1 00:00:01,810 --> 00:00:03,160 - Hi, everybody. 2 00:00:03,160 --> 00:00:07,030 We have officially made it to the end 3 00:00:07,030 --> 00:00:11,250 of the 2021 FEMC Annual Conference. 4 00:00:11,250 --> 00:00:15,420 I know that historically, if you're like me, 5 00:00:15,420 --> 00:00:17,960 you've really enjoyed the FEMC Conference as a way 6 00:00:17,960 --> 00:00:22,960 to be able to connect with colleagues, old friends, 7 00:00:23,080 --> 00:00:28,080 and also to have an opportunity to mingle and maybe identify 8 00:00:28,440 --> 00:00:32,020 new potential collaborators and partnerships. 9 00:00:32,020 --> 00:00:32,930 And so I know, 10 00:00:32,930 --> 00:00:36,210 especially as the second year in a row that we have pivoted 11 00:00:36,210 --> 00:00:40,550 to a remote format that has sucked a little bit of the joy 12 00:00:40,550 --> 00:00:45,130 out of what this conference usually means for all of us. 13 00:00:45,130 --> 00:00:46,800 But at the same time, 14 00:00:46,800 --> 00:00:49,760 I think it's kind of poignant that the theme for this 15 00:00:49,760 --> 00:00:52,810 year's conference was re-imagining forested communities 16 00:00:52,810 --> 00:00:54,600 in a time of disruption. 17 00:00:54,600 --> 00:00:58,240 So originally when we started planning for this conference, 18 00:00:58,240 --> 00:01:01,100 I really thought of this from a very forest centric 19 00:01:01,100 --> 00:01:04,970 perspective, very much in terms of the forest ecosystem 20 00:01:04,970 --> 00:01:08,400 and the communities that it supports. 21 00:01:08,400 --> 00:01:13,400 But now I realized that we also are a professional community 22 00:01:13,780 --> 00:01:18,780 of people who work to really sustain this forest ecosystem 23 00:01:19,660 --> 00:01:21,270 that we depend on. 24 00:01:21,270 --> 00:01:23,543 And we are also in a time 25 00:01:23,543 --> 00:01:27,450 of great disruption, both professionally and personally. 26 00:01:27,450 --> 00:01:31,050 So I just in particular, wanted to again, 27 00:01:31,050 --> 00:01:36,050 give a big shout out to the FEMC staff for really being able 28 00:01:36,130 --> 00:01:40,680 to pivot us from what we had hoped would be an in-person 29 00:01:40,680 --> 00:01:43,750 or hybrid conference to this online format 30 00:01:43,750 --> 00:01:46,140 and how much effort it took 31 00:01:46,140 --> 00:01:47,660 to make sure that this would go smoothly. 32 00:01:47,660 --> 00:01:49,220 I still am terrified of course, 33 00:01:49,220 --> 00:01:51,060 that the technology will fail us in some way, 34 00:01:51,060 --> 00:01:53,710 but hopefully it has worked well for you 35 00:01:54,680 --> 00:01:58,533 and you have been able to feel engaged and 36 00:01:58,533 --> 00:02:01,010 that you're able to actually participate. 37 00:02:01,010 --> 00:02:05,460 I also want to thank all of our speakers for being willing 38 00:02:05,460 --> 00:02:09,330 to share their knowledge and expertise and perspectives. 39 00:02:09,330 --> 00:02:11,510 When you're looking at a computer screen 40 00:02:11,510 --> 00:02:15,638 and we don't have the applause or ability 41 00:02:15,638 --> 00:02:19,010 to interact as much with people after our talks. 42 00:02:19,010 --> 00:02:23,260 But I did want to highlight again how impressed I was 43 00:02:23,260 --> 00:02:27,320 with the lineup of presenters that we had this year. 44 00:02:27,320 --> 00:02:31,230 I'm always particularly impressed by the diversity 45 00:02:31,230 --> 00:02:34,620 of disciplines that are represented at this meeting, 46 00:02:34,620 --> 00:02:37,960 the diversity of perspectives and approaches 47 00:02:37,960 --> 00:02:40,920 to all of us, really working towards the same goal. 48 00:02:40,920 --> 00:02:45,570 How do we maintain these resilient forested ecosystems 49 00:02:45,570 --> 00:02:47,420 and communities when we are facing 50 00:02:47,420 --> 00:02:49,890 so much change at the current time? 51 00:02:49,890 --> 00:02:52,040 So I just wanted to highlight a few of the things that I was 52 00:02:52,040 --> 00:02:55,510 able to curate as I sat here, absorbing all of it. 53 00:02:55,510 --> 00:02:57,570 And again, this is still ongoing. 54 00:02:57,570 --> 00:02:59,250 I've had, you know, just a couple minutes, 55 00:02:59,250 --> 00:03:02,350 bear with me while I just share some of the things 56 00:03:02,350 --> 00:03:06,283 that I thought were particularly poignant, 57 00:03:07,953 --> 00:03:10,590 just in terms of sharing different approaches. 58 00:03:10,590 --> 00:03:14,050 Erica Swendson was our plenary speaker yesterday morning, 59 00:03:14,050 --> 00:03:18,540 and I really appreciated her perspective on being able to 60 00:03:18,540 --> 00:03:23,540 engage local communities in the stewardship of their forest. 61 00:03:23,690 --> 00:03:27,220 And she provided quite a few examples of how this has worked 62 00:03:27,220 --> 00:03:28,840 in an urban setting, 63 00:03:28,840 --> 00:03:30,840 but I think that there's real opportunity there 64 00:03:30,840 --> 00:03:33,240 for all of us working across the Northeast 65 00:03:34,454 --> 00:03:37,040 to think more about how our regional partnerships, 66 00:03:37,040 --> 00:03:40,590 for example, those of us working here together, you know, 67 00:03:40,590 --> 00:03:43,790 with the FEMC Collaborative, the larger collaborative, 68 00:03:43,790 --> 00:03:47,340 how can we maybe work to engage more 69 00:03:47,340 --> 00:03:50,960 of our local communities to really increase the impact 70 00:03:50,960 --> 00:03:55,313 that we have and our ability to respond to change? 71 00:03:56,200 --> 00:03:59,230 Similarly, I thought that Jordan Tourville's talk 72 00:03:59,230 --> 00:04:02,893 on migration of the treeline was a great example 73 00:04:02,893 --> 00:04:06,580 of how the forests are also responding to change. 74 00:04:06,580 --> 00:04:10,220 We respond, we manage, we adapt, 75 00:04:10,220 --> 00:04:12,660 but the forest are also doing their own thing. 76 00:04:12,660 --> 00:04:14,960 And the evidence that he presented about change we're 77 00:04:14,960 --> 00:04:18,443 already seeing, I thought was particularly interesting. 78 00:04:19,530 --> 00:04:23,480 Also Sarah Wisner presented her modeling her refugee 79 00:04:23,480 --> 00:04:27,710 and modeling as a way to further inform management 80 00:04:27,710 --> 00:04:30,380 as we are helping these ecosystems adapt. 81 00:04:30,380 --> 00:04:33,280 And what I found particularly interesting about this 82 00:04:33,280 --> 00:04:35,710 approach is that it could be applied across taxa. 83 00:04:35,710 --> 00:04:39,410 So we're not really just focused on a forest refugia, 84 00:04:39,410 --> 00:04:42,270 but what about habitat refugia and thinking 85 00:04:42,270 --> 00:04:45,670 about this as something that we all might be able to learn 86 00:04:45,670 --> 00:04:47,653 from and incorporate into our work. 87 00:04:48,650 --> 00:04:51,453 Similarly, oops, sorry, wrong direction, similarly, 88 00:04:52,310 --> 00:04:54,520 I thought that it was really interesting thinking 89 00:04:54,520 --> 00:04:58,790 about how we approach adaptive management and Julia Burton. 90 00:04:58,790 --> 00:05:01,390 Our plenary speaker this morning was focusing 91 00:05:01,390 --> 00:05:04,270 on deontological traits, functional traits. 92 00:05:04,270 --> 00:05:06,600 How can we make sure that we're not just thinking 93 00:05:06,600 --> 00:05:10,660 about species diversity or structural diversity when we are 94 00:05:10,660 --> 00:05:13,190 planning for adaptive management so that we can make sure 95 00:05:13,190 --> 00:05:16,730 that we do have ecosystems that are truly resilient? 96 00:05:16,730 --> 00:05:19,640 So it's sort of a different way of thinking about adaptive 97 00:05:19,640 --> 00:05:22,440 management that wasn't always at the forefront of my mind. 98 00:05:22,440 --> 00:05:26,520 Julia also provided the first big belly laugh that I've had 99 00:05:26,520 --> 00:05:28,920 at a conference in a long time and made me perhaps a little 100 00:05:28,920 --> 00:05:32,560 bit I'm happy that I was muted when she had this figure, 101 00:05:32,560 --> 00:05:33,860 sorry, down in the bottom left here, 102 00:05:33,860 --> 00:05:35,680 they Run Forrest Run, oh my gosh, 103 00:05:35,680 --> 00:05:37,930 I happen to be a Forrest Gump fan. 104 00:05:37,930 --> 00:05:40,040 And I just thought that was, that was great. 105 00:05:40,040 --> 00:05:41,683 So keeping it light, thank you. 106 00:05:42,830 --> 00:05:47,830 We also had several sessions that were presenting new tools 107 00:05:48,100 --> 00:05:50,590 or techniques that we might be able 108 00:05:50,590 --> 00:05:53,130 to incorporate into the work that we do. 109 00:05:53,130 --> 00:05:56,370 Adam Zylka presented some of the work from the spatial 110 00:05:56,370 --> 00:06:00,737 analysis lab at UVM in it using drone technology. 111 00:06:00,737 --> 00:06:01,840 And in particular, 112 00:06:01,840 --> 00:06:05,700 this fuse LIDAR multi-spectral imagery to really be able 113 00:06:05,700 --> 00:06:07,580 to map forest disturbance, 114 00:06:07,580 --> 00:06:11,870 and in this case, defoliation in terms of severity, extent, 115 00:06:11,870 --> 00:06:15,080 but then also be able to track response. 116 00:06:15,080 --> 00:06:17,820 So maybe we can see how forests are responding 117 00:06:18,803 --> 00:06:22,570 on a faster timeframe and at a higher sort of detail level 118 00:06:22,570 --> 00:06:25,480 of detail than we usually get from the monitoring efforts 119 00:06:25,480 --> 00:06:27,430 that we have, so really interesting again, 120 00:06:27,430 --> 00:06:30,320 to think about how we might be expanding that work into our 121 00:06:30,320 --> 00:06:31,743 forest health monitoring. 122 00:06:32,890 --> 00:06:37,890 And Pia Ruisi Besares, our FEMC project manager 123 00:06:38,420 --> 00:06:41,040 presented on one of the new FEMC tools 124 00:06:41,040 --> 00:06:44,330 that just came out on climate indicators. 125 00:06:44,330 --> 00:06:47,220 So we know that there are a lot of people out there that are 126 00:06:47,220 --> 00:06:51,450 collecting data that are relevant to the impacts of climate 127 00:06:51,450 --> 00:06:55,070 change and being able to monitor and assess those impacts. 128 00:06:55,070 --> 00:06:58,650 But what I think is particularly great about this new tool 129 00:06:58,650 --> 00:07:01,300 is its ability to help us identify gaps. 130 00:07:01,300 --> 00:07:04,390 So where do we have information that we can use 131 00:07:04,390 --> 00:07:06,120 and how can we pull that data together, 132 00:07:06,120 --> 00:07:09,610 but also where are we missing information either in terms 133 00:07:09,610 --> 00:07:12,850 of the metrics that we're collecting or the spatial 134 00:07:12,850 --> 00:07:16,060 distribution at which we are able to gather that data? 135 00:07:16,060 --> 00:07:18,990 So this is the kind of work that I think we really need to 136 00:07:18,990 --> 00:07:23,990 have a more complete picture of how our forest ecosystems 137 00:07:24,120 --> 00:07:26,430 are responding to stressors 138 00:07:26,430 --> 00:07:28,610 and in particular climate change. 139 00:07:28,610 --> 00:07:32,610 So I'm looking forward to seeing more work done 140 00:07:32,610 --> 00:07:36,100 within that tool as well, to bring together these metrics. 141 00:07:36,100 --> 00:07:40,040 So the other thing that our plenary speakers in particular 142 00:07:40,040 --> 00:07:42,660 were able to do was not just present their good work, 143 00:07:42,660 --> 00:07:46,973 but also sort of reflect on what the grand challenges are 144 00:07:46,973 --> 00:07:49,320 that lie ahead of us. 145 00:07:49,320 --> 00:07:52,173 And Nancy kicked us off yesterday morning, 146 00:07:52,173 --> 00:07:54,910 Nancy Mathews kicked us off talking about how we really do 147 00:07:54,910 --> 00:07:57,820 need to increase our connections and our resiliency as a 148 00:07:57,820 --> 00:08:00,610 forest ecosystem, but as well as a professional community. 149 00:08:00,610 --> 00:08:03,620 And I think that was what sparked me thinking 150 00:08:03,620 --> 00:08:07,610 of our community of professional foresters, 151 00:08:07,610 --> 00:08:11,640 community outreach coordinators as land managers, 152 00:08:11,640 --> 00:08:14,950 decision makers, we really are also in a time of change. 153 00:08:14,950 --> 00:08:19,020 And we need to be thinking about our ability to adapt 154 00:08:19,020 --> 00:08:22,693 to our work environment and the limitations 155 00:08:22,693 --> 00:08:24,570 that are placed before us. 156 00:08:24,570 --> 00:08:27,850 Jim Duncan, if you take this out of context, 157 00:08:27,850 --> 00:08:30,530 it seems like we already do this he's question that he posed 158 00:08:30,530 --> 00:08:33,690 was how do we move beyond simply responding to change? 159 00:08:33,690 --> 00:08:36,750 I think from a forestry perspective, 160 00:08:36,750 --> 00:08:41,100 we are moving more and more towards adaptive management 161 00:08:41,100 --> 00:08:44,620 and we do try to be proactive in our planning, but again, 162 00:08:44,620 --> 00:08:47,150 if you think about this across a broader context 163 00:08:47,150 --> 00:08:50,930 of our communities, as well as our colleagues, 164 00:08:50,930 --> 00:08:54,230 how can we more proactively make sure that the work we're 165 00:08:54,230 --> 00:08:58,530 doing is having impact and how can we continue 166 00:08:58,530 --> 00:09:01,500 to connect with each other, and with our stakeholders? 167 00:09:01,500 --> 00:09:04,720 Jim always also provides the gem, 168 00:09:04,720 --> 00:09:06,530 but I don't think we've made it through a conference 169 00:09:06,530 --> 00:09:09,550 without something on the theme of archiving your data, 170 00:09:09,550 --> 00:09:11,310 but I put it up here and not just 171 00:09:12,450 --> 00:09:14,150 to be funny, but that it really, 172 00:09:14,150 --> 00:09:17,380 when we are in a time of change and in particular, you know, 173 00:09:17,380 --> 00:09:22,160 people come and go and projects start and stop. 174 00:09:22,160 --> 00:09:25,240 If we can make sure that we're all actually stewarding our 175 00:09:25,240 --> 00:09:28,750 data as well, we can really make sure that our information 176 00:09:28,750 --> 00:09:32,363 as a collective network can continue to have impact. 177 00:09:33,680 --> 00:09:35,280 Julia Burton, again, 178 00:09:35,280 --> 00:09:38,420 thinking kind of outside the box and how do we adapt 179 00:09:38,420 --> 00:09:40,210 our approach to adaptive management, 180 00:09:40,210 --> 00:09:43,060 and should we be thinking beyond some of the more, 181 00:09:43,060 --> 00:09:46,120 just traditional metrics that we use 182 00:09:46,120 --> 00:09:47,490 to inform our decision making? 183 00:09:47,490 --> 00:09:48,760 So that was just sort of interesting 184 00:09:48,760 --> 00:09:52,663 to think about our entire approach to forest management. 185 00:09:53,670 --> 00:09:56,080 And then back to Erica Svendsen, 186 00:09:56,080 --> 00:09:58,820 full circle, very philosophical. 187 00:09:58,820 --> 00:10:00,873 This question resonated with me. 188 00:10:00,873 --> 00:10:04,880 How do we engage all of our capacities 189 00:10:04,880 --> 00:10:07,180 and cultivate new potential? 190 00:10:07,180 --> 00:10:09,040 So I think that we're pretty good 191 00:10:10,053 --> 00:10:11,660 at highlighting what we do well, 192 00:10:11,660 --> 00:10:14,840 and we have an idea of knowing what we don't know 193 00:10:14,840 --> 00:10:16,880 and what we do know, and we need to know, 194 00:10:16,880 --> 00:10:19,320 but this idea of cultivating new potential, 195 00:10:19,320 --> 00:10:23,720 particularly in the context of her work is something that 196 00:10:23,720 --> 00:10:27,660 I think, especially in terms of the FEMC, it does resonate. 197 00:10:27,660 --> 00:10:29,920 So how can we as a collaborative, 198 00:10:29,920 --> 00:10:31,660 this regional collaborative, 199 00:10:31,660 --> 00:10:34,620 how can we increase our capacity 200 00:10:34,620 --> 00:10:38,550 and cultivate that new potential particularly, 201 00:10:38,550 --> 00:10:39,660 and maybe working more 202 00:10:41,333 --> 00:10:42,920 with local stakeholders and engaging 203 00:10:43,813 --> 00:10:47,133 our community of collaborators to do that as well? 204 00:10:48,303 --> 00:10:52,680 So hopefully you also were able to glean some gems from the 205 00:10:52,680 --> 00:10:56,230 sessions you were able to attend, where do we go from here? 206 00:10:56,230 --> 00:11:00,160 I do encourage everyone to please stay connected 207 00:11:00,160 --> 00:11:03,790 if there is one silver lining to COVID, it's that 208 00:11:03,790 --> 00:11:07,310 I think we're all much more technologically savvy now. 209 00:11:07,310 --> 00:11:08,320 Just as an example, 210 00:11:08,320 --> 00:11:11,220 we now have a conference resource Padlet. 211 00:11:11,220 --> 00:11:14,900 I've put the link to that up in the top of the chat. 212 00:11:14,900 --> 00:11:18,550 This is a great way for you to share with everybody else 213 00:11:18,550 --> 00:11:21,320 anything that you have going on that you think would be 214 00:11:21,320 --> 00:11:22,870 interesting to others, for example, 215 00:11:22,870 --> 00:11:25,420 are there job postings you'd like to advertise, 216 00:11:25,420 --> 00:11:27,520 funding announcements that you know about, 217 00:11:28,432 --> 00:11:29,600 other news or upcoming events 218 00:11:29,600 --> 00:11:31,510 that you think people would be interested in, 219 00:11:31,510 --> 00:11:33,810 please do feel free to visit that Padlet 220 00:11:34,903 --> 00:11:37,820 and contribute your thoughts there. 221 00:11:37,820 --> 00:11:41,240 Similarly, you should be receiving a request 222 00:11:41,240 --> 00:11:43,870 to fill out the post-conference survey. 223 00:11:43,870 --> 00:11:47,910 This is a survey that we do use every year to figure out 224 00:11:47,910 --> 00:11:51,690 how we can make the conference a better experience 225 00:11:51,690 --> 00:11:56,400 for all of you, and also increase our collective impact 226 00:11:56,400 --> 00:11:57,540 as a collaborative network. 227 00:11:57,540 --> 00:12:00,870 So please do take the time to fill that in. 228 00:12:00,870 --> 00:12:04,100 And I did also put a link to that in the chat already. 229 00:12:04,100 --> 00:12:07,410 If you'd like to preempt the email. 230 00:12:07,410 --> 00:12:09,324 Along those same lines, 231 00:12:09,324 --> 00:12:11,320 if you did participate in a working session, 232 00:12:11,320 --> 00:12:13,950 these are typically projects that are ongoing 233 00:12:13,950 --> 00:12:17,770 and you might expect to be hearing from the organizers 234 00:12:17,770 --> 00:12:19,070 of some of those working sessions. 235 00:12:19,070 --> 00:12:20,630 And I really do encourage you 236 00:12:21,993 --> 00:12:24,090 if that was of interest to you 237 00:12:26,013 --> 00:12:29,400 to consider joining in those ongoing efforts. 238 00:12:29,400 --> 00:12:34,250 So with that, I just, again, want to say, thank you. 239 00:12:34,250 --> 00:12:36,063 So many thank yous out there. 240 00:12:37,440 --> 00:12:38,765 And Jerry, I'm so sorry to hear 241 00:12:38,765 --> 00:12:40,760 that you had the tech issues. 242 00:12:40,760 --> 00:12:44,410 We will continue to improve that as well. 243 00:12:44,410 --> 00:12:47,410 But a big thanks to the forest service as always 244 00:12:47,410 --> 00:12:51,630 for continuing to fund the FEMC and this conference. 245 00:12:51,630 --> 00:12:54,090 To our conference committee for helping us 246 00:12:54,090 --> 00:12:58,330 really hone in on a very timely theme 247 00:12:58,330 --> 00:13:00,640 to focus on and helping to identify speakers 248 00:13:00,640 --> 00:13:04,850 that could really make that an informative theme 249 00:13:04,850 --> 00:13:06,530 and conference for us to build on. 250 00:13:06,530 --> 00:13:09,140 I want to thank all the presenters, 251 00:13:09,140 --> 00:13:11,990 those who led the working group sessions 252 00:13:11,990 --> 00:13:14,410 for adapting to this format, and honestly, 253 00:13:14,410 --> 00:13:17,840 to all of you who did attend and who stuck through all 254 00:13:17,840 --> 00:13:22,430 of this in spite of the Zoom fatigue, so with that, 255 00:13:22,430 --> 00:13:24,690 I wish you all a fabulous weekend 256 00:13:24,690 --> 00:13:29,240 and a restful holiday season, and please do stay in touch. 257 00:13:29,240 --> 00:13:30,313 Thank you, everybody.