Forestry and the Environment

Temperature maps

UMaine Report Updates Climate Challenges, Encourages Proactive Preparation

Editor’s note: The story was updated April 8, 2015.  Continuing or accelerating warming of the atmosphere and ocean. Intense precipitation events. Rising sea levels. These are signs of climate change, and all of them are affecting Maine people, according to Maine’s Climate Future: 2015 Update, a new report from the University of Maine. Recent consequences […]

Read more

Woodsmen’s Team, Forestry Students to Volunteer for Belfast Wood Bank

A dozen students from the University of Maine Woodsmen’s Team and Society of American Foresters Student Chapter will volunteer their services for Maine’s newest wood bank in Belfast on Feb. 14. At Maine Grilling Woods in Waldo, the students will help chop nine cords of firewood that was purchased through a fundraising effort by Waldo […]

Read more

Pendse Awarded Funds to Encourage Involvement of Females in Forestry

Sheila Pendse, a project development associate in the Dean’s Office of the University of Maine College of Engineering, is leading a project that aims to engage female middle school students from rural Maine communities in forest bioproducts research programs and STEM careers. The Engineering Information Foundation recently awarded Pendse $12,540 to create a Sustainable Energy […]

Read more

Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Conservation Biology Celebrates New Name

The University of Maine’s Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Conservation Biology (WFCB) formally recognized its new name and celebrated the department’s tradition of education and research at a recent event. The division, previously known as the Department of Wildlife Ecology, officially changed its name in September 2014 to better reflect its current graduate and undergraduate […]

Read more

Carnegie Foundation Classification

Carnegie Foundation Selects UMaine for 2015 Community Engagement Classification

The University of Maine is one of 240 colleges and universities in the United States selected to receive the 2015 Community Engagement Classification of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. UMaine and 156 other institutions received reclassification; 83 colleges and universities received first-time classification. In 2008, UMaine and Bates College were the first […]

Read more

Helping Farmers Make Informed Soil Health Decisions Focus of Mallory’s Research

Ellen Mallory, a sustainable agriculture specialist with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension and a professor in the School of Food and Agriculture, is leading a project that aims to help inform farmers’ decisions about adopting soil health strategies. The yearlong project, “Building knowledge, skills and networks for soil security in Maine,” received a $44,442 […]

Read more

Falkland Islands

UMaine Researchers to Travel to Falkland Islands

Learning more about the biodiversity of the Falkland Islands and what can be done to preserve it is the focus of a planned trip for three University of Maine researchers. Jacquelyn Gill, an assistant professor of paleoecology and plant ecology in the University of Maine’s School of Biology and Ecology and Climate Change Institute (CCI), […]

Read more

Spruce Budworm Outbreak Preparation Focus of UMaine Conference

To help forest managers prepare for the next spruce budworm outbreak, the University of Maine’s Cooperative Forestry Research Unit (CFRU) is hosting a Spruce Budworm Workshop on Thursday, Oct. 30 at the Wells Conference Center. Nearly 150 foresters from more than 25 CFRU member organizations will attend the conference to hear about the latest research […]

Read more

Three Students Receive Top Honors in Forestry, Wildlife Ecology

Lara Katz, a senior from Arlington, Virginia majoring in wildlife ecology, with minors in anthropology and psychology, is this year’s Robert I. Ashman Scholar, the top academic award in UMaine’s forest resources and wildlife programs. Growing up in the suburbs of Washington D.C., Katz began her wildlife career volunteering at the Smithsonian National Zoo where […]

Read more

nanofibrils

UMaine Scientists Developing Green Adhesive Made of CNF, as Well as a Plant to Produce Large Quantities of Wood-Based Fibers

University of Maine researchers have been awarded $700,000 to develop eco-friendly particleboard panels with adhesive made of cellulose nanofibrils (CNF), as well as design a commercial-scale plant to manufacture the CNF. With one $350,000 grant, UMaine scientists Mehdi Tajvidi, William Gramlich, Doug Bousfield, Doug Gardner and Mike Bilodeau, as well as John Hunt from the […]

Read more