At the University of Maine’s Center for Research on Sustainable Forests, a group of scientists from academia and private institutions have come together to form the Forest Climate Change Initiative (FCCI). The purpose of FCCI is to build connections among researchers, scientists, stakeholders, legislators, and the interested public on climate change issues around forests. Despite…
By Logan Johnson Forests for Maine’s Future (FMF) began in October of 2010 by publishing 18 stories to FMF’s “Fresh from the Woods Archive.” Since then, we’ve published over 100 articles that tell stories from the Maine Woods. Topics range from forest ecology all the way to the communities that depend on forests and everywhere…
By Maren Granstrom *Editor’s note: Forester Maren Granstrom voluntarily submitted this article to Forests for Maine’s Future and Maine TREE to highlight the “Forestry for the Future” video she produced as part of her Master’s of Science work at the University of Maine’s School of Forest Resources. Maine TREE claims no ownership of the video and…
Each year at Maine TREE’s Holt Research Forest in Arrowsic, college interns from around the globe get the opportunity to spend their summer in the forest collecting data for a catalog of over 35 years of continuous monitoring. Despite these extraordinary times, Maine TREE and Holt Research Forest hosted another group of interns in 2020….
Forests have always faced threats. From natural disturbances like hurricanes and wildfires to native pests and diseases like spruce budworm to shifts in climate over the millennia. Humanity has been a threat: think about how quickly forests in a large part of Maine were cleared in the 1700s and 1800s to make room for agriculture,…
Warming temperatures, less snowfall pose new challenges for northeastern species Winter can be a challenge. For people. And trees. It’s no surprise that the tropics and subtropics host a lot more types of trees. And that they grow bigger and faster than in the northern temperate zone. Twenty-five acres of Borneo rainforest can have more…
By Joe RankinForests for Maine’s Future writer Forests aren’t static. They’re dynamic. Since trees colonized the rubble left by the glaciers’ retreat 12,000 years ago, the forest has shifted and reshaped itself many times. Jim Shaffer examines a pineNow the planet is heating up and scientists are trying to anticipate how things will change. Some…
By Joe Rankin Forests for Maine’s Future Writer Autumn, or at least the fall foliage part of autumn, is rapidly disappearing in the rear view mirror. One day is golden — and red and maroon and orange — and then a fall nor’easter blasts through, stripping the color from the trees. Fall in New…
By JOE RANKIN Forests for Maine’s Future Writer Something’s not right. That’s what my MacBook tells me when I’ve got a wonky internet connection. It’s also the phrase that pops unbidden into my head in early to mid-June when I look out the window and see yellowing needles on the white pines that fringe my…
Have you ever noticed how many cemeteries have the word forest in their name? Forest Lawn is perhaps the best known. But usually, there’s no forest. A few trees, maybe, but mostly headstones lined up in ranks like soldiers. It’s kind of like a subdivision where they name the streets after tree species that have…
