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Hi everyone.

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I am a new master's student here at UVM

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at the Rubenstein School,

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and I'm just starting my second career.

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I was fortunate enough

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to find my way into this research project

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with my advisor, Cecilia Danks,

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and it's funded through NSRC

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and we're partnering with FPR

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and with the Urban and
Community Forestry Project.

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So I'm super excited to be here

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and have this opportunity
so early in my new career

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at the beginning phase of this project,

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and to talk with you all and
meet a whole bunch of people.

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Today's been really inspiring

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to hear all these great
talks up on this stage,

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I feel a little humbled,

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but as I begin in this field,

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and it's really great timing,

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I guess really, kind of the last talk

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of the day in this track.

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This is really forward-looking,

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so it's the beginning of this project

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and I'm really am looking

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to get your feedback and your input.

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This project is aimed
at supporting you all

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and helping towns.

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So it's thinking about the
municipally owned forest lands

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and helping to make
critical land use decisions,

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particularly when we think about Act 59

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and 30x30 climate change

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and Vermont's, you know,
changing population

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as we just heard in the previous
talk about parcelization

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and second homes and all of that.

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So this is the really
early days of this project.

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Hopefully, I'll be invited back next year

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to talk more about it
when we get further along.

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And just to make it a
little bit interactive,

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keep you on your toes,

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a little bit later in the presentation,

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it is gonna be kinda
quasi-interactive with a mini survey,

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which is kind of in lockstep

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with what the whole project is about.

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So this is the structure of the talk.

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Very quickly, just
gonna do an introduction

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and some background.

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Talk a little bit about
the census approach,

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a little bit more into the methodology,

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go through the challenges
that we're starting to see,

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the products and the significance.

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And as I mentioned, your input.

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Is that working? Okay, great.

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So the enabling legislation

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for towns to own forested
land was over a century ago,

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about 1916 from what I understand.

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And since then, we've
seen transition from that

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being about timber to conservation.

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And that movement has been
growing in the town forest,

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and we think, probably
within the last decade,

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a couple dozen new town forests.

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So I'll talk a little bit more

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about understanding that total list.

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In 2017, the Vermont Forest Action Plan

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spotlighted town forests for
their value to the populations

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from anything from
wellbeing, to watershed,

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sustainable forestry and connectivity.

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And then during the pandemic, you know,

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we all know that gave us a new perspective

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on our communal outdoor spaces,

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so I think town forests
are really important.

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So as I mentioned this
year with Act 59, 30x30,

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so that puts a new focus on conservation,

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and we think that town forests

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are a really important part of that goal

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and that initiative

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and the target of
getting to 30% conserved.

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Note that municipally owned forested land

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doesn't necessarily mean
that it's formally conserved.

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So that's an area of focus.

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So I'm gonna talk a little
bit about the recent work

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that this project is gonna build on.

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An important foundational
inventory was done in 2009

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and it was updated in 2015

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by the UVM SAL Spatial Analysis Lab.

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And they found that 68,000 acres

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are municipally owned forests
across 168 cities and towns.

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And this is reflected now in
the Protected Lands Database

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managed by VCGI,

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but they found that, so that's
a little bit of a misnomer,

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but they found that less than 20%

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had a formal conservation easement.

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So they're sort of implied protected,

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but there is a risk for them
to be sold or developed.

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And then in 2021,

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there was a Vermont Town
Forest Governance project,

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surveys and focus groups
to understand who manages

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and the challenges that
they have with oversight.

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And then another important recent work

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was the Northern Forest Center

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and the University of
New Hampshire Extension

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inventoried and surveyed their
town forests in New Hampshire

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in the last couple of years.

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So this is a really important body of work

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that we're leveraging and understanding

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how they executed that.

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So we'll build on that, as well.

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So we do know that the
updated 2015 inventory

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of Vermont Town Forest is, you know,

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we've been working with those people

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and it's likely an under count

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and it hasn't been diligently
maintained since then,

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so this is our opportunity
to get that updated.

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And then we were gonna
launch into a survey,

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as well as the inventory,

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to just really understand

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broader than just the town
forest governance issue,

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but looking into what
the other issues may be.

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So I wanna talk about the
word census a little bit,

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and this is really important,

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and then I'll give a fuller sense

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of the project phases and components.

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But the term census is really key,

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because we mean every
town and every forest.

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And just like the US Census,

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this is meant to be replicated

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every so many number of years,

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and we're thinking about
how often that will be.

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But you know, thinking
about it being a census

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means that every other phase
of the project we, you know,

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we have some ramifications of
how to properly set that up

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so that it it can be replicated

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and that we are reaching
out to every single town

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and every single town forest.

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So as I mentioned,

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it's important that we set
this up to be repeated,

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you know, a baseline,

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but then watching trends over time.

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And, sorry, I lost my place.

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One of the neat things
about repeating it is to see

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if more lands are getting
formally conserved over time

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and how that plays out with, you know,

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supporting the communities
or ecosystem services.

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So I'm gonna talk a little bit more

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about the team in the next slide,

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but developing a diverse team
has been really important

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across the state,

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as well as across a lot
of different disciplines

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and expertise.

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So we spend a lot of
time developing a team.

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And then when we think about inventory,

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so this is another phase
that we're just starting on,

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which is building a whole new list

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and the mapping of the town forests.

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And again, like I said,

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we have to think about how
this is gonna be set up

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to be maintained and used in the future.

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So the survey is gonna
go out to all the towns,

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and I'll talk a little bit
more about the methodology

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and some of the challenges with that,

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and then the economics.

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So the field of ecosystem services

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has really been exploding over
the last couple of decades,

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and we really wanna do a full assessment,

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economic assessment in ecosystem services,

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to get a really good baseline,
not just the typical numbers,

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you know, and monetary
values that we look at,

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but also starting to think

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about cultural ecosystem services

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that I think we've
talked a lot about today.

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So I mentioned a minute ago
about building a diverse team,

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and so on the left, you'll
see this as the core team

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that came up with this project

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and sought the funding for it.

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And then very quickly,

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we realized we needed
an Advisory Committee.

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So I'll say that I haven't
had the opportunity

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to meet everybody that you're gonna see

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populate on this slide,

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but I'm hoping to meet a
bunch of these people today

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and I've met them virtually.

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So we've got this Advisory Committee,

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as well as a bunch of consultants.

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And the importance is,

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what I wanna point out here

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is that we really have been reaching out

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to try to get a lot of
different voices and expertise

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across the state, local
level, state-level agencies,

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public, private sector,

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rural voices, urban
voices, Indigenous leaders,

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ecologists, foresters,
you know, you name it.

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And so I'm really, really honored

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to be working with these people

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and they're already
giving us a lot of input.

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I will also say that we are
missing a critical role,

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which maybe somebody in the
room can fill this role,

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which is somebody who
represents the town forest,

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somebody who is on a
conservation commission.

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We're really looking for that person

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who would be the person who
would complete our survey.

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And particularly, we're looking for voices

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in the more rural areas of Vermont.

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So going a little bit
deeper into the methodology

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that I touched on our different
components of our project.

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So building our universe
has become our term

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for how we're gonna create this list

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of everything that's in scope,

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everything that's
classified as a town forest.

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And that definition, you know,

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wasn't necessarily all
that straightforward.

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So we have figured out, you know,

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what we're considering in scope,

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and then how we go after, you know,

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really mapping all of that

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and getting all of the
partial information.

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So we have a GIS expert on
our team, Dr. Laura Edling,

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who has already started to focus on this

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and really, really excited to, you know,

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work with some people
who've done this previously

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and build a new list from the ground up

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so that we make sure that
it's accurate and thorough.

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And that's really the
point of a census, right?

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It's just to make sure that
we've got the whole scope of it.

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So finding the voices.

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So I mentioned, you know,

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the work we've put into building

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the Advisory Committee list team,

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but then another phase
is gonna be making sure

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that we've got the voices of the people

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who are gonna answer our survey, you know,

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and so that list of people is, you know,

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is gonna be ever-changing

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and there isn't one place
to go to for that list.

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So really using our networks

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and finding the people who
can support this project

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and work with us on this survey.

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And we want it to be a two-way street.

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So we wanna find these people
and help them understand

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that we're getting all this information

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so that we can understand
what town forests

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look like across the state

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and we can also enable, you
know, pushing out resources

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and matching people together

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and peer learning between
the towns, as well.

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So asking and listening refers

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to actually developing the survey.

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And that's ongoing right now

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and we've had some really great input

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from our Advisory Committee already on,

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whoa, three minutes, on
what the survey looks like.

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So we just need to really balance it with,

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you know, a thorough survey,

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but something that can
be easily completed.

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So in the interest of time,

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I'm gonna move a little bit faster.

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Valuing the benefits
is really just talking

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about the economic assessment

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and just trying to
think of ways, you know,

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not just market-driven and monetary ways,

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but you know, thinking about
all the ecosystem services

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and how to capture that.

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So this is just a really quick slide

262
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on an idea of the survey topics.

263
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This is not an exhaustive list

264
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and this is a work in progress right now,

265
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but you know, we're interested in feedback

266
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from everybody of, you know,

267
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are these the right topics
to be talking to towns

268
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about the issues with their town forests.

269
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So we're excited to get
feedback on that today.

270
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So I've touched on a
couple of the challenges,

271
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and again, I'm starting to run
a little bit short on time,

272
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so, you know, just to recap
a little bit, you know,

273
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we're interested in
getting a complete list

274
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of all the town forests across the state.

275
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We really have to think about the survey

276
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is going to the towns

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and they're answering at the town level

278
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or if they're answering
for each individual forest.

279
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So that's a concern that we're looking at,

280
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making sure that the survey
is completed by every town.

281
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That's 100%, that's the census goal,

282
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as I mentioned, you know,

283
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how we value cultural ecosystem services,

284
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benefits from nature,

285
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and then really making sure

286
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that we're gonna share this really widely,

287
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because you know, it's
important that we do this work

288
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and then we get it all back out there.

289
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And then as I said, you know,

290
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making sure that this is
gonna endure over time,

291
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that it's not just a one-shot deal

292
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that we're setting something
up that can be replicated.

293
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Oh, I missed, so this is the QR code,

294
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so this is where you all come
in, a little interactive.

295
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If you don't wanna use your
phones and the QR code,

296
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I do actually have a few
paper copies, as well.

297
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And so it's a very, very simple survey

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and the first question really

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just helps you understand like,

300
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that question could be
asked a few different ways.

301
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I've asked it in that survey of, you know,

302
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tell me your top three,

303
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but it could be a rank
order of all of those

304
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or it could be a Likert,

305
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and these are some of the
challenges that we're facing

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and that we're working with
our Advisory Committee on.

307
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You can imagine all those survey topics

308
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that I mentioned in the previous slide,

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and we have to go
through each one of those

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and think about the best
way to ask the question

311
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so that we get the answers and the data

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that will be helpful to everyone.

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So if you wanna take that quick survey,

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it only takes one minute,

315
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and we've got a break right after this,

316
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so it's perfect timing.

317
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And if you wanna be involved

318
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or you wanna just stay in the
know about what we're doing,

319
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there's an opportunity for you to sign up

320
00:14:25,050 --> 00:14:26,790
for an email list there.

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So really encourage that

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and hoping to get input

323
00:14:30,090 --> 00:14:32,040
so that we can make this a better project

324
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based on what everybody's
telling us is needed.

325
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Here's the products

326
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that hopefully I'll come back
to you all in a year with,

327
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a lot of great information
about what we have found.

328
00:14:44,070 --> 00:14:45,700
How am I doing on time?

329
00:14:45,700 --> 00:14:47,010
[Employee] You have time for questions.

330
00:14:47,010 --> 00:14:50,100
Okay, and that's just a run
through of the significance,

331
00:14:50,100 --> 00:14:52,740
hopefully I've touched on that.

332
00:14:52,740 --> 00:14:53,940
Thank you very much.

333
00:14:53,940 --> 00:14:55,500
This was a great opportunity

334
00:14:55,500 --> 00:14:57,180
so early in my career to present,

335
00:14:57,180 --> 00:14:59,094
I really appreciate it.

336
00:14:59,094 --> 00:15:02,011
(crowd applauding)

337
00:15:04,080 --> 00:15:06,153
Questions, I will try my best.

338
00:15:13,890 --> 00:15:15,466
Oh, good. Oh, one.

339
00:15:15,466 --> 00:15:16,715
[Attendee] Just one.

340
00:15:16,715 --> 00:15:20,423
So my understanding is this
is like the first sentence

341
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of understanding all of the
town-owned forests in the state.

342
00:15:25,307 --> 00:15:26,190
[Presenter] That's right.

343
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[Attendee] We really
don't have a handle on it.

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There was a previous survey that was done,

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it didn't necessarily reach every town

346
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and it was focused on
the governance structures

347
00:15:36,810 --> 00:15:41,100
of town forests, and this is
a little bit broader look,

348
00:15:41,100 --> 00:15:41,933
yeah.

349
00:15:43,320 --> 00:15:44,850
Thanks for the clarifying question.

350
00:15:44,850 --> 00:15:45,720
Yes?

351
00:15:45,720 --> 00:15:48,038
[Attendee] Can you elaborate
on why it's so tricky

352
00:15:48,038 --> 00:15:50,216
to get down the definition
of a town forest?

353
00:15:50,216 --> 00:15:53,787
'Cause on the outside, it
seems like (indistinct).

354
00:15:53,787 --> 00:15:55,470
Yeah, that's a great question.

355
00:15:55,470 --> 00:15:56,790
I will attempt to answer that,

356
00:15:56,790 --> 00:15:59,640
and Cecilia, if you wanna
weigh in, please feel free.

357
00:15:59,640 --> 00:16:02,010
So sometimes towns
actually don't even know

358
00:16:02,010 --> 00:16:06,030
that they own some forested
land, that's one thing.

359
00:16:06,030 --> 00:16:08,910
It could be a town forest
that like, has a nice label

360
00:16:08,910 --> 00:16:11,340
and it's, you know, got a
parking lot and it's got trails

361
00:16:11,340 --> 00:16:13,350
and everybody recognizes
it as a town forest.

362
00:16:13,350 --> 00:16:16,200
But there can also be town
forests that are landlocked

363
00:16:16,200 --> 00:16:18,780
and nobody really knows that it's there.

364
00:16:18,780 --> 00:16:20,250
It can be the perception

365
00:16:20,250 --> 00:16:23,160
of whether it's conserved
or not conserved.

366
00:16:23,160 --> 00:16:25,440
There are water districts
and school districts

367
00:16:25,440 --> 00:16:28,320
and tribal town forests, as well.

368
00:16:28,320 --> 00:16:31,290
So we really had to
think about all of those

369
00:16:31,290 --> 00:16:33,570
and decide, you know,

370
00:16:33,570 --> 00:16:36,210
what is our definition of our universe.

371
00:16:36,210 --> 00:16:37,113
Anything to add?

372
00:16:38,130 --> 00:16:40,624
All right, thank you all
so much, appreciate it.

373
00:16:40,624 --> 00:16:43,541
(crowd applauding)