For generations, majestic American chestnut trees flourished and provided food and wood for people from Maine to Florida. These 100-foot “redwoods of the East” were called perfect trees. They grew fast and produced nutritious chestnuts for people and animals. And their straight-grained and rot-resistant wood was ideal for building houses and barns and crafting furniture. […]
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The Times Record interviewed Angela Mech, assistant professor of forest entomology at the University of Maine, about the concentration and dangers of the browntail moth caterpillar in the state. The dark brown caterpillars can be identified by their white stripes and red and orange dots. According to the article, they have toxic hairs that, when […]
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When Maren Granstrom learned what a forester friend in Rockland did for a living — spend days outside and talk with people about trees — she decided that was the job for her. So the Vermont native enrolled at the University of Maine and earned a master’s in forestry. And she took part in a […]
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The Intelligent GeoSolutions (IGS) team at the University of Maine’s Center for Research on Sustainable Forests (CRSF) has released a free interactive mapping tool, the Forest Ecosystem Status and Trends (ForEST) app, to provide online decision support to private and public forest managers, natural resource agencies, conservation organizations and other stakeholders. With the current outbreak […]
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Adam Daigneault and colleagues will be working with people in forest-dependent communities to build paths toward prosperity. The University of Maine E.L. Giddings Assistant Professor of Forest, Conservation, and Recreation Policy will utilize a $105,030 grant from the U.S Forest Service to strengthen northern border towns’ resilience and to enhance their economic development. Many northern […]
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Incentivizing both sequestration and avoidance of emissions— using a carbon rental or carbon tax and subsidy approach — versus only a carbon tax encourages protection of natural forests by valuing the standing stock, according to a new study led by Georgia Institute of Technology. In their study, the research team — Alice Favero, associate director […]
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Adam Daigneault is analyzing how Maine’s working forests and farms can also be employed to mitigate greenhouse gases (GHG) that are warming the planet. The University of Maine E.L. Giddings Assistant Professor of Forest, Conservation, and Recreation Policy is identifying cost-effective and impactful practices — think commercial thinning and no-till farming — for a United […]
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New federal funding for research on the region’s forest ecosystem and economy will allow the University of Maine Center for Research on Sustainable Forests (CRSF) to continue co-leadership of the Northeastern States Research Cooperative (NSRC) with Vermont, New Hampshire and New York. NSRC, created by Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont in the 1998 Farm Bill […]
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Maine’s forests and their associated wood products may offset as much as 75% of the state’s annual fossil fuel carbon emissions, and the highest carbon stock densities are in wetlands and salt marshes, according to a new University of Maine-led analysis. This initial assessment, “The State of Maine’s Carbon Budget,” analyzed available information to calculate […]
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The Washington Post talked with Stephen Shaler, director of the School of Forest Resources and associate director of the Advanced Structures and Composites Center, for its story “Forget the log cabin. Wood buildings are climbing skyward — with pluses for the planet.” Shaler said, “There’s not a silver bullet out there” with regards to mass […]
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