Forest 101

Natural Climate Solutions

Reimagining Our Cities

Carbon + Climate Change, Forest Management, Forest Products, Urban Forests

Urban Forestry: An Origin Story

Managing an urban forest is complicated! Why? Read on.

Author: Alec Sabatini

Alec is the content writer at PlanIT Geo™, a global urban forestry consulting and tree management software firm.

To answer the question “what is forestry?'' we need to go back - way back - to the 1800’s when forestry first emerged on the scene as a profession. The goal then - much like it is today - is to manage for the current and future health of forests, and strive to ensure that forest benefits will be available for future generations.

Urban forestry on the other hand would take another 150 years before it was recognized as a distinct practice within the larger forestry family. Believe it or not, there are a lot of differences in managing rural trees and wilderness forests vs those in bustling downtown parks or along crowded streets.

The growing cities and urban sprawl of the 1960’s and 70’s proved to be the tipping point and marks the birth of urban forestry. Its focus was on setting new objectives, identifying new personnel, and implementing new management strategies to steward forests in the built environment.

What Is An Urban Forest?

Every tree in this photo is part of the urban forest!

The urban forest encompasses any tree, on public and private land, that lives where we do, from a small town to a crowded metropolis. It includes the trees that line our streets, shade our parks, and fill our backyards. It also includes dense, more natural stands of trees near our communities, such as nature preserves, river corridors, wetlands, and greenways.

One-third of U.S. land is forested and 18% of that land, about 141 million acres, is considered urban forest. 80% of the U.S. population lives in urban areas so the actions of urban forest managers have a profound effect on where people live, work, and play. If you want to have a direct impact on the well-being of your community, working in urban forestry is one way to do it.

Why Are Urban Forests So Important?

Like storm drains, street lights, and sidewalks, the urban forest is an essential part of our city – and our climate - infrastructure. Trees create a host of meaningful, measurable benefits. Collectively known as “ecosystem services”, trees and urban forests are critical to making our cities livable and sustainable.

A full list of urban forest ecosystem services runs quite long, but here are some of the essential benefits:

Carbon Sequestration & Storage

A healthy tree canopy pulls carbon dioxide from the air (sequestration) and stores it in roots, trunks, leaves, and soil (storage). Just like products made from rural forests, products made from urban forests continue to store that carbon for the life of the product. Urban forests are just starting to catch up to their traditional forest counterparts in efforts to track and reward this function through carbon credit and offset programs.

Cooling Our Cities

Trees are on the front lines of the battle against extreme urban heat, which as of 2022 is the number one cause of weather-related deaths in the U.S. Trees can drastically lower surface and air and surface temperatures through shade and evapotranspiration (the exchange of water with air).

Better Air Quality

Trees are sometimes known as the lungs of a city, but they can act as the liver too. Urban forests can remove tons (not metaphorically, literally thousands of pounds) of air pollution every year by absorbing gasses through leaves and trapping particulates out of the air.

Water Quality and Stormwater Control

Trees improve water quality and support stormwater management through rainfall interception and infiltration (water absorbed by the soil). Stormwater infrastructure is not cheap. Cities, especially those with combined sewer systems, are turning to trees and urban forests as an effective, affordable answer to handle heavy rains as seen through the installation of rain gardens and bioswales.

Improved Mental and Physical Health

Trees support physical health via improved air, water, and urban temperatures, but they also offer well-evidenced mental health support. Having easy access to trees or even views of trees helps reduce stress and enhance our well-being. The COVID pandemic made this connection especially clear.

Which sidewalk would you prefer to walk down?

Simply put, our cities, communities, and climate are better with trees around. Thanks to decades of research, we’ve become quite skilled at quantifying the benefits created by a single tree or an entire urban forest.

You can try it right now and get a benefit estimate for a tree in front of your home using the free MyTree tool. Urban forest managers often use software to estimate and track this information because it's invaluable for helping government leaders and community members accurately value the services provided by their urban trees.

Read about the need for Green among the Gray

Learn what the Urban Tree Canopy is and why it matters

Reimagining Our Cities

Biomass + Renewable Energy, Carbon + Climate Change, Careers, Cities, Forest Management, Innovation, Mass Timber, People, Products, Urban Forests

FORESTS: Reimagining Our Cities

For the first time in history, more than 50 percent of the world’s population lives in a city.

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Community

Profiles

Careers, Community, Forest Management, Forest Products, Innovation, People

Seeing the Forest for the Tweets

Meet forest professionals who call social media home

Lacey Rose, professional forester + movie star

Alex Ashby #1 Tree Friend

Social media, including online platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and more, has rapidly transformed how we interact. While forestry may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you hear ‘social media’, our field is not exempt from this phenomenon, as many forestry professionals are now turning to social media as a tool for information, communication, and connection.

(Pro tip: join the conversation with #forestproud on a platform of your choice!)

Meet seven professionals who use social media in a forestry context. These professionals are several of many foresters, educators, and scientists across public and private sectors who are talking trees. Together they explore how social media is used by forestry professionals, the engagement and benefits that come with this content creation, and advice for anyone interested in joining the digital forestry conversation.

This article and all supporting interviews were done by Jenna Zukswert - a PhD Candidate in sustainable resources management at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry - originally for the SAF June Forestry Source!

Posting Professionals

A few of the many types of content that the interviewees have produced on social media include short videos on seed tree versus shelterwood harvests, how to identify invasive species, different types of plant parasites, photos of buds from different tree species, wildlife and fish in Maine, and the contents of a forester’s vest have all been welcome. Written posts explaining silvicultural prescriptions and outcomes, comparing two Gleditsia species’ bark and occurrence, and sharing methodology from a forest climate change study at Hubbard Brook have also been well received. The primary reason these professionals use social media is to share information and experiences.

While Emily Dolhansky (@emilydolhansky), a forester for the Bureau of Land Management, had a Twitter account in graduate school that she would occasionally use to share content from SAF meetings, she started gaining traction in social media sharing information about wildfires in 2020. As a GIS technician for the US Forest Service at the time, Dolhansky discovered that many people were getting updates about the California wildfires directly from Twitter because it was easy to use and understand. She then began to share more about her job as a forester; she finds it important to share success stories and “small victories.” This sentiment is echoed by Lacey Rose (@foresterlacey), a registered professional forester in Ontario, who joined Twitter in part because she was “seeing so many good things out there in the forest” and wondering “why aren’t more people sharing these good news stories?”

Dr. Tom Kimmerer (@tomkimmerer), a forest scientist, educator, and writer, uses social media to share information about tree physiology and natural history in Kentucky. In addition to sharing information from his own work, he uses Twitter to talk to and learn from people in forestry and other related disciplines, such as physiology, biochemistry, and forest genetics. This exchange of information has been rewarding. “I get about two or three ideas a week from Twitter that are going to wind up in the next book”, he says, “so I think it’s very valuable.”

Also an educator, Dr. Neil Thompson (@forestryprof) shares short, viral videos on TikTok primarily about silviculture and dendrochronology, leveraging his skills and passion as an educator. Encouraged by his students at the University of Maine at Fort Kent to join TikTok, Thompson will often gain hundreds of followers from posting a new video on content he considers to be fairly basic, such as that knots and branches are connected, but is novel and interesting to many. “We have to remember that as much as we gain knowledge… it is brand new to so many people, and they can be fascinated by things that we take for granted as essential,” he says.

Chelsi Abbott (@hemlock__holmes), scientific advisor for Davey Tree and adjunct professor at College of DuPage in Illinois, was also encouraged to join TikTok from her students and, like Thompson, was surprised at how receptive others were to her niche interests related to tree health. Abbott was initially hesitant to join TikTok. “I was like, ‘Who would want to know about mushrooms? Nobody!’, but it turns out, it’s a lot of people!”

TikTok is also used by Alex Ashby (@number1treefriend), a forester for the Albany Water Department in New York. Ashby started making instructional videos and filming day-to-day depictions of their forester job during the pandemic. Their videos include before and after shots of silvicultural prescriptions with explanations, water management advice for logging roads, and plant identification. As Ashby says of their involvement in social media, “I just really like talking about trees–constantly and always–so it works out great.”

Nearly all interviewees mentioned using their social media accounts to depict a “Day in the Life.” They use the social media channels to show others, particularly young people, what it is like to be a forester or scientist. While Dr. Lindsey Rustad (@LindseyRustad), Research Ecologist for the USDA Forest Service has a professional Twitter account she uses to share “news on people, places, things, and events”, she has a personal Instagram account that depicts a day in the life of her job. On Rustad’s Instagram account, she refrains from posting news and employs more storytelling. “In both accounts”, reflects Rustad, “I also try to always share something… that may be of interest to the audience, like a fun fact, a reflection, an overall message, or conversation.”

From 60 Minutes to 60 Seconds

Social media is known for its restrictions on content length, and nearly all interviewees talked about this. Lacey Rose found Twitter’s character limit to be a challenge where she had also to refrain from using technical jargon and “speak in ‘real people’ language about forestry.” Tom Kimmerer indicated that communicating without jargon is “a skill we have to develop over time,” adding “I think it’s critically important…we’re using social media as a way of broadening the audience for forestry-related subjects, and the only way of doing this is to speak in relatively simple terms.”

Abbott and Thompson, who engage with their students in both traditional lectures and now on social media, find the short time limit of TikTok to be a rewarding challenge – as Thompson puts it, trying to “summarize a 60-minute lecture into just 60 seconds.” In Abbott’s words, “If making a two-minute video on something you could talk about for hours isn’t good practice on how to really be concise with information, I don’t know what is.” Both claim that this challenge has made them better educators, helping them consolidate their thoughts and condense their content to convey what is most important.

Despite the need to be concise, Dolhansky encourages forestry professionals to refrain from oversimplifying, or using just the “nice talking points”, and instead dive into complex issues. “You can be an ambassador and still talk about things with nuance and explain complexities, without just [saying] ‘Everything’s great!’ or ‘Everything’s awful!’… I think being able to speak openly and engage in meaningful ways… people really connect with that.”

Online Watercooler

Interviewees described a range of communities with which they engage online. One community is their colleagues; as Rose put it, “preaching to the choir.” Kimmerer started using Twitter in part to connect with participants from his outreach programs. Rustad also enjoys learning more about what her colleagues are up to. “I think of [social media] a little bit is that it’s the watercooler or coffee room: you can choose not to talk to people there, but you might miss some things that are happening on a professional and also personal [level].”

Rose and Dolhansky also spoke to the value of connecting with others in forestry from other states or locations. Rose appreciates that she can “get to know other people in forestry that I would never have the opportunity to meet in real life” and Dolhansky likes learning about activities and projects that “people several states over from me are doing.” Kimmerer extends this, reflecting on benefits of international connections. “Forestry always has been a very international discipline, even though we work in our own local forests and social media really enhances that ability to speak with people from different backgrounds.” Twitter can help connect researchers and practitioners within forestry, as it is popular among academics; Dolhansky has conversations on Twitter with academics about their research and what is happening on the ground.

They also engage with people outside of forestry. Other followers of Ashby, Abbott, and Thompson include students, people generally interested in nature, and as Abbott puts it, “Fun Fact-ers” such as the comment Ashby received, “’I didn’t know that porcupines could climb.”

On the other end of the spectrum, interviewees mentioned engaging with those who think poorly of forestry. Many of our interviewees tend to not engage with negative comments. Dolhansky tends to get a lot of interaction from people who are critical of forestry, particularly the timber industry, and challenge or disagree with what she is saying. “A lot of times I can have constructive conversations with these people,” but she notes that there are others whose minds she cannot change, “so I’ve just kind of learned where to expend my energy and where not to.”

A Tool for Good

Many benefits of using social media came to light. Perhaps the most basic: social media provides a way to educate and communicate with others, which was important to all of the participants.

“The more people we have educating, the more people we have engaging, the better. What’s the worst if more people know about trees and all the fun stuff about forests?” asks Abbott. Exchange of information with students and colleagues, between researchers and foresters, across disciplines, and with those new to forestry are positive benefits of social media use. Rustad cites social media as “another way to communicate about what I do so I can spread the word about publications, about events, about what we’re doing in the world of forest science”, and she benefits from “learning so much about what other people are doing out there.” This connection can sometimes result in unanticipated opportunities offline, such as invitations to speak at events, awareness of professional programs, and in Ashby’s case, an informal Zoom book club with woodworkers.

Another benefit of social media use is representation. Ashby aims “to get people who might not otherwise be interested in forestry or realize that forest ecology or field work or any of this is an option in life… to see that this is something you can do, and this is something that you can start really small doing” and they note comments from queer forestry students who feel less alone after seeing their content. Awareness of forestry as a career option was also important for Thompson. “The benefit, I hope, is [that] people realize that forestry is a profession that’s available to them…. I’m not saying you must do this… I would like people to make a considered, informed decision… but I think what the whole forestry network on TikTok is doing is showing pretty well the range of things that you can do.”

As a member of initiatives to increase representation of women in science, Rustad says she tries to “post images of, not always myself, but other women, women in forestry, women in the outdoors… so that girls, particularly middle-school girls, can see that women can be out there, they can be scientists, they can be ‘fisher people,’ they can be engaging in the outdoors.” Rose considers social media to be “the best outreach we can do to recruit for future foresters,” enthusing “imagine if every forester was putting out one message every three months, even. Inevitably, some people are going to see that and be like, ‘Oh, I didn’t know that was a career option.’” She adds, “If other people can see people that look like them doing these jobs, then they might consider it for themselves.”

Representation is important not only for recruitment, but for public perception of forestry. Dolhansky says, “We need more people with boots on the ground and field perspectives to add to this chorus of people promoting good forestry practices and being an ambassador of the field.” In her experience, “it’s a lot more appealing for someone to interact with another person than a brand or company…actual people seem to get more engagement.” Rose echoes this sentiment, stating “I would like to try to change the public’s perception about forestry whenever I have the opportunity to do that… I think it’s critical for us to tell the real story… There will always be some folks out that there still don’t think it’s OK to cut down trees, but the benefit is we can make sure they know all the steps that have to happen before a tree can be harvested.” She adds, “When people can put a friendly face to someone that is caring for their forest, I think it has the potential to change perceptions.”

“It’s not just a little extracurricular activity that doesn’t mean something,” says Dolhansky. “I think it can be really used as a tool for good.”

Advice for Aspiring Social Media Users

Choose the Platform

Many social media platforms exist, and they differ in types of content, character length, and user demographics. Younger generations may be more active on TikTok, while older may be more active on Twitter and Facebook. Consider the content you want to produce and consume, and the communities with which you would like to engage. “I do think deciding what platform you want to be on and focusing on that is an important choice that you have to make as a professional. Where can you have the most impact; not necessarily where you have the largest audience?” advises Kimmerer.

Stay in Your Lane

Several interviewees spoke of considering what subjects you want to post on and recommend sticking to what you know. Thompson prefers to focus on “something I’ve done, something that’s in progress, something that I can see, touch, feel, show,” and directs anyone who asks about topics he doesn’t cover to others who specialize in that area, which further builds community. “I’m sure that there are pressures for creating a certain type of content or swaying with what other people might expect, but where I come at it is if I think it’s interesting and I think it’s fun, that’s probably what I’m going to post about, and hopefully people enjoy it,” says Abbott. “And if they don’t, they don’t; there are plenty of other areas in the world that they can get their information from.”

Act Like You’re in Public, Because You Are

While social media accounts can be private, and this can be ideal for more personal accounts, the accounts discussed in this article are public. “Assume the highest-ranking person in your organization will watch your videos,” cautions Thompson. “Always, always, always think before you post. You can go back and delete a post, but once someone has seen it, you can never make it unseen,” warns Rustad.

Start Small

“It doesn’t have to be overwhelming,” says Rustad. “Choose a platform, start following a few people you admire, think about what you want to share, and engage when you have the time. It doesn’t have to be all the time.” In Ashby’s words, “You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Just because you are starting a new account doesn’t mean there isn’t help.” They mention several groups and movements such as Women in Wood and Forest Proud that you can join to connect with others. “Just dip a toe in and see what other people are doing” recommends Rose, “…and then you will just probably start thinking of ideas when you’re doing your job.”

Share Comfortably

You get to decide what and how much, or little, you would like to share – whatever feels comfortable for you. “Social media isn’t always about gaining a following,” Abbott reminds us. Many of the interviewees recommend being aware and intentional about how personal you would like to be. “It’s important to figure out for yourself where that happy medium is before you start making [posting] things,” notes Ashby. Recommending moderation, they describe a happy medium “between being yourself and being outgoing with that and honest about it….and also not telling people exactly where you live and how to find you.”

Be Accessible

Thompson recommends closed captioning for videos. For TikTok, this is now an automatic feature; in the past, it was a manual addition. For image-based social media, you may explore the addition of “alt text” to your captions to describe your photographs and images.

Have Fun!

Above all, our interviewees recommend staying positive and having fun with social media. “Enjoy it and have fun with it,” advises Rustad. “It is meant as another way to engage and communicate with our colleagues.”

Original article written by Jenna Zukswert - a PhD Candidate in sustainable resources management at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry - for the SAF June Forestry Source

Reimagining Our Cities

Mass Timber

Forest Champion Spotlight | Susan Jones

Susan Jones designed some of the first Mass Timber buildings in the U.S. - including her own home. Today, Susan and her team continue to pave the way for Mass Timber buildings in North America by showing the world that there is no reason a building can't also be a climate change solution.

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Profiles

Community, Forest Management, Forest Products, Innovation

Lacey Rose, Canadian Forester, hosts Volvo Penta’s “Mighty Jobs” series

machinery improves efficiency + the world around us

Spectacular machines in dramatic working environments, and entertaining and informative demonstrations of power and precision; the ‘Mighty Jobs’ series will take viewers to several fascinating locations where Volvo Penta’s industrial engine and machinery range is making a vast difference to the lives of customers and ultimately to daily life.

With more than a decade working in forestry, Canadian presenter Lacey Rose is ideally equipped to show what the machines are capable of. “I have a passion for natural resources and am really looking forward to shining a light on people not normally in the public eye,” she says. “We want to show how this innovative machinery can improve not only efficiency but the world around us, and also how customers can benefit from an increased focus on sustainability. There’s no better way to do this than to experience it hands-on in real working environments.”

Read the full press release + check out the series on YouTube as Volvo Penta’s machinery is put to the test on applications as diverse as harvesters, haulers, fire trucks and reach stackers.

Reconnecting People and Forests

Careers, Forest Management, Innovation, People, Products

FOREST TO OCEAN | Grain Surfboards

Grain Surfboards has been crafting one-of-a-kind wooden surfboards from sustainably managed Maine forests since 2005. With an emphasis on quality and sincere commitment to sustainable practices, each board is made one at a time, by hand, to create a product that has a soul and tells a story.

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Community, Forest Management, Forest Products, Innovation

Changing the Face of Forestry

Positive changes are leveling the playing field in forestry.

The forest sector is a great career choice. I feel very fortunate to have spent 15 years in forestry—every day is different, the people are amazing and I get paid to be outside. What’s not to love?

When I attended the University of New Brunswick’s forestry program in 2006, about 25% of my classmates were women. In my first few summer forestry jobs, I worked with women and my first mentors were women upon graduation. I didn’t realize there was a gender imbalance until I started working for industry, spending more time in the woods and attending meetings and conferences. In fact, as of 2016, just 17% of Canada’s forestry workforce was made up of women, an increase of only 3% since 1996. While I hope that the census data more recently collected will show a dramatic increase of women in forestry, there is still progress to be made. In 2015, I cofounded Women in Wood, a network for women who work in, with and for the woods. Since then, I have learned a lot from women working in Canada’s forests about their experiences. It seems there are challenges at all stages of their careers—but there are also solutions.

First jobs are tough. Difficult to secure because of a likely blank resume, and oftentimes, they can be challenging to survive because you may not have anyone to ask hard questions. This was my experience; I had difficulty getting my first forestry job, and I faced stiff competition against my male peers who came from forestry families and had experience, and more stereotypical “field-work-ready” statures than mine. I am still grateful to the person who took a chance on the underdog and gave me my first job—if hiring is your responsibility, perhaps you can be that person for someone else.

Once I did secure a forestry job—working in remote, isolated conditions—I spent every day being afraid I would be eaten by a bear. Imagine my surprise, 10 years later, to have that same concern raised in the WIW group by a woman in her first job. The number of women commenting with the same experience—with many solutions—was amazing. Personally, what helped was the passage of time and eventual development of confidence and knowledge (plus, a healthy amount of stubbornness that didn’t allow me to quit from fear). I believe a better solution now exists through openness, increased training and education, and support networks like WIW to help build confidence through shared experiences.

Planning for a family can be stressful for women, whether it is planning to take time off or integrating back into the workforce. It can be difficult finding childcare with flexible or extended hours, to do camp work, or balance home and work life. Women looking for employment or working contract positions are hesitant or worried about how pregnancy could impact their ability to be hired. The key here seems to be flexibility by employers, both with hours and strategic onboarding after maternity leave. Also, an increasing number of men taking paternity leave and breaking down gender roles in the household goes a long way toward changing stereotypes associated with “mom in the workforce.”

As women enter the mid-career phase of their forestry careers, many hope to advance into management and leadership roles. However, many women don’t have leadership role models to look to in their workplace. It is difficult to imagine you can be it, if you can’t see it. The fact that we’re only recently seeing “firsts”such as first female chief forester, first female mill manager, is somewhat telling. It’s very encouraging that these occurrences are happening at an accelerated pace in recent years, and hopefully soon, we won’t have to remark on or celebrate “firsts” anymore. The solution to this one is in the hands of women themselves, and employers. Women must identify the skills and experience they need to advance their careers and seek mentors or training to help them get there. Employers must ensure that women are given equal opportunities to become qualified and compete on a level playing field as their male counterparts and mentoring men and women in the same way.

Today, there are many success stories for women in Canada’s forest sector. The number of companies and organizations engaging in diversity and inclusion initiatives is remarkable, and the fact that we’re having this conversation is a definite win. But let’s not take the foot off the gas—it’s in the hands of every person working in the sector to challenge behaviors and create change that will lead to a more welcoming environment for all employees. We’re an industry with an aging workforce primed for a continued post-pandemic boom. Attracting and retaining good employees is the only way to sustain that momentum—let’s make sure we consider 48% of the available labor force in building the future of our sector.

Authors: Lacey Rose
County Forester and Cofounder, Women in Wood
www.womeninwood.ca
@foresterLacey

Original Article: Biomass Magazine

Reconnecting People and Forests

Careers, Forest Management, Innovation, People, Products

FOREST TO OCEAN | Grain Surfboards

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Community, Forest Management, Forest Products, Innovation

Lacey Rose | OFIA Profile

A tree-hugger was born.

I love forests. As a child growing up in an isolated, northern mining town, I spent a lot of time in the woods. Berry picking, ski-dooing, fishing, mosquito-swatting: it was home. Ironically, I had no concept of what forest management was, and my initial perceptions were formed entirely by media. Popular media taught me that cutting trees was bad and forests should be protected. A tree-hugger was born.

Luckily, life led me to people who encouraged me to ask questions and to not always believe what you read or hear. I took the time to learn more about forest management, and through my completion of a Bachelor of Science in Forestry at UNB, became intrigued and impressed by the complexity and problem-solving nature of working in the field. And one of the first things I figured out was – trees grow back! Imagine if we could get that message to everyone in Canada. We are legally and professionally required to ensure that managed forests successfully regenerate. Most often, we couldn’t stop them if we tried because forestry doesn’t equal deforestation. Some tree species need a little help to grow, and that’s part of our job as forestry professionals.

In my current position as Forester for the County of Renfrew, I am constantly encouraged by the dedication of the family-run businesses in this area, the operators in the woods, and all others in the tight-knit forestry community in central Ontario. All of these people truly care about the well-being of our forests, and every action they take is with the intention of making sure their children (and children’s children) have the opportunity to make a living from the forest. I feel lucky in my job to be able to talk the public about the great work that is done in our forests, and show it off whenever I get the chance. The best way to change someone’s mind about forestry is to allow them to see it with their own eyes.

"I still believe that forests should be protected, and I am definitely still a tree-hugger. The difference is, I no longer equate “protect” with “don’t touch”."

To me, protecting our forests means we manage them sustainably and encourage a vibrant forest industry so that land does not become more valuable as a solar farm, sub-division or corn field. We can recreate in the woods, provide habitat for all of nature’s wonders, and have a roof over our heads: today, tomorrow and always. This is because of the intensive amount of science, research, planning and care that goes into ensuring that there will always be diverse, healthy forests that can provide for all forest values. Sustainable forest management is a really good example of being able to have your cake and eat it too.

I plan on spending the rest of my career working in the forest, and I feel good about telling kids on the verge of choosing their career path that there’s something in the forest industry for them too. We manage our forests to the highest standards in the world, and I’m proud to be a small part of that. That’s why I stand up for forestry.

- Lacey Rose, RPF

Original post: OFIA Profile

Reconnecting People and Forests

Careers, Forest Management, Innovation, People, Products

FOREST TO OCEAN | Grain Surfboards

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North Country Calling

Meet the young professionals who call the Northern Forest home

The Northern Forest Center and Northern Woodlands magazine collaborated to produce North Country Calling, a video series profiling young professionals who have chosen the Northern Forest as their home.

"The future of our region hinges on young people like these — individuals who have sought and found a satisfying blend of work, community, fun and friends in rural communities. We’re energized to see the rewarding lives that Sierra, John, Rachel and Helon have created for themselves and hope their stories will inspire other young people to make their homes in the Northern Forest." - Center President Rob Riley.

Here’s a glimpse of the people you’ll meet:

Sierra Giraud, a forester in Lancaster, NH, feels a strong connection to the woods through her work and her exploration of the natural world on the weekends.
John Moses traded high-priced, West Coast city living for a rewarding job in a sawmill and a home of his own near the mountains of northern New Hampshire.
Rachel Freierman has put down roots in the White Mountains, where she works as an outdoor educator and runs a small farm in Bartlett, NH.
Helon Hoffer hikes to his work as a trail manager for the US Forest Service. He is passionate about skiing, biking and taking his young children outside to explore.
Jesse Wright appreciates the sense of community that has formed around farming and forest stewardship in northern New Hampshire. She has worked at the intersection of land conservation and agriculture, supporting local growers in the Mount Washington Valley.
Eli Smith divides his year between creative arts and backcountry skiing. He draws inspiration from nature and expresses it in the pottery he creates at his wheel.

The filmmaker, Asher Brown of Lyme, NH, is a recent graduate of Middlebury College. He spent a day with each of these subjects and has captured their enthusiasm for challenging careers related to the region’s working landscape.

The Northern Forest Center believes in the potential of the region’s communities, people and landscape to support a New Forest Future. Take a look at these short films to see the New Forest Future in action.

Original article posted on 06/11/2020

Reconnecting People and Forests

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Reimagining Our Cities

Cities, Forest Products, Innovation, Mass Timber

Cities have a climate problem

Thankfully, they have an ace up their sleeve: Forests.

Today, more than 50 percent of the world lives in a city. By 2050, that number is expected to climb to 70 percent.

As our cities continue to grow, so do the challenges they face: increased pollution and waste; increased demands on aging infrastructure; a growing need for affordable housing; a widening socio-economic gap; and a changing climate that sees the costs for clean air, water, and more continue to rise.

Cities have long been labs for innovation. So, while these challenges continue to stack and increase in complexity, they also represent one of the most compelling opportunities in a generation to reimagine the way society lives, works, and plays --moving our cities from climate problems, to climate solutions.

And thankfully, cities have an ace up their sleeve: forests.

Forests Have Solutions.

Built and run on solar energy, forests are home to the most technologically-advanced material and processes we have. They provide building materials, innovative compounds and components, essential products, renewable energy, and air and water filtration all in one convenient package.

As such, forests represent the most effective, scalable, and sustainable ‘technology’ we can employ as we rise to meet the challenges of a rapidly urbanizing population. Working in partnership with other renewables, bioenergy is helping us reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. Wood skyscrapers made from mass timber are reducing the use of carbon intensive materials in our buildings. And wood and fiber based packaging is increasingly replacing the use of plastics and other non-renewable materials in the products we rely on every day.

Forests hold solutions to some of the most pressing challenges facing society today. For our cities, that means cleaner air and water, less waste, fewer emissions, and a new skyline built from natural materials.

Michael Green: Architect of the Future.

Recognizing the opportunity [read: impending need] for these solutions in our cities, Michael Green is pushing the limits of sustainable architecture using mass timber to create beautiful, affordable, resilient, climate-positive buildings optimized for storing carbon. This is a climate game-changer for cities.

As one of the earliest and most prominent champions of mass timber architecture and forest solutions, Michael Green is working with some of the world’s most iconic brands, tech companies, and construction disruptors to bring these solutions to cities around the globe.

One building at a time, he’s working to reimagine our cities for the future.

Forests: Reimagining Our Cities.

The challenges presented by rapidly urbanizing populations are just a fraction of the increasingly complex challenges we face as a society. And mass timber is just one of those solutions. Like climate change, there is no silver-bullet -- however, there are few tools more powerful or better positioned to be implemented at scale than those solutions found in our forests.

If we embrace a bioeconomy that prioritizes natural, renewable, and sustainable alternatives for everything from the essential products we use day to day to how we power our lives, we have the potential to not only reimagine our cities, but rethink our climate future and build a lasting connection between society and the importance of taking care of our greatest natural resource: our forests.

Reimagining Our Cities

Mass Timber

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Community, Forest Management, Forest Products, Innovation

New Technology for Vermont’s Oldest Industry

Start-Up Whiteout Solutions Piloting Forest Inventory and Mapping Technology in Northeast Kingdom

Vermont’s first sawmill opened in 1738, nearly a century before the first chainsaw was invented, not to mention cars or telephones. And it was at least 150 years before that sawmill had electric lighting. Technological solutions have been slow in coming to the forest products industry, but a Northeast Kingdom start-up is hoping to change that.

Whiteout Solutions, based out of the DO NORTH Coworking Space in Lyndonville, Vermont, has developed a new forest mapping technology using LIDAR sensors attached to drones. According to co-founder Matt Clark, their system hits a sweet spot between manual surveying and LIDAR sensing on airplanes, providing highly detailed, digital information in real-time.

“Good data informs good decision-making,” said Clark, who ultimately envisions a statewide digital forest database. “Our technology captures detailed data about a forest, including tree species, diameter, understory characteristics, wetland locations, and emerging forest health issues—information that can be used for multiple scenarios.”

Clark and co-founder Christine Heinrich believe that data can be used to inform important decisions about Vermont’s most prized natural resource: its forested landscape. A real-time digital inventory could help inform everything from the timing of a timber harvest to quantifying carbon sequestration. The company is also working on a pilot program in Burke to inventory roadside ash trees, as town planners prepare for the arrival of the Emerald Ash Borer.

“Advancements in forest inventory, specifically the measurement of trees and characterization of forest stocking, has not made any great strides since the early 1950s,” said Calendonia/Essex county forester Matt Langlais, “and still requires individual trees to be measured by a forester on site. While I don’t see this technology replacing the work of foresters, I do see it empowering us with better information and ultimately better decision making capabilities.”

Age-Old Problems, New Technologies

With backgrounds in Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping and software development, Clark and his business partner, Christine Heinrich, founded Whiteout Solutions with the goal of “solving age-old problems with new technologies.” The pair worked closely with 911 in the early 2000s as landlines were replaced with cell phones. “People still assumed that a 911 operator would know their location when they called,” said Heinrich, “so we had to build a solution for that transition.”

Christine Heinrich and Matt Clark, Whiteout Solutions — Christine Heinrich and Matt Clark founded Whiteout Solutions at their office in the DO NORTH Coworking Space in Lyndonville, VT. Photo by Erica Houskeeper.

Using what they had learned about mapping technology, Heinrich and Clark began talking with loggers and foresters in the Northeast Kingdom where they live and quickly realized that a similar solution could have applicability for the forest industry.

“Building an accurate forest model is very labor intensive,” said Clark. “Foresters are essentially gathering information visually and recording data manually on a sample set of maybe 10 to 30 percent of a parcel and then making assumptions about the remaining 70 percent. The only other technology previously available was a sensor attached to an airplane, which provides broad swaths of information from high altitude, and that tends to be cost-prohibitive for most landowners.”

Clark and Heinrich began building a new model from the ground up. They developed a remote sensing technology that could be used on slower, low-flying drones to capture detailed data on parcels anywhere from 50 to 5,000 acres. Then they set about creating a software that would instantly translate those data points into a 3D model of the parcel.

“We can survey a 200-acre parcel in 30 minutes and capture 99% of the information available,” said Clark, “and we can do that for $5 to $15 per acre depending on the final reporting needed.” The kinds of data points they are able to collect include individual tree diameter and species, watershed runoff, slope and grade of the earth, whether the understory is made up of soft bedding, road, rock or wetland, and any evidence of disease.

“Once we have the data, we can run multiple scenarios to answer a wide variety of questions,” said Clark. “Is there a harvestable stand? What is the best location for a road in order to have the least impact on the environment? What is the real value of the land?”

A Tool for Foresters, Not a Replacement.

“It sounds cool. I want to use it,” said Mike Snyder, commissioner of Vermont Forests, Parks and Recreation. “In the tradition of technology allowing people to do their jobs better and faster, I’m all for it. However, there is no substitute for having a knowledgeable forester in the woods integrating all the variables. We don’t just identify vegetation as bird habitat, we stop and listen for the birds too.”

Clark and Heinrich are quick to agree. “The idea of using LIDAR sensors to assist with forest inventory is not new and was never intended to replace the work of professional foresters. We are simply making that tool more approachable, applicable and affordable.”

They point out that, currently, forest planning relies on manually recorded data submitted in static reports. Armed with LIDAR sensors attached to drones, and real-time 3D modeling, foresters are able to capture more data faster and use the reporting to support the ongoing, big picture goal of maintaining healthy and productive forests.

“Better data, better dialogue, better decisions,” said Snyder. “It’s one of our mantras at the department and I can definitely see applications for this kind of technology, as long as we remember that forests are diverse and dynamic, and reporting will always be more complete with human eyes on the ground.”

Case Study: Burke Emerald Ash Borer Inventory

Last fall, Langlais gave a presentation to the Town of Burke Conservation Commission on preparing for the Emerald Ash Borer. Municipalities are responsible for ensuring public safety within the public rights of way, and many Vermont roadways are lined with ash trees likely to become hazardous as disease sets in. The first step in planning and budgeting, Langlais informed the commissioners, is a roadside ash inventory. Traditionally, that kind of survey would be done by volunteers recording data tree by tree.

Clark, who was in the audience, offered to use Burke as a pilot project to conduct the inventory using their new technology, which was quickly accepted.

“Volunteer data collection is a tall order when you consider that Vermont has almost 16,000 miles of roads,” said Langlais. “A drone fitted with LIDAR, GPS and thermal imaging that can quickly determine which trees are in the town’s right of way, which are ash trees, and the diameters of those trees for budgeting removals offers a very efficient and effective means to cover that 16,000 miles, so I think Whiteout is definitely on to something that can have a big impact.”

Presently, less than 30 of Vermont’s 255 towns have done roadside ash tree inventories.

“There is technology to be applied in forests and some interesting problems to be solved,” said Clark. “Since we built this technology from scratch, we can custom create data collection to answer very specific questions.”

For more information about Whiteout Solutions, please visit www.whiteoutsolutions.com or call (800) 388-0935.

See original post and learn more about Vermont Forest Industry Network.

Original article by Christine McGowan, Forest Products Program Director at Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund.

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Forest Champion Spotlight | The Emmerson Family

Sierra Pacific Industries

Heroic strength. Unflappable bravery. A commitment to doing what’s right. Wearing a cape. This is what it takes to be a guardian.

Right?

The Emmerson family got started 70 years ago as a small sawmill operation in California. Today, their company Sierra Pacific Industries owns and manages over 2 million acres of forest across the West, employs 5,2000 people, and has donated over a million dollars a year for the last decade to community non-profit organizations and education scholarships.

Cape or no cape, the Emmerson family is showing the world that sustainable forest management means more than just planting trees. It’s about thinking beyond tomorrow and planning for the future. Not just the future of the land, but the future of these communities, and the future of the men and women who are the heartbeat of Sierra Pacific.

Swap spandex and super powers for guardianship spanning generations and you have true modern day guardians in the Emmerson Family and Sierra Pacific.

Reconnecting People and Forests

Careers, Products

The Crew

On its surface, forest products manufacturing looks very different than it did 100 years ago. But, behind the machines and the new technology is a group of skilled, dedicated, and hardworking individuals who make it all possible.

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