Forest Resources

NYT profiles work of conservation biologist Charney

May 24, 2024 Noah Charney, an assistant professor of conservation biology at the University of Maine, was featured in a profile by the New York Times for his work on understanding and interacting with landscapes. Charney practices reading the land around him — its past, present, potential for the future by picking up on patterns […]

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School of Forest Resources receives Austin H. Wilkins Forest Stewardship Award

The School of Forest Resources at the University of Maine will receive the Austin H. Wilkins Forest Stewardship Award for the impact the school’s teaching and research has made on Maine’s working forests.  The award is given by the Maine TREE Foundation in partnership with the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry. It recognizes […]

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Field manual for managing eastern white pine health in New England published

The Maine Agricultural and Forest Experiment Station has published MP764: Field Manual for Managing Eastern White Pine Health in New England. Authors William H. Livingston, UMaine Isabel Munck, USDA Forest Service Kyle Lombard, NH Division of Forests & Lands Jennifer Weimer, NH Division of Forests & Lands Aaron Bergdahl, Maine Forest Service Laura S. Kenefic, […]

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hare

Responses of Canada lynx, snowshoe hares, spruce grouse, and forest songbirds to forest management in commercially managed landscapes in the northeastern U.S.

Maine has the largest population of U.S. federally threatened Canada lynx in the lower 48 states, which specialize on the snowshoe hare as a primary prey species. Maine’s forests support the largest spruce grouse population in the eastern U.S., and with >50% of the spruce-fir forest in the coterminous U.S., these forests provide >95% of […]

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Bear Brook Watershed

Forest soils of Maine in an environment of change

The underlying biogeochemical processes that support forest ecosystem function and, therefore, the ecosystem services they provide, are not adequately understood. This leads to uncertainties in the sustainability of ecosystem services (e.g., the sustainability of forests with increased use for biomass energy, the continued supply of high-quality freshwater from lakes and streams in a changing climate) […]

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pond

Sustainable human-forest interactions in Maine

Human dimensions of natural resources have become a recognized component of management that is just as necessary as ecological study. As the state of Maine faces emerging issues such as increased development, growing motorized recreation use, and changes in supply and demand for forest resources, this research fills a critical need. The coupled human-forest interactions […]

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nanocellulose

Large volume applications of cellulose nanomaterials

Maine is traditionally forest products industry oriented. One way to keep the tradition going is to develop new forest products that can be commercialized and compensate for the declining sectors such as paper industry. With more and more mills closing or re-purposed, the public is anxious to learn if the forest industry is still viable. […]

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nanocellulose

Renewable nanocomposites made from lignocellulosic fillers and transparent polymer matrices

Recent advances in the production of nano-scale materials from renewable forest-based resources provide new opportunities to positively affect the nation’s economy and overcome the shortcomings of other nano-scale materials that require imported rare earth metals, need high energy inputs, and are difficult to scale up. Novel renewable forest-based nanocomposites may enable the development of new […]

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forest products

Increasing Maine forest product diversity

The improved ability to evaluate suitability of Maine wood species for new markets and applications can help provide consistent demand for wood from sustainably managed Maine forests, which in turn will help sustain the economies of rural communities that rely on the forest products industry. The continued viability of a vibrant cluster of forest products […]

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