Reflections on 12 years at the Forest Stewards Guild

Written by Amanda Mahaffey

In April, I will be transitioning from the Guild to a new employer. I love the Guild and all it stands for. I love my coworkers and colleagues and Guild members I’ve had the privilege of walking with in beautifully managed forests all across the country. I am indebted to all of you for what I've learned through rich experiences with you. I know that in moving on from the Guild, I will be leaving it in excellent hands. Read More

Mature and Old Growth Science Summit: Climate-Informed Forestry to Foster Resilient Ecosystems 

Written by Zander Evans

The Forest Stewards Guild was well represented at the recent Old-Growth Science Summit in Washington, DC. Marianne Patinelli-Dubay, Bill Keeton, and Eric Holst all presented, and Katie Fernholz facilitated the Summit. Read More

February marked the close of Season 4 of the Fueling Collaboration panel discussion series. This interactive, facilitated series addresses hot topics in wildland fire science and management. Read More

Upcoming Events

Want Forest Stewards Guild members to know about an event? Have a webinar or project idea? Let us know! Email colleen@forestguild.org. Also, check out our webinar library of recorded webinars you may have missed!

Welcome New Members

Professional members

Affiliate members

Student members

Organizational Sponsors

Thank you to our organizational sponsors! Your support is essential to fulfilling our mission of putting the forest first.

Membership updates

If you currently have a gift membership, or are not a member and like our work, please join today! 

We are here and happy to help with membership status, questions, and concerns. We'd also love to hear what you value about your Guild membership at any time. Send an email to membership@forestguild.org or call 608-395-4724.

How you can help with your dollar

Our match campaign continues! Your gift through the end of the year will be matched for double the difference you make for forests. Please give to the Guild in any amount, and you'll be giving back to forests. We encourage becoming an organizational sponsor or joining our Stewards Circle anytime. 

Please share our Platinum GuideStar Profile with anyone looking for an upstanding charity.

Notes

Last month and this month, there are so many opportunities for you to provide your input! See below...

Please consider filling out a survey on the workforce challenges and diversity barriers in the forestry sector. This survey is for you if you are working, employing workers, or earning credentials or a degree to enter the forest and natural resources sector in the U.S. This study is meant to include students, foresters, mill workers, office staff, academics, loggers, trainees, and everyone in between

Please consider filling out a newly released survey in support of a project to Explore the Potential Effects of an Expanding Forest Carbon Market. The survey seeks input on strengths, weaknesses, and anticipated outcomes from forest carbon markets as well as insight into where additional information is needed to support informed decision making. Results from the survey will be analyzed anonymously and used with an aim of determining what is working well for forests and people, and what changes are needed to ensure all forest products, services, and values can continue to be available for current and future generations. The survey will take approximately 12 minutes to complete, with responses accepted through March 25th, 2024. Find more information about the project on the Dovetail Partners website.

The Maine Forest Service is always evaluating their effectiveness and reach with respect to their education and outreach efforts across all three divisions of MFS. Your responses to this survey will help them hone in on the best times, topics, and avenues for providing information about their programs, and design programs around what folks would like to hear about Maine’s forests and beyond.  

The Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry’s Maine Forest Service (MFS) is pleased to announce the availability of grants for community forestry projects under the Urban and Community Forestry Inflation Reduction Act Grant Program. Through the Project Canopy, an MFS program, a total of $1,000,000 in grants will be offered to support projects in: Assistance Planning and Education, Planting and Maintenance, and Inflation Reduction Act Urban & Community Forestry. Deadline: May 15.

We are happy to share member and partner news, celebrations, requests for help or collaborations. If you have notes to share with our readers, please send them to membership@forestguild.org.

Pubs

Tradeoffs and synergies of optimized management for maximizing carbon sequestration across complex landscapes and diverse ecosystem services. New research find that "changes in forest management can lead to improved outcomes for both carbon and other forest ecosystem services"

Birds of the Burn: Avian Community Variation Five Years Post-Fire in Warm–Dry Mixed Conifer, Southwest Colorado. A new study from Colorado finds "evidence of avian community differentiation by burn severity, suggesting that management practices promoting heterogenous stand structure in warm–dry mixed conifer will positively influence avian biodiversity."

Fire regimes of the Southern Appalachians may radically shift under climate change. "In ecosystems where fuel moisture (and not load) is the standard limitation to fire spread, increased pulses of drought may provide the conditions for more fire activity, regardless of effects on fuel loading."

Land use change and forest management effects on soil carbon stocks in the Northeast U.S. Few studies have examined the impact of management on soil carbon, one of the largest carbon pools in northeastern forests. To address this, NIACS team members helped author this new soil carbon assessment paper focused on the Northeast with partners from American Forests, Weyerhaueser, the National Council for Air and Stream Improvement, the USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station, and the Forest Service Office of Sustainability and Climate. This paper concluded that land use change is causing significant changes in soil carbon in the Northeast, while forest management has no effect. This is the fifth paper in a series of ecoregional soil carbon management assessments, with the other papers covering the Pacific Northwest, South Atlantic, Great Lakes, and Central Appalachian/Mid-Atlantic regions.

New York Forest Carbon Assessment - researchers at the Climate & Applied Forest Research Institute (CAFRI) at SUNY ESF developed and deployed a map-based carbon monitoring system that leverages open data and tools (including USFS FIA) for stock-change GHG inventory consistent with IPCC guidelines. They used these tools to complete the first New York Carbon Assessment which estimates stock-changes at variable spatial and temporal scales, and translates stock-change maps into IPCC-based carbon accounting. To learn more, you can read the report, watch a webinar, or read about the research methods.

Jobs

Check out the Guild's jobs page today and return often for updates. The Guild is hiring for several positions now!