Sustainable Operations Tip
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 State & Private Forestry
News
November 2016
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Mitigating Climate Change on Family Forests
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A Minnesota Department of Natural Resources project focused on restoring floodplain forest in southeastern Minnesota.
(Photo: forestadaptation.org)
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ST. PAUL, Minn.
--- Maintaining the health and vigor of privately owned forests is crucial for mitigating the impacts of forest stressors, including a changing climate. The Northeastern Area, along with its State partners, is fostering active management on 9.4 million acres of privately owned forest land in the 20 northeastern States. Over half of those acres are identified as priority forests by the States. The Northeastern Area supports private forest land demonstration projects in Minnesota and other northeastern States to highlight climate-adaptation forest practices and to help develop examples of addressing climate mitigation in forest management plans.
Learn more at the Climate Change Response Framework Web site.
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What Climate Change Means for Your State
WASHINGTON
--- The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) just released factsheets to help the public understand what climate change means for each State. Understanding the threats that climate change poses to human health can help people work together to lower risks and prepare. Climate change threatens human health, including mental health, and access to clean air, safe drinking water, nutritious food, and shelter.
Check out the factsheets at the EPA Web site and see what climate change means for you and your commuÂnity.
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Open Space Institute Releases Climate Resilience Webinar and Guide
NEW YORK
--- The Open Space Institute (OSI) recently conducted a webinar that gave a Climate Resilience Data Update with Mark Anderson.
View a recording of the webinar on OSI's Web site. Also, in partnership with the Land Trust Alliance and the North Atlantic Landscape Conservation Cooperative, OSI released Conserving Nature in a Changing Climate, a three-part guide that highlights the critical role land trusts and land conservation can play in mitigating and adapting to climate change. The guide walks users through the characteristics of a network of resilient sites, introduces datasets and tools that can be used to plan, and provides a detailed case study of how these data sets were used to identify land protection priorities in Massachusetts.
Learn more about the guide on OSI's Web site, and
access the guide on the Land Trust Alliance's Climate Change Web page. The
Open Space Institute protects scenic, natural, and historic landscapes to provide public enjoyment, conserve habitat and working lands, and sustain communities.
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Preserve Acquires New Tract With Forest Service Grant
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Yellow Dog Falls on the Yellow Dog Community Forest during high water in Spring 2016. (Photo by Neal Bungard)
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DURHAM, N.H.
--- The Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan has closed on the purchase of almost 668 acres, appraised at over $1,034,000, of which $400,000 came from a U.S. Forest Service Community Forest Program grant. In addition, 20 acres appraised at $64,000 were acquired as a match. This property was an outright donation, and no Federal funds were used to acquire it. In total, the Yellow Dog River Community Forest is comprised of almost 688 acres and is valued at over $1,098,000. The properties are located south of Big Bay, MI, and can be accessed from County Road 510.
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Christiansen Named Deputy Chief of State and Private Forestry
WASHINGTON
---Victoria "Vicki" Christiansen will serve as the new Deputy Chief of State and Private Forestry with the USDA Forest Service. She replaces Jim Hubbard, former State Forester of Colorado, who retires at the end of this month after 10 years as Deputy Chief.
Christiansen has more than 36 years of wildland fire and natural resource leadership experience, including 6 years with the Forest Service and nearly 30 years of service in the States of Arizona and Washington.
Since 2012, Christiansen has served as Associate Deputy Chief in State and Private Forestry with the Forest Service. She previously worked as Deputy Director of Fire and Aviation Management.
Read more at the National Association of State Foresters' Web site.
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Seeking Projects to Expand Wood Products, Energy Markets
WASHINGTON
--- Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that the U.S. DepartÂment of Agriculture will invest up to $7 million in grants for projects designed to expand wood products and wood energy markets that support sustainable forest management, especially in areas with high wildfire risk. These grants are available through the U.S. Forest Service's Wood Innovations Program;
get application details at the Wood Education and Resource Center Web page.
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Celebrating National Bioenergy Day
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New Hampshire Wood Energy Council member Sarah Smith (left) presents Jude Gates (second from right) with an award on behalf of the Rockingham County Complex's commitment to modern wood energy. (Photo by Glenn Rosenholm)
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DURHAM, N.H.
--- The New Hampshire Wood Energy Council recognized the Rockingham County Complex for its commitment to modern wood energy during a National Bioenergy Day (#bioenergyday) event, October 19. The Brentwood, NH, facility replaced an aging fuel oil plant with a biomass energy heating system that runs on wood chips.
The first of two boilers went online in 2012, following a Wood Education and Resource Center (WERC) feasibility study and technical assistance. A $200,000 grant from the North Country Resource Conservation and Development Area Council and WERC helped to pay for the engineering and system monitoring equipment.
Using two biomass boilers together helps the complex to meet varying demands for heat throughout the year. The larger boiler has a maximum capacity of 6.7 million BTUs per hour, and the smaller one is rated for 3.3 million BTUs.
The biomass system offsets the equivalent of about 300,000 gallons of no. 2 fuel oil, providing a net reduction of more than 3,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually. Average annual cost savings are estimated at $253,630, which should provide a return for the county in 7.7 years.
The event included a tour of the facility by Northeastern Area staff and other wood energy proponents.
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Webcast Highlights Urban Wood Utilization
PRINCETON, W.Va.
--- The Wood Education and Resource Center held its semiannual urban wood utilization webcast on October 11. Topics included the urban wood seminar at the International Woodworking Fair. Two presentations addressed urban wood utilization in North Carolina; one focused on the efforts of
Treecycle America. Webcast participants came from at least 14 states.
The eastern hardwood forest region encompasses 35 states.
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Forest Service Staff Respond to Hurricane Matthew
DURHAM, N.H.
--- The Northeastern Area assisted the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Forest Service's Southern Region by providing qualified personnel in the role of Emergency Support Function 4. These ESF4s were assigned to national, regional, or State Emergency Coordination centers in Washington, DC; Florida; Georgia; and South Carolina. Common resources requested and supplied through ESF4 include chain saw crews to clear access for emergency responders or Incident Management Teams to coordinate on-the-ground points of distribution for supplies or responder base camps.
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Cranberries, Forests, and Clean Water
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Read about how the cranberries for your holiday table depend on forests for clean water, in this month's featured Profile in Conservation: Forests for cranberries and historic twists." Read additional profiles at landscapestewardship.org. (Photo courtesy of Bob Williams)
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Position Announcement: Assistant Executive Director, Northern Woodlands
CORINTH, Vt.
--- Northern Woodlands is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to advance a culture of forest stewardship in the Northeast, and to increase understanding of and appreciation for the natural wonders, economic productivity, and ecological integrity of the region's forests.
Learn about this new position at the Northern Woodlands Web site.
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Vermont Monitoring Cooperative Annual Meeting, December 2, 2016
--- This year the Vermont Monitoring Cooperative is expecting researchers, land managers, forest practitioners, academics, students, and government officials at its December 2d meeting in Burlington. This year's conference theme is "Healthy Forests, Healthy Watersheds," and the morning plenary will be on that topic. A panel will follow, then a multi-track contributed talk session in the afternoon, followed by working groups, and wrapping up with a poster session/social hour.
Learn more at the Cooperative's Web page.
Forest Vegetation Simulator Virtual Conference
--- Registration is now open for the 2017 Forest Vegetation Simulator e-Conference, February 28 - March 2, 2017. This virtual conference extends over 3 days and includes 40 presentations. This e-Conference is designed for developers, land and resource managers, analysts, and decisionmakers concerned with evaluating the current and future effects of proposed forest management activities throughout forested areas of the United States.
Learn more at the e-Conference Web page.
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