All right, thank you everyone.
We're going to use this opportunity
to give updates about the State Coordinator Program,
and what our partners across the region
have been doing with us in collaboration with the FEMC,
as members of the FEMC.
And so I just wanna explain to you a little bit
about what the State Coordinator Program is.
We have representatives in each state of the cooperative,
and this is actually a cost-sharing program.
So we provide funding source for the state coordinators,
and they contribute matching funds back to us,
which is very important about,
the way that FEMC is structured.
And some of the things that the state coordinators do
and support us with,
is they lead the state partnership committees
in their states, and support on the Sprint Projects.
And the Sprint projects are smaller,
six to eight month projects that may have
a very state-focused goal that they're trying to achieve.
And so for one example that was completed this past year,
was work on the Pisgah State Park Carbon Storage report
for New Hampshire.
And so we worked very closely
with our state cooperative coordinators in New Hampshire,
in developing this report.
Another one, for example,
is a spongy moth data rescue project
that we did with Rhode Island.
And so there was data that was at risk of being lost.
And so we digitized that and developed a report
with our coordinator,
to make sure that, that data wasn't lost,
and share the information with others.
And another way that we work with them,
is that they do a lot to help us,
in the Forest health monitoring program.
So, as Allison mentioned, this has expanded in recent years.
We have had plots in Vermont for a very long time,
but over the past several years we've added plots.
In fact, this past year was the first year
that we completed plots in all seven of the states.
And some of these state coordinators
do a lot in supporting that effort.
And I will also put a plug in at this time,
because Mathias Search and Ben Porter have a poster
in the Poster Hall,
about our Forest Health Monitoring Program.
And so I'm going to just give a quick introduction
for the state coordinators.
These are all of the people that we work with,
and we we meet regularly, and talk about these projects.
And then they are going to have a chance
to tell you about what they've been been doing
in their states.
And so here in person today
we have Alana Russell from Rhode Island.
We also have Josh Halman from Vermont.
And then virtually Savannah Ferreira,
also from Vermont is in attendance.
Virtually, Jeff Ward from Connecticut
will be sharing his updates.
Aaron Bergdahl and Jeff Harriman in Maine
will be sharing their updates.
And Eric Peterson in Massachusetts.
And then I will actually be sharing some information
from Jerry Carlson because he retired.
And as his last hurrah with FEMC
he sent me his updates so that I could share them.
And so, in this process,
some of the things that I asked for the state coordinators
to share with me was,
share a little bit about themselves and their work
within their state, their organization,
and what their role is.
Some of the activities that they led in 2022,
any trends, concerns, or gaps that they saw.
And then looking ahead what they plan to do in 2023.
And so like I said,
I'll share Jerry's updates and notes from him.
He just retired like last week I think,
but he was the invasive species,
and ecosystem health section chief,
and he was with the New York DEC Lands and Forest.
And he wanted to share that
their mission is to conserve, improve, and protect,
New York's natural resources and environment,
and that they have legal authority
to act on lands with forest health threats.
And this section employs many people,
to work on these projects that are are focused on
pest threats, and trapping, and surveillance.
And some of the highlighted projects,
working on Hemlock Woolly Adelgid, spongy moth,
Asian Longhorn Beetles, spotted Lantern fly,
among others that they have been working on.
And then the way that they are connected with FEMC is,
Jerry in particular has been supportive of FEMC
way back when we were VMC,
and has very much promoted the interest in FEMC,
and the regional emphasis on ecosystem health.
And especially with the emphasis
on data accessibility, and analysis, and analytical reports.
He had struggled, and New York,
we've had challenges in establishing
a formal manager position,
but he was very committed to supporting FEMC
in ways that he could.
And so we worked as well as we could,
to develop some of these state sprint projects for example,
and making sure that the forest health monitoring sites,
were established, and monitoring was conducted over there.
So, we've been working very closely with them,
in a little bit of an informal capacity.
But they are working on formalizing this position,
and that has included dealing with staff's shortages,
including Jerry's own retirement.
So those were certainly some of the things that
we've worked with Jerry with.
And then some of the New York priorities
that he wanted to mention are,
the focus on regional ecosystem threats,
especially in the regional capacity of how FEMC works,
and bringing these priorities,
from all over, from other states,
to each other's awareness and knowledge.
And then also,
the New York Partnership committee relationship,
has been to identify priorities,
and that are specific to New York,
such as the New York Forest Health Dashboard,
which is a tool that was developed by FEMC,
in support of New York priorities and questions.
And then again, looking ahead,
some of the things that New York DEC,
and some of the work that FEMC supports with,
will include regional collaboration,
on many of these detection and intervention
of pests and diseases,
but with the specific need for more regional data resources,
to describe the short and long-term risks.
Additionally, more regional assistance on education.
Jerry was very...
Every time that I spoke with him,
he really gets excited about outreach and education
to inform and get people to understand
the impacts of climate change and ecosystem health
on themselves, and on their forests.
And then also a need to focus on
early detection and different resources.
For example, using satellite,
remotely sense data analysis in that early detection mode.
And then additionally,
more understanding and emphasis on restoration,
and how there can be expertise,
in identifying and propagating genotypes,
and target pests, and impacts of climate change.
So those are some of the things that,
Jerry has shared, and has been doing,
and that New York DEC will continue to do
in the coming year.
And so now I'm going to ask Josh Halman
from our Vermont State coordinator
to come up and tell us a little bit about
what he has been doing.
(shoes clacking)
[Josh Halman] Great, thanks Alyssa.
Thanks everybody for being here.
I realize time's short,
so I'll just go right through these slides here.
As Alyssa mentioned,
we have two state coordinators for Vermont.
We have myself, I'm the Forest Health Program manager
for the Vermont Department of
Forest Parks and recreations team there.
Savannah Ferreira is another state coordinator.
She is a Forest Health Specialist,
and she runs our forest biology lab
down in Randolph, Vermont.
Let's see, our background and interest really,
both individually and as a program,
are in pretty much all things forest health,
pests, pathogens that are in the state,
or that are surrounding the state
that we're concerned about.
But additionally, of course we're interested in,
those factors that influence those pests and pathogens,
abiotic factors, climate change,
and that kind of holistic vision
is where we see the cooperative here really excelling.
So we're thrilled to be part of it.
We also, of course are engaged in some long-term monitoring,
and that's particularly exciting,
with the cooperative and the longevity of it at this point.
As was mentioned earlier, Vermont,
FEMC really started as the Vermont Monitoring Cooperative
over 30 years ago.
And so, Vermont has had a role to play here
for quite a while.
And as such we've had some data sets
that are fairly long-term,
and I'll showcase a couple of those in a couple slides here.
But we've been with FEMC for quite a while,
and really value the partnership.
Activities this year,
the state partnership committee meetings
were kind of mentioned,
these are meetings with, as the the name implies,
certain partners throughout the state,
and that have shared goals or shared concerns,
and ecologically within the states.
So we have 15 members
currently on our state partnership committee in Vermont,
from five different organizations you can see up there.
But some of the activities on the ground
that we actually are engaged in year in and year out,
include tree phonology monitoring.
So this is a long-term data set,
where we're looking at spring phonology,
as well as fall phenology.
For multiple species sugar maple
has the longest record in the state,
but we're looking at the timing of bud break in the spring,
and we're looking at the timing of peak color,
as well as leaf drop in the fall.
The forest health monitoring plots,
it's a large network that Alyssa showed a little earlier.
It's extensive throughout Vermont,
and FEMC conducts the work on those plots.
But we're engaged in some of the training
that goes on pre-season,
to ensure that the field crew
is taking those metrics properly,
and can provide us with that data in the end.
We have a couple other projects,
that are not within FPR, this is a partnership committee,
so we have other partners and other interests.
So, air quality monitoring occurs in the state.
Mercury is included in that,
which is pretty exciting
for tracking that chemical in the air,
as well as avian and amphibian monitoring in the state,
by some partners at the Vermont Center for Ecostudies,
and Vermont Family Forests.
And finally, I'll mention this long-term soils project,
that we are the 20th year of working on right now.
It's a long-term project,
it's supposed to be a 150-year project,
but this year we actually were able to get out there
for our fifth sampling period on these plots.
And I'll show you some of those results
here on this slide here.
Just real briefly, I want to touch on two things.
We have a number of concerns in the state,
forest health wise,
which could range from the current spongy moth outbreak,
to the expansion of Emerald ash borer in the state,
to the detection of each leaf disease in the state,
which seems to be surrounding Vermont,
yet we we haven't found it here quite yet.
But what I want to show you here,
is a couple things that we're fortunate enough to have,
that are due to FEMC,
and that are long-term data sets, that are pretty unique,
that I don't think we'd be able to to have in our hands
without the cooperation here.
And one of those is,
the results of our phenology monitoring.
Like I mentioned, we're looking at spring and fall,
and what we're able to do with those two metrics is,
calculate the length of the growing season,
based on sugar maple phenology.
And what we've seen over this, 30-year period of monitoring,
is that the length of the growing season,
when you take those factors into consideration,
has extended by over a week
since we began monitoring this in 1991.
So long-term data,
and a very real indication of climate change
occurring right in our backyard here.
And finally, just wanna talk about,
the long-term soils project.
We had a paper come out this year on this study,
wasn't really expected to have significant results,
this early in into a 150-year study,
but with 15 years of data,
there are some significant differences,
that are that are starting to show up.
And I'd encourage you to look at the poster
that we have available for that as well today.
Some of the goal of this project,
is to monitor both the chemical composition,
and the makeup of soils in the state,
especially in response to chronic acid deposition,
and see how those soils may be recovering.
So, interesting to see that we have some results,
and seeing increases,
in both carbon and some exchangeable cations
in some of those sites.
Looking ahead to next year,
we will again be engaging our state partnership committee,
and revisiting some of our priorities,
assessing needs for new projects,
continuing the training for the FHM plots in early summer.
We'll be continuing some of our long-term projects,
of course phenology, air quality.
We also measure down Woody material
in some of these plots as well.
And looking forward to using FEMC
as a great data warehouse,
putting more of our data there that's publicly accessible,
so that folks can take a look at
what's going on in the state.
And with that, I will pass it to Alana.
(audience applauds)
Okay, thank you Josh.
Hi everyone, I am Alana Russell.
I traveled up last night,
all the way from teeny tiny Rhode Island.
So I am a research assistant,
and the Bio-control lab manager
at the University of Rhode Island,
and I'm the Rhode Island State coordinator.
So, I am an entomologist.
My professional interests are definitely biological control,
invasive species, and pets, and pathogens.
My professional experiences,
have definitely been focused on
basic biology and applied research.
So yay data, I'm aligned with FEMC's mission,
but I definitely don't have as much experience
with the long-term monitoring,
so I'm excited to be contributing to that,
and get more experience with that.
So Rhode Island, we definitely have small state power.
We're very close-knit.
There's a lot of overlap,
I work closely with the state agencies,
academia, and our NGOs,
and that's the same amongst those different groups.
So we have a lot of overlap,
we're able to communicate a lot,
and I think that's really worked in our benefit,
and that's really been,
I've been able to see that,
through working with the other states of FEMC.
And so my role, I've definitely been able
to liaise between these close-knit groups,
to really make the the most,
and have our voices heard,
and see where we can help FEMC as well.
Some state priorities for Rhode Island,
definitely forest health monitoring,
and similar to one of the regional priorities for next year,
monitoring trends of tree mortality,
that's definitely very important to some in Rhode Island.
Also though, given that,
we have one of the most densely populated states
but still 50% of our state is forested,
land use and development is very important,
and it's a state priority for us.
And also community and urban forestry,
which maybe is a different perspective, maybe not,
maybe we can talk a little bit more
about that amongst FEMC.
Our contributions towards FEMC,
and the forest health monitoring efforts.
We've supported the establishment of
seven forest health monitoring plots in 2021.
And also have facilitated the measurement,
which was done by Connecticut Ag Experiment Station in 2022.
We also have our state-led annual forest health surveys
that are conducted every year, the canopy surveys.
we have a state partnership committee,
that is comprised of 11 members.
Again, I say we're close-knit,
and we have representation from academia,
from the state agency and some NGOs.
So I like that we are able to really work together,
and have a good perspective but also be unified.
New connections that we've made.
So, previously before I came along,
the Rhode Island Woodland Partnership
was the state partnership committee for Rhode Island.
That's a partnership of foresters, state land owners,
researchers, and conservationists,
that all converged together.
So, maintaining that connection
between FEMC and the Woodland partnership
has been one of my priorities.
And then also I'm trying to forge a connection
between FEMC and the URI NRS department,
and get a little bit more of academia in our voice.
Alyssa mentioned the state sprint project,
that was conducted between 2021 and 2022
which was the data rescue
of historical spongy moth egg mass data,
that I think is a very clear example
of the resources that FEMC has,
and the direct benefit that they are giving to our state.
I realized through that process,
just how close that data was to being lost.
It was in paper form.
We really didn't even know where it was.
And so I'm really, really thankful
to have FEMC's support with that.
Some topics of concern that we have seen recently
within our state, we are seeing stress immortality
from multiple damage causal agents,
simultaneously on their respective hosts.
So that's the Emerald ash borer, beach leaf disease,
spring defoliators, all together at once.
So we're seeing a lot,
and oftentimes our change of greenness maps
are like lit up like a Christmas tree.
So I think we're seeing a lot overlapping.
And also irregular precipitation patterns of drought,
or weird delusions,
are definitely contributing or wondering
if that's contributing to stress,
and that's a priority for us to be looking at.
So with that, I think there's a gap,
we'd like to further incorporate
the antibiotic conditions drought,
and warm winters into our forest health monitoring,
just to kind of get a more holistic view there,
of what's going on and help with predictions.
Also emerging pathogens,
we've seen how beach leaf disease,
really just spread like wildfire through Rhode Island.
So keeping that up there on the priority list.
But also are there any other emerging pathogens?
Like I said, I'm an entomologist.
Plant pathology is a little bit not in my wheelhouse,
but I think it's very important for us to keep that there.
And then, stress and mortality, and many different,
are we losing different species of trees?
What is going to grow under our increasing opening canopies.
And then I mentioned just a bit,
but the major trend that we saw this past year
in terms of forest health
was increasing spring defoliate activity
particularly winter moth for us
down in southern New England.
Looking ahead, so we want,
I am pleased to hear,
and Josh has been giving me a lot of perspective
on the Vermont Phonology monitoring.
We are interested in initiating
a state-led phenology monitoring program.
So that's a little bit of a plug too,
because I am co-leading a working session
at three o'clock with Alyssa Rose Martin
from the National Phenological Network.
Please come and give your perspective
because I wanna see what we can be doing
in Rhode Island or region-wide.
And then just to wrap that all together.
So we wanna see how our climate and abiotic conditions
are impacting phenology,
and then the pests pathogen and beneficials,
that we have in our forests.
There's probably a lot on the horizon.
There's a bit, there's going to be maybe,
a little bit of staff change and restructuring,
and our Rhode Island division of Forest environment.
So there's maybe a lot on the horizon,
that we can be discussing other state priorities,
and how that's gonna change,
and how that involves with FEMC,
and the support we can give them.
And that's it so I'll pass it back to Alyssa.
(audience applauds)
(shoes clacking)
All right, and as timekeeper, I'm looking at the time.
And the next session is supposed to start.
And I forgot to put an extra slide in.
The next session is starting in five minutes,
and so I am going to have to deeply apologize,
but our three virtual participants,
Jeff Ward from Connecticut,
Eric Peterson from Massachusetts,
and Aaron Bergdahl from Maine.
I'm going to have to push your presentations off, I'm sorry.
But we will make sure that,
that information is made available
so that you can all stay up to date,
on what is happening in each of your states.
But I don't want to,
because this room is being used for the next session,
so I don't want to get too far off schedule.
So, I think that Allison is letting our presenters know.
And that's all I have to say.
So, (laughs) I'm going to say go ahead,
and you can start transitioning to the next rooms,
either staying in here for,
I believe disturbance is in this space.
And then there's also tools and techniques,
carbon storage and restoration in each of the other rooms.
(audience laughs)