Forestry and environmental sciences at UMaine
Transcript
Steve Shaler:
The forest is important to every person in this state, whether their job is there, whether they recreate there, whether they just know that that beautiful forest is in their backyard.
Pat Strauch:
A huge economic engine for the state of Maine.
Steve Schley:
18 to 20 cents out of every dollar that flows through the Maine economy.
Sandra De Urioste-Stone:
$8.3 billion generated by nature-based tourism.
Steve Schley:
The university, because of its land grant mission, stays focused on how natural resource management serves the state. All of that knowledge and resource is available to those who ask the right questions.
Steve Shaler:
All this change, all the new technology, all the new ways of thinking about things rather than just keep doing it the old way. It’s a wonderful time to be part of.
Steve Schley:
The pulp and paper industry is still very, very strong here.
Mike Bilodeau:
It’s one of the few places that you can take your idea from concept to commercialization all in one facility.
Nadir Yildirim:
The deal is using the tree 100 percent.
Hemant Pendse:
And turning it into new products, like crude oil or bioplastics.
Sean Ireland:
These are the materials of the next century.
Sarah Nelson:
Maine’s identity is tied to freshwaters around the state.
Ivan Fernandez:
A drop of rain trickles down through a forest canopy, down the bowl of the trees into the soils and comes out a purer, more usable water. That has value to society.
Bill Livingston:
The future sustainability of the Maine forest is dependent on its health.
Malcolm Hunter:
Healthy forests require healthy populations of wildlife.
Joe Zydlewski:
When the migratory fish are in fresh water they’re really forest creatures and are a critical part of how that seasonal breathing, in and out, of nutrients occurs.
Kate Ruskin:
Understanding how these birds are going to respond informs how all ecosystems are likely to respond to global change.
Pat Strauch:
Maine is helping us create the kind of students that we need in order to be very savvy about technology.
Carter Stone:
We’re giving foresters better toolkits to do their job easier and much more efficient over a larger scale.
Sandra De Urioste-Stone:
We’re linked. We cannot be separated from the environment. All that we do is going to eventually influence — positively or negative — how the system is going to function.
Bill Livingston:
The forest is Maine.
Steve Shaler:
The beauty of Maine is that we have a sustainably managed forest, a large amount that’s right there, that’s close to big markets.
Steve Schley:
We’re incredibly blessed that the university stays focused on its land grant mission. One of the things that we have and are very fortunate about is, if not the top forestry school in the country it’s top five, for sure. It has been for years. The university recognizes that and won’t let it go. We won’t let them let it go. It’s a real advantage to the state.