Across the Landscape

The National Forest Foundation (NFF) has announced the 2016 Barrett Foundation Business Concept Challenge to foster innovation in natural resource management. This unique competition is open to representatives from for-profit and nonprofit organizations, tribal entities, businesses, individuals and students, staff, or faculty at nationally accredited colleges and universities. 

We're happy to announce the release of the first issue of our new publication The Forest Steward!

During the week of June 6th, the Guild’s Director of Science and Programs, Zander Evans, travelled to Durango, Mexico to talk about ecological forestry. He was invited to participate in the North American Forest Commission’s silviculture working group meeting. The meeting was hosted by Mexico’s Comisión Nacional Forestal and featured participants from the Canadian and US forest services. Zander shared the Guild’s research on mixed conifer forests and our experience working with communities on sustainable forest management. Other presentations focused on new efforts in Mexico to integrate increased protection of biodiversity into community managed forests – a theme very familiar to Guild members.

Second Public Consultation Now Open!

Forest Stewardship Council US invites your participation in the second public consultation of the supplemental requirements for FSC certification of lands managed by the US Forest Service. Your review and input in this process is essential for a successful outcome, and we hope you will take some time to share your perspectives with us.
 
The 30-day consultation period closes on July 3, 2016.
 
Overview

Spring has sprung in Maine, and May 18 turned out to be the perfect day for a Forestry for Maine Birds workshop in Standish, Maine. This event was co-hosted by the Forest Stewards Guild, Maine Forest Service, Maine Audubon Society, and the Small Woodland Owners Association of Maine (SWOAM). 

Saturday, May 14 was a cold and soggy day in Northwestern Pennsylvania, but that didn’t keep people away from the Loving the Land Through Working Forests conference presented by the Foundation for Sustainable Forests.

Nearly 100 woodland owners, forest conservationists and professional land managers and foresters attended the conference held at a 140-acre woodlot near the small town of Corry, PA. Representing the Forest Stewards Guild was Amanda Mahaffey, Northeast Region Director.

A new study recently published by Forest Stewards Guild's Director of Science and Programs, Zander Evans, sheds light on the speed of past forest invaders. Invasive, exotic insects and diseases have a devastating effect on North American forests and their rate of spread is one of the main determinants of an invasive organism’s impact.

Maine has a long tradition of thoughtful, long-term management of public forestlands. Forest Stewards Guild members in Maine, both within and outside of the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands, have helped educate the public about the value of that tradition in the face of unprecedented changes, including significant increases in the annual allowable cut proposed last year during the state budget process. 

On March 29th, the Forest Stewards Guild presented our final report to the Wisconsin Council on Forestry for our research report Economic and Ecological Effects of Forest Practices and Harvesting Constraints on Wisconsin’s Forest Resources and Economy. The report was a component of the Wisconsin Forest Practices Study.

The Forest Stewards Guild welcomes Amber Ellering of St. Paul, Minnesota as the newest member of the Guild's Board of Directors.  Amber works as a Forest Policy Analyst for Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Division of Forestry.  She has over ten years of professional experience in forest management and policy work.  Amber began her career as a forester, managing state forestlands in rural northern Minnesota.  Beyond timber harvest design and administration, she was responsible for wildfire response, private landowner outreach, and forest inventory.