agenda
Focus: This Summit is a venue for regional learning, exchange, and ongoing cooperation to implement ecological forest management strategies. The Summit’s programs will focus on sustainable, forest-related innovation – past, present, and future.
Purpose: The Pacific Northwest region benefits from a long, deep, and often underappreciated history of experimentation and innovation in its forest sector. Current challenges call us to better understand both current and past examples of forestry innovation, and to chart a course for improving sustainable forest management through partnerships and problem solving.
Logistics: This first NIFS will take place virtually March 30-April 1, 2021. Each day will include a series of themed presentations and discussions from 4:00 – 6:00 pm for partners to share their approaches to modern ecological forestry. The event will start by featuring stories of innovation from around the region, highlighting the successes, challenges, and opportunities that land managers and other forestry and natural resources professionals are engaged in across Oregon and Washington. All members of the forestry and affiliated communities are invited to contribute to the Summit by sharing their experience and questions.
Action: Please register early. If you’re interested in getting more involved, please contact membership@forestguild.org.
Organizers: The Forest Stewards Guild, Northwest Natural Resource Group, Oregon State University, and University of Washington.

Building effective partnerships with indigenous communities
2021-04-01 10:00 - 11:00 (America/Denver)
Register
April 1, 2021
10:00 a.m. PT
The webinar will outline recommendations for working with Indigenous communities based on the knowledge that long term relationship building with these communities is the foundation upon which educational programs, research collaborations, and other initiatives must be co-created. This presentation seeks to define best practices in approach and process for establishing and maintaining effective collaborations with Indigenous communities that respect sovereignty and self-determination and which have application across many types of efforts. These practices will have a lasting impact on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at universities, professional societies, educational organizations, and agencies, on the STEM workforce broadly, and for Indigenous youth and communities toward realization of their dreams and aspirations.
Speaker: James Rattling Leaf, Sr. has over 25 years’ working with the US Federal Government, Higher Education Institutions and Non-Profits to develop and maintain effective working relationships with federally and non-federally recognized American Indian tribes, Tribal College and Universities and Tribal Communities.

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.

Forest to Cities community virtual gathering
2021-04-20 11:00 - 12:15 (America/Halifax)
Register
April 20 and 27, 2021
11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. ET
Agenda for download
Hosted by New England Forestry Foundation. Explore actions you can take to advance climate-smart forestry and mass timber construction in New England. The agenda provides the schedule and informational offerings for the two sessions, held over Zoom.
We are looking forward to inaugurating a new phase of activity and engagement through the Forest-to-Cities Challenge with this gathering. It will be an interactive event to share knowledge, build connections across sectors, and to equip our community to deploy mass timber and forestry as climate solutions. Your perspectives and enthusiasm will enrich the conversation, so please join us.

The Birders Dozen: Twelve birds who need our woods (webinar)
2021-04-27 19:00 - 20:30 (America/Halifax)
Register
Tuesday, April 27
7:00pm – 8:00pm ET
From May into July, thousands of migratory songbirds, including the Hermit Thrush, our state bird, fill Vermont’s woods with enchanting melodies. Join Audubon Vermont and the Vermont Land Trust for an exploration of the Birders Dozen, twelve forest birds for which our woods serve as globally important habitat. You will learn how to identify their songs and habitat needs as well as ways you can improve their foraging and nesting habitat. Level: beginner.

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.

Wildlife, Forestry, and Climate Change: An Oak Mini-series for Forest Landowners
2021-04-29 16:00 - 17:00 (America/Halifax)
Register
Apr 27, 2021 4:00 – 5:00 p.m. ET: Wildlife (recording available soon)
Apr 29, 2021 4:00 – 5:00 p.m. ET: Forestry
May 4, 2021 4:00 – 5:00 p.m. ET: Climate Change
Each session approved for 1, category 1 CFE hour through the Society of American Foresters.
Event flyer for download
Join the Forest Stewards Guild and partners for a 3-part series on increasing oak resiliency in Southern New England forests. Sessions will be one hour with a 30-minute presentation followed by a Q&A. Each session will focus on a specific topic, including wildlife, forestry, and climate change, and feature natural resource professionals from Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. Come ready to ask questions! This series is designed to be interactive and to answer your questions.

Eastern Old Growth Forests
2021-05-04 19:00 - 20:00 (America/Halifax)
Email to request access to the zoom link
Monday, May 3, 2021
7:00 PM ET
Eastern Old Growth Forests: What They Are, Why They’re Important, and Opportunities for Management (webinar)
Old growth forests are forested ecosystems which have developed somewhat independently for a long time, usually at least several centuries. In addition to being beautiful demonstrations of how forests naturally grow and develop, old growth forests are unique and valuable for our landscape. They are diverse and resilient, feature amazing habitat opportunities for wildlife, provide clean air and clean water and store more carbon than the relatively young forests that dominate Vermont’s landscape today. Vermont contains very little old growth forest, although ecologists have placed an ideal target of at 6.7% of Vermont’s landscape (9% of our forests) to be maintained as “old forest.”
Join the Jericho-Underhill Land Trust for a presentation by Ethan Tapper, the Chittenden County Forester, on eastern old growth forests. Ethan will discuss what old growth forests are like (it may surprise you!), why they should be important to us, and what our role may be in helping develop new old growth on our landscape.
In addition to allowing forests to grow and develop into old growth on their own, new research has highlighted opportunities to manage forests actively to become more like old growth forests sooner than they would naturally. Combined with an ecological forestry approach, this presents an opportunity to manage forests while increasing biodiversity, resiliency and overall health. Ethan will also discuss opportunities for employing this approach across Vermont’s landscape.

Audubon Forester Training and Endorsement Program
2021-05-07 08:00 - 09:00 (America/Halifax)
Register
Four-Part Webinar Series
Fridays: May 7, 14, 21 and 28, 2021
8 AM – 9 AM ET
Attend all four webinars to receive 4 Cat 1 CFEs
Training flyer and full information to download
May 7 – Audubon’s Forester Training and Endorsement Program and Introduction to the Healthy Forests Initiative: Information and details about Audubon’s new program for foresters, including steps involved; forest birds experiencing population declines, causes of declines; opportunities to mitigate threats and stressors to breeding habitat.
May 14 – Forest Bird Habitat Management Planning and Assessments: Audubon’s approach to assessing habitat diversity for forest birds at landscape and stand levels; quick guide to assessing landscape forest cover and estimating age class diversity; applying forest habitat management while reducing threats to breeding birds.
May 21 – Forest Management for Birds: Applying traditional, hybrid and mixed systems silvicultural approaches to create desired habitat conditions for mature and young forest birds to meet their full breeding season needs;creating canopy gaps and patch cuts of varying sizes to benefit the most birds.
May 28 – Resources for Audubon Endorsed Foresters, Engaging Landowners, and Current Audubon Projects: Overview of resources available for foresters (guides and examples of a variety of forest management plans that include birds and habitat; engaging forest owners and general public in forestry for birds; current Audubon projects that reach and engage forest owners; upcoming programs and webinars.

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

Holt Research Forest Guild Gathering & Service Project
2021-05-15 08:00 - 16:00 (America/Halifax)
Register right away (Max 25 volunteers. Registration deadline is May 10, 2021 at 5 p.m. ET)
Saturday, May 15, 2021 (rain date is May 22, 2021)
8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. ET
Location: 508 Old Stage Rd, Arrowsic, ME 04530
Summary:
Are you ready to get back into the woods with fellow Guild members? Join us for a field day in Midcoast Maine! The Maine Timber Research & Environmental Education Foundation (Maine TREE) needs help re-establishing the research grid at the Holt Research Forest in Arrowsic.
A harvest occurred at the Holt Research Forest last fall and winter under the direction of founding Guild member Barrie Brusila (see awesome video link). On this site, University of Maine researchers have continuously collected data since 1983. The harvest will provide many future research opportunities, and the research grid is essential to this work.
Now you can join the Forest Stewards Guild and Maine TREE for a combined service project and Guild Gathering. We’ll work in small teams (socially distanced, outdoors) to relocate point markers and re-establish lines across the study area. The day won’t be all about work, as we’ll be sure to have plenty of time for our favorite Guild Gathering activities, including a picnic lunch.
If you are interested in joining the service day, please email Northeast Region Coordinator Logan Johnson (logan@forestguild.org) for more information.
Agenda:
8 am – 8:30 am: A brief overview of the Holt Research Forest and Recent Timber Harvest
8:30 am – 9 am: Service Project Orientation
9 am – 1 pm: In the Field Re-establishing the Research Grid
1 pm – 2 pm: Picnic Lunch (bagged lunch provided)
2 pm – 2:30 pm: Introduction Circles
2:30 pm – 3:30 pm: Post Harvest Tour & Silviculture Discussion
3:30 pm – 4 pm: Final Remarks and Wrap Up
Logistics:
All Guild members, friends, and forestry students are welcome. Students who registered will be placed in groups with professional Guild members for the opportunity to learn and network.
Bagged lunch is provided. Please indicate preference when registering.
COVID-19 safety protocols will be in place following CDC guidelines. Participants who choose to arrive Friday evening may enjoy an evening of Guild camaraderie and then not have to drive early Saturday morning. On-site, no-cost lodging options (with COVID safety protocols) are available. Please indicate lodging needs when you register.
Please bring:

Your own water bottle,
snacks,
footware that can get muddy,
insect repellent,
camping gear (if camping)
sunscreen

Southern Blue Ridge Fire Learning Network virtual workshop
2021-05-18 09:00 - 12:00 (America/New_York)
Register
Tuesday, May 18 & Thursday, May 20
9:00 a.m. – noon ET
Agenda for download
Join us to discuss and learn about starting a burn program and lessons learned from established programs. Hosted by ​Southern Blue Ridge Fire Learning Network.

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.

Watching Out for the Little Ones: Conserving Southern Salamanders Within Working Forests
2021-06-02 13:00 - 14:00 (America/Halifax)
Register
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
June 2, 2021
1:00 – 2:00 pm ET
Agenda for download
Pre-approved for 1 SAF Category 1 CFE credit.
This webinar aims to educate landowners, loggers, foresters, and other natural resource professionals about the conservation value of endemic salamanders, threats to them, and opportunities to promote management practices that positively contribute to amphibian habitat in general (e.g. leaving scattered down woody debris -not piles, limiting large canopy gaps, and following state BMPs). Two endemic species that will be discussed are the patch-nosed and Cheoah bald salamander.
Our speakers include Dr. Todd Pierson of Kennesaw State University as well as Dr. Daniel Greene and Dr. Jessica Homyack of Weyerhaeuser Company. Stay tuned for more details! Our agenda includes two 25-minute presentations with time for questions at the end.

Forestry for Maine Birds Workshop
2021-06-05 09:00 - 12:00 (America/Halifax)
photo credit L Suomi-Lecker/Somerset SWCD
To Register: call 474-8323 or email somersetswcd.outreach@gmail.com. (no charge, but pre-registration is required and space is limited)
9:00 a.m. – Noon ET
Saturday, June 5, 2021
Location: Robbin’s Hill Scenic Overlook, Solon, ME
Category 1 CFE credits are pending.
The Forestry for Maine Birds (FFMB) approach integrates bird conservation into forest management and planning. Participants in this outdoor workshop will learn how to:

Improve habitat for priority forest birds and a variety of other wildlife species
Take care of their woodlands
Work with other forest management goals
Enhance the value and enjoyment of Maine woodlands for many generations to come

Instructors: Andy Schultz, Outreach Forester with Maine Forest Service; Sally Stockwell, Director of Conservation at Maine Audubon; and Logan Johnson of Forest Stewards Guild.
Hosted by Somerset County SWCD in partnership with Old Canada Road, Maine Forest Service, Maine Audubon, Forest Stewards Guild, and Maine Woodland Owners – Upper Kennebec Valley Chapter.

Non-Timber Forest Products Workshop in Sandy Mush, NC
2021-06-05 09:30 - 13:30 (America/Halifax)
Register
View the Sandy Mush Collaborative Forest Stewardship website
Saturday, June 5, 2021
9:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. ET
Sandy Mush Community Center, 19 School Road Leicester, NC, 28748
Join us for a day of hands-on learning from local experts in non-timber forest product (NTFP) cultivation. We will learn about what NTFPs are, their general history, ecology, and economics and have conversations about the role we all play in their stewardship.
Safety and Covid-19: This event will follow all CDC recommendations. The indoor presentations will be held in the gymnasium where participants will be seated at appropriate distances and asked to wear masks. The hands-on small group sessions will be outdoors. Remember, we are all in this together to keep our communities safe!

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.
