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Forest Update
 

December 2020
Happy Holidays!
The holidays are upon us! Our wish for the public is that while they sip their eggnog or hot chocolate by the fire while admiring their real Christmas tree, they remember the hard-working forest landowners, tree farmers, foresters, timber harvesters, and forest product professionals that brought warmth and decoration to their homes this holiday season.

Thanks to all of you for your support in 2020. So Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy New Year - however you celebrate, the board and staff of the Massachusetts Forest Alliance thank you for your support this year and wish you a very safe and happy holiday season!
Please Support The Annual Fund!
Massachusetts Forest Alliance members and sponsors recently received our Annual Fund donation request in the mail recently (or will any day now). 

As you know, MFA relies on contributions to the Annual Fund to help support our critically important advocacy and educational work, as our membership dues (which were reduced by a third last year) cannot fund the full scope of our efforts. We know that this year has been challenging for everyone. But we're hoping we can still count on you to join with us and lend your support to MFA or our 501(c)(3) affiliate, the Massachusetts Forest Trust (MFT).

Note that this year, as part of COVID-19 relief, Congress made donations to nonprofits (of up to $300 total) tax-deductible for all taxpayers - even those that don't itemize their tax returns!. This means you can donate up to $300 at no net cost to you - you can pay that $300 to the government in taxes or to MFT and receive a charitable tax deduction. But this opportunity is only for donations made before December 31.

If you've misplaced your donation form, would prefer an invoice for your business, or have questions, please contact Chris Egan at cegan@massforestalliance.org or 617-645-1191. Thank you for your support!
DCR Forest Health Webinar Series
DCR Forest Health is offering a series of webinars on common Massachusetts forest health issues. Some of the webinars have taken place, but others are still upcoming, including Oak Wilt Disease on December 10, Asian Longhorned Beetle on December 15, and Southern Pine Beetle on December 17. Note that the webinars are free, but registration is required.

You can find a flyer with information about the webinars by clicking here, and can find a registration link on the DCR website.
Wildlands AND Woodlands Webinar
The subject of forest conservation will take center stage in a webinar focused on Wildlands and Woodlands on December 15 from 4 pm - 5:30 pm. The webinar will feature Bob Perschel, Executive Director of the New England Forestry Foundation (NEFF) and Jon Leibowitz, Executive Director of the Northeast Wilderness Trust (NWT) as they share the value and imperative of working together to conserve critical forests in New England and beyond. Jon and Bob will be joined by Kristin DeBoer, Executive Director of Kestrel Land Trust, who will introduce the discussion and speakers, moderate the Q&A, and join the discussion.

While NEFF and NWT address forest conservation in different ways, they both will advance the case that wildland and woodlands landscapes are critically important solutions to preserving a healthy planet for all of its inhabitants.

Bob and Jon will discuss their perspectives on their organizations’ efforts and step into each other’s shoes (or hats) to better understand the other’s point of view and the value of an integrated approach to conservation. The result: a more complete picture of forest conservation in the northeast and its one-of-a-kind role in serving the planet and its inhabitants.

For more information and to register for this free webinar, click here.
RIFCO Slash Wall
Our friends at the Rhode Island Forest Conservator Organization (RIFCO) own a woodlot that they use for demonstration projects. In collaboration with USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), they recently created a slash wall around a newly-created wildlife habitat cut. One issue with creating early successional forest habitat is that the regenerating trees can be eaten by deer, slowing their growth significantly or even killing them. This can be a serious problem in places like eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island where deer populations are larger than in more rural areas (likely due to less hunting).

One potential solution is a slash wall. By piling slash around the habitat cut in piles that are ten feet wide and five or six feet tall, deer cannot enter to eat the saplings. By the time the slash wall rots away, the young trees will be tall enough to gain protection from deer browse.

You can read an article about the slash wall in the National Woodland Owners Association (NWOA) magazine by clicking here. NRCS also created a webpage with more information and a well-crafted video that you can find here.
Support Us With Your Holiday Shopping!
This year, make your holiday shopping count by using AmazonSmile to support the Massachusetts Forest Trust, our nonprofit affiliate. Simply by shopping at Amazon, you can make a donation - at absolutely no cost to you!

Setup is easy and takes seconds - just click here to select the Massachusetts Forest Trust as your selected charity. Then, just start your shopping at smile.amazon.com and you'll generate donations when you purchase eligible items. It's simple, easy, and can make a real difference.

AmazonSmile works in the app on your phone, too. You'll need to enable that after you follow the steps above. Just go to the app and click the three lines in the bottom right corner. Then choose "Settings" in the menu, and tap on AmazonSmile and with a tap or two you're good to go!

Please take just a few seconds to sign up today!
New Healthy Woods App
A new mobile app makes receiving research-based woodland management information as easy as reaching for the phone. HealthyWoods, a collaborative effort between forest specialists from Kentucky and other hardwood-producing states in the Appalachian region, provides woodland owners with a convenient tool to scout the health of their woods.

Users answer a series of questions and can upload pictures from their phones. Questions deal with such things as how the canopy looks, how healthy the trees are, what the understory looks like and whether invasive species are present.

After completing the questions, the user immediately receives a report geared to their management goals, whether that’s timber production, recreation or attracting wildlife. If called for, the report includes suggestions for improving the stand. It also provides contact information, if the owner wants to bring in a professional to help guide management. The user can save the report as a PDF that can then be emailed. They also can review previously saved reports online to see their progress.

HealthyWoods is available for free for iPhone and Android devices.
Climate Change CEO Principles Signed
A group of national forest products companies, leading national environmental organizations, and national forest landowners groups came together to sign a list of principles regarding using private working woodlands as a natural climate solution. There are a series of commonsense principles that the CEOs of the groups all agree on - and agreement between these diverse parties wasn't always the case in the past, so this is noteworthy.

To see the full list of principles, click here.
NYT Examines Forest Networks
The New York Times on Sunday ran an article called "The Social Life of Forests" which focuses on the underground network of fungi that connect trees to one another. Trees exchange resources and messages through the fungal middleman.

There is much to still be learned about these networks. The is some evidence that the fungi act as as a sort of broker and withhold resources from trees that don't share as much as others. The resources shared by trees aren't enough to save trees that were outcompeted as forests mature (when tree mortality can be high), but there is interesting research showing that resources can be exchanged across tree species.

Read the article here (subscription may be required).
Local Wood Webinar Series
Massachusetts Woodlands Institute, New England Forestry Foundation and Northern Woodlands present the Local Wood: Grow, Build, Live webinar series. The series will explore examples of how to grow, build, and live with beautiful and sustainable local wood products at different scales—from furniture to homes to institutional buildings. You will hear from presenters about their experiences working with local and regional wood, what role the material and forestry can play in a sustainable economy, and new technologies and applications for wood products that can help mitigate global climate change and spur innovation.

Three 90-minute webinars will explore these themes through conversations between the presenters and staff leaders at Massachusetts Woodlands Institute and NEFF. 

Some additional details about the webinars:
  • Tree to Table | January 20, 2-3:30 p.m. | Explore the connections between sustainable forestry and craft woodworking using NEFF’s new conference table as an example.
  • Woods to Home | February 24, 2-3:30 p.m. | Learn about the process of building a home with locally harvested lumber and the benefits of using local wood products.
  • Forest to Cities | March 2021, date and time to be determined | Learn how engineered wood products allow us to build bigger with wood, and how this new technology is an effective alternative to carbon-intensive concrete and steel construction.
The webinars are free, but pre-registration is required. Click here to learn more and to register.
Upcoming Events
December 8           Mitigating Deer Impacts on Woodlands - webinar

December 8           Forest Health: Emerald Ash Borers - webinar

December 8           Forestry & Sugarbush Management - webinar

December 8           Maple Conference Week - webinar series

December 8           Valuing Your Land Financially and Ecologically - webinar

December 10         Building Sustainably With Mass Timber - webinar

December 10         Forest Health: Oak Wilt Disease - webinar

December 11         Chestnut Science Summit - webinar

December 15         Wildlands AND Woodlands - webinar

December 15         Forest Health: Asian Longhorned Beetle - webinar

December 15         Forests and Carbon Markets - webinar

December 17         Forest Health: Southern Pine Beetles - webinar

December 17         Winter Tree Identification - webinar

Additional information about these and other events will be posted at www.massforestalliance.net/calendar as information becomes available.
Copyright © 2020 Massachusetts Forest Alliance, All rights reserved.


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