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Understanding Southern New England Forests
How to promote long-term health and resilience through stewardship

Click photos for more information!

This website offers resources to learn about stewarding
southern New England woodlands

To find out more about us and our goals: check out the "About Us" and "Our Region" pages

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To find out more about forests, foresters, and reasons for forest management: check out the "Forestry Explained" pages which focus on the many benefits our forests provide.

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For a collection of informative materials: check out the "Resources" page

Please join us in learning more about forests in this era of climate change!

Pine management (pine seed tree harvest) emulates disturbance
Connecticut hardwood forest in fall (N. Piche).jpg

What's new?

International Oak Symposium

Science-based management for

dynamic oak forests

Oct 7-10, 2024

Knoxville TN

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Yale Forestry Forum Fall 2023 lineup

Climate-Smart Forestry in Practice

Webinars take place Mondays September 11 – November 27 from 12:00 pm – 12:50 pm U.S. ET.

 

Speakers are from public-sector organizations like the U. S. Forest Service, nonprofits, researchers, and academics from across the U.S., as well as “on-the-ground” practitioners. They explore the following questions: How can forests be managed to be resistant to fires, storms, pests, and other acute risks that are exacerbated by climate change? What are the tradeoffs between managing forests for climate adaptation, climate mitigation, and other goals for producing goods and services and protecting ecological health? How can climate-smart forestry (CSF) help keep communities safe and resilient and provide economic opportunities? How do policies and markets influence CSF and its outcomes? and more!

 

The Fall Speaker Series is hosted by The Forest School at the Yale School of the Environment, the USDA Northeast Climate Hub, and the USDA Southeast Climate Hub, and co-sponsored by the Yale Center for Natural Carbon Capture.

Registration is free. Use the following link to register for all dates:
https://yse.to/fall2023yff

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Recommended Reading

from the Yale School of the Environment:

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Healthy Forests: 'It's never about Cutting an Individual Tree'​

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The Forest School’s Mark Bradford, professor of soils and ecosystem ecology and Joseph Orefice, lecturer and director of forest and agriculture operations at Yale Forests, weigh in on what constitutes a healthy forest in this region; what role healthy forests play in climate change mitigation; and how to protect and maintain Northeastern forests in the face of climate change, pests, pathogens, and forest degradation.

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Read it here

Writing to your legislator

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YSAF members have found variety of reasons recently to reach out to their legislators including, but not limited to...

  • Forest-related legislation has been put forward on the state level, but was found by foresters to be lacking in sufficient background knowledge underpinning the recommendations. 

  • Some foresters have shown their work to legislators and other drivers of policy to better inform them of what is going on in the woods and how a forester impacts the ecosystem. Sometimes a walk in the woods is worth a thousand words!

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If you feel the need to reach out to your legislator, but you don't know where to begin, you might start with this template for a letter from a forester to their legislator:

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Template Letter

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To find your state representative in the House of Representatives, start here.

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To find a representative in Congress, start here.

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If you have questions, don't hesitate to reach our to us. We've reached out a few times, and taken a few folks on walks.

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