1 00:00:05,100 --> 00:00:07,070 - Okay, well, hello everyone. 2 00:00:07,070 --> 00:00:08,450 My name is Joshua Benes 3 00:00:08,450 --> 00:00:11,627 and thank you so much for attending my presentation titled 4 00:00:11,627 --> 00:00:14,380 "Cooperative Forest & Wildlife Habitat Management 5 00:00:14,380 --> 00:00:16,270 in Central Wisconsin." 6 00:00:16,270 --> 00:00:17,103 Before I begin, 7 00:00:17,103 --> 00:00:18,350 I wanted to put a quick plug 8 00:00:18,350 --> 00:00:20,600 into the work I'll be doing in my new role. 9 00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:23,110 I am now the Assistant Director for Operations 10 00:00:23,110 --> 00:00:25,940 for the Mount Mansfield Science and Stewardship Center. 11 00:00:25,940 --> 00:00:28,080 I'm working with UVM facilities management 12 00:00:28,080 --> 00:00:30,230 and researchers to explore the possibility 13 00:00:30,230 --> 00:00:32,730 of a new biological research station 14 00:00:32,730 --> 00:00:34,740 that will be located at the top of the toll road 15 00:00:34,740 --> 00:00:36,610 on Mount Mansfield in Vermont. 16 00:00:36,610 --> 00:00:39,130 The field station will focus on promoting the health 17 00:00:39,130 --> 00:00:40,870 of northeastern mountain ecosystems 18 00:00:40,870 --> 00:00:43,727 by catalyzing collaborative science and stewardship. 19 00:00:43,727 --> 00:00:46,390 If you have any questions about this or my new role, 20 00:00:46,390 --> 00:00:49,070 please do not hesitate to contact me. 21 00:00:49,070 --> 00:00:51,040 And so, today's presentation 22 00:00:51,040 --> 00:00:53,960 is also about collaboration and stewardship. 23 00:00:53,960 --> 00:00:55,810 And it's about a project that I managed 24 00:00:55,810 --> 00:00:58,660 when I worked for Golden Sands Resource Conservation 25 00:00:58,660 --> 00:01:00,520 and Development Council. 26 00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:02,170 Golden Sands RC and D, 27 00:01:02,170 --> 00:01:03,860 is a regional conservation nonprofit 28 00:01:03,860 --> 00:01:07,120 that serves central Wisconsin and the nonprofit's vision 29 00:01:07,120 --> 00:01:10,350 and mission revolves around building cooperative efforts 30 00:01:10,350 --> 00:01:14,060 and working across county lines to address local concerns. 31 00:01:14,060 --> 00:01:16,842 The nonprofit serves 13 different counties 32 00:01:16,842 --> 00:01:18,740 in the state of Wisconsin, 33 00:01:18,740 --> 00:01:22,000 relatively the same land area and population size 34 00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:23,650 as the state of Vermont. 35 00:01:23,650 --> 00:01:26,840 The nonprofit focuses on implementing conservation projects 36 00:01:26,840 --> 00:01:29,610 around sustainable agriculture, healthy forest, 37 00:01:29,610 --> 00:01:31,993 clean water and abundant wildlife. 38 00:01:33,280 --> 00:01:34,810 And so, today's presentation, 39 00:01:34,810 --> 00:01:37,590 I'll be focusing on a project 40 00:01:37,590 --> 00:01:39,587 that this nonprofit put together called, 41 00:01:39,587 --> 00:01:42,640 "Cooperating for Woods and Wildlife," 42 00:01:42,640 --> 00:01:44,560 but I wanted to be able to lay the foundation 43 00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:46,670 on why this project came together 44 00:01:46,670 --> 00:01:50,830 and what it was aiming to do, during this presentation. 45 00:01:50,830 --> 00:01:52,140 So, the first thing that I'll be covering, 46 00:01:52,140 --> 00:01:55,570 is the conservation concerns associated with fragmentation. 47 00:01:55,570 --> 00:01:58,060 And then I'll be digging into the need for cooperation 48 00:01:58,060 --> 00:02:00,070 amongst private land owners. 49 00:02:00,070 --> 00:02:01,310 I'll provide information 50 00:02:01,310 --> 00:02:03,870 about the state's Deer Management Assistance Program 51 00:02:03,870 --> 00:02:06,290 or DMAP, that's located in Wisconsin 52 00:02:06,290 --> 00:02:09,240 and how our program, Cooperating for Woods and Wildlife, 53 00:02:09,240 --> 00:02:12,910 use this program to connect neighboring land owners, 54 00:02:12,910 --> 00:02:14,420 to be able to consider 55 00:02:14,420 --> 00:02:18,140 and adopt stewardship activities on their properties. 56 00:02:18,140 --> 00:02:20,390 And then I'll close out with just ideas 57 00:02:20,390 --> 00:02:23,020 and models for cooperative efforts among private landowners 58 00:02:23,020 --> 00:02:24,740 that may be adopted in the Northeast. 59 00:02:24,740 --> 00:02:26,190 I'm really excited about the work 60 00:02:26,190 --> 00:02:27,830 that I was doing in Wisconsin. 61 00:02:27,830 --> 00:02:31,520 And I think there's value 62 00:02:31,520 --> 00:02:34,520 to thinking about how to be able to adopt work 63 00:02:34,520 --> 00:02:36,410 amongst private land owners, 64 00:02:36,410 --> 00:02:38,810 to create these collaborative efforts 65 00:02:38,810 --> 00:02:41,250 in the Northeast. 66 00:02:41,250 --> 00:02:44,320 And I'm happy to engage with any of you about ideas 67 00:02:44,320 --> 00:02:45,820 or ways that that can be done. 68 00:02:47,130 --> 00:02:49,460 And so first, fragmentation. 69 00:02:49,460 --> 00:02:51,320 I believe, with the audience here, 70 00:02:51,320 --> 00:02:54,210 most of you should be familiar with fragmentation 71 00:02:54,210 --> 00:02:58,457 but it's the process of breaking apart forest blocks, 72 00:03:00,520 --> 00:03:01,810 it can be done with a road 73 00:03:01,810 --> 00:03:05,448 or it can be done via parcelization. 74 00:03:05,448 --> 00:03:07,140 And in Wisconsin, 75 00:03:07,140 --> 00:03:11,960 we're seeing forest blocks break apart 76 00:03:11,960 --> 00:03:14,290 into smaller and smaller pieces over time. 77 00:03:14,290 --> 00:03:18,663 In 1997, the average force parcel size was 37 acres, 78 00:03:20,710 --> 00:03:24,867 in 2013, it was 26 acres. 79 00:03:24,867 --> 00:03:26,940 And this is a real problem 80 00:03:26,940 --> 00:03:31,050 because in order to adequately manage for wildlife habitat, 81 00:03:31,050 --> 00:03:33,170 we need to be able to think about 82 00:03:33,170 --> 00:03:38,130 larger scale land management and in 80% of the Wisconsin, 83 00:03:38,130 --> 00:03:39,500 land owners cite wildlife 84 00:03:39,500 --> 00:03:42,680 as a reason for owning land on their properties. 85 00:03:42,680 --> 00:03:45,590 And so, this is not only a problem for wildlife habitat 86 00:03:45,590 --> 00:03:49,513 but also the land owners that manage these properties. 87 00:03:50,610 --> 00:03:53,285 And so, just briefly, 88 00:03:53,285 --> 00:03:56,160 just giving an example of two different species 89 00:03:56,160 --> 00:03:58,990 and their space needs. 90 00:03:58,990 --> 00:04:02,970 So, I have a white-tailed buck and a ruffed grouse. 91 00:04:02,970 --> 00:04:04,890 A white tail buck, on average, 92 00:04:04,890 --> 00:04:09,250 needs about 640 acres of space 93 00:04:09,250 --> 00:04:14,250 in order to meet its habitat, food, water and shelter needs. 94 00:04:16,340 --> 00:04:19,780 And the ruffed grouse, typically needs about 40 acres. 95 00:04:19,780 --> 00:04:22,780 And when you overlay property boundaries on top of that, 96 00:04:22,780 --> 00:04:24,900 you see that there's multiple land owners 97 00:04:24,900 --> 00:04:29,140 that are managing their properties in different ways, 98 00:04:29,140 --> 00:04:33,120 that certain individual wildlife species 99 00:04:33,120 --> 00:04:37,520 and individuals will be overlapping on multiple properties. 100 00:04:37,520 --> 00:04:40,100 So, when we're thinking about creating wildlife habitat 101 00:04:40,100 --> 00:04:42,010 and thinking about the different needs 102 00:04:42,010 --> 00:04:45,630 of different secessional forest types in a certain area, 103 00:04:45,630 --> 00:04:47,700 we need private landowners coming together 104 00:04:47,700 --> 00:04:50,550 to be able to think about how each of their properties 105 00:04:50,550 --> 00:04:52,580 plays a role in different types of habitat 106 00:04:52,580 --> 00:04:55,350 that are needed for individual species. 107 00:04:55,350 --> 00:04:57,050 In addition, 108 00:04:57,050 --> 00:04:59,530 fragmentation is an issue for invasive species. 109 00:04:59,530 --> 00:05:01,960 If many landowners are managing 110 00:05:01,960 --> 00:05:04,390 or controlling invasive species on their property 111 00:05:04,390 --> 00:05:07,530 but there are some landowners that are not doing anything, 112 00:05:07,530 --> 00:05:12,120 those properties that are not managed for invasive species 113 00:05:12,120 --> 00:05:14,330 can be seed sources for other invasives 114 00:05:17,730 --> 00:05:20,543 going onto other neighboring parcels. 115 00:05:21,700 --> 00:05:26,700 And smaller parcels also lead to less efficiency 116 00:05:26,720 --> 00:05:29,146 for timber sales. 117 00:05:29,146 --> 00:05:33,500 And so, you have to be able to transfer equipment 118 00:05:33,500 --> 00:05:36,300 from site to site to be able to do a timber sale. 119 00:05:36,300 --> 00:05:38,913 And if a forest parcel is very small, 120 00:05:38,913 --> 00:05:43,913 it is difficult to be able to manage the timber 121 00:05:44,530 --> 00:05:46,709 on the site appropriately. 122 00:05:46,709 --> 00:05:51,709 And also, if it's not economical 123 00:05:51,850 --> 00:05:54,190 to be able to conduct those timber sales, 124 00:05:54,190 --> 00:05:58,282 it becomes a problem for managing forest health 125 00:05:58,282 --> 00:06:02,000 and creating healthier forest ecosystems. 126 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:03,960 So, what I'm painting a picture here is, 127 00:06:03,960 --> 00:06:06,470 that there's really a need for cooperation. 128 00:06:06,470 --> 00:06:09,740 We need private landowners to be able to collaborate 129 00:06:09,740 --> 00:06:10,950 and work together. 130 00:06:10,950 --> 00:06:12,850 We need communities of landowners 131 00:06:12,850 --> 00:06:17,540 thinking about how to be a better steward of their land. 132 00:06:17,540 --> 00:06:21,010 And we also need private landowners to have a relationship 133 00:06:21,010 --> 00:06:23,770 with natural resource professionals as well. 134 00:06:23,770 --> 00:06:28,411 And so, because of this need, 135 00:06:28,411 --> 00:06:32,890 we need to be able to develop strategies to catalyze 136 00:06:32,890 --> 00:06:34,950 and bring these landowners together 137 00:06:34,950 --> 00:06:37,050 and also develop relationships 138 00:06:37,050 --> 00:06:39,300 with natural resource professionals. 139 00:06:39,300 --> 00:06:43,330 And in order to develop relationships 140 00:06:43,330 --> 00:06:44,610 with natural resource professionals, 141 00:06:44,610 --> 00:06:46,770 what Wisconsin has done is, 142 00:06:46,770 --> 00:06:49,470 adopt this a relatively new program, 143 00:06:49,470 --> 00:06:51,750 it's about five or six years old now, 144 00:06:51,750 --> 00:06:54,630 called the Wisconsin Deer Management Assistance Program 145 00:06:54,630 --> 00:06:55,920 or DMAP 146 00:06:55,920 --> 00:06:57,300 It has deer in the name 147 00:06:57,300 --> 00:07:02,300 because what really motivates landowners in Wisconsin 148 00:07:03,730 --> 00:07:07,500 is usually creating high quality deer habitat 149 00:07:07,500 --> 00:07:10,100 because they're very hunter focused. 150 00:07:10,100 --> 00:07:13,010 But overall, the program focuses on strategies 151 00:07:13,010 --> 00:07:15,770 to create quality wildlife habitat. 152 00:07:15,770 --> 00:07:18,150 And it's a cooperative effort 153 00:07:18,150 --> 00:07:20,490 between the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources 154 00:07:20,490 --> 00:07:22,360 and private land owners. 155 00:07:22,360 --> 00:07:24,490 And by participating in the program, 156 00:07:24,490 --> 00:07:27,560 land owners receive habitat management assistance. 157 00:07:27,560 --> 00:07:30,560 So, they receive access to informational materials, 158 00:07:30,560 --> 00:07:31,780 they can attend workshops, 159 00:07:31,780 --> 00:07:34,620 they can be able to receive habitat management plans 160 00:07:34,620 --> 00:07:36,260 at certain levels. 161 00:07:36,260 --> 00:07:39,420 And so, there's kind of an increased access 162 00:07:39,420 --> 00:07:42,210 between these landowners and natural resource professionals 163 00:07:42,210 --> 00:07:44,078 that are within the state. 164 00:07:44,078 --> 00:07:46,850 And so, there's multiple levels 165 00:07:46,850 --> 00:07:49,130 of the Wisconsin Deer Management Assistance Program. 166 00:07:49,130 --> 00:07:51,410 There's levels one, two and three. 167 00:07:51,410 --> 00:07:55,510 Level one doesn't require any minimum acreage. 168 00:07:55,510 --> 00:07:58,850 Any landowner can enroll 169 00:07:58,850 --> 00:08:01,090 and it's free for these landowners to enroll 170 00:08:01,090 --> 00:08:02,670 into a level one cooperative. 171 00:08:02,670 --> 00:08:03,960 They can attend the workshops 172 00:08:03,960 --> 00:08:06,150 that are occurring throughout the state, 173 00:08:06,150 --> 00:08:07,100 educational workshops. 174 00:08:07,100 --> 00:08:10,050 They can be able to access online materials 175 00:08:10,050 --> 00:08:11,660 that are available through DMAP, 176 00:08:11,660 --> 00:08:15,350 to learn more about forest and wildlife habitat management 177 00:08:16,260 --> 00:08:19,610 and they receive ideas and networking 178 00:08:19,610 --> 00:08:23,020 and consider ideas on what they can do 179 00:08:23,020 --> 00:08:25,713 on their properties to enhance wildlife habitat. 180 00:08:26,940 --> 00:08:28,500 Level two and level three 181 00:08:29,647 --> 00:08:33,750 have a certain amount of funding that is required 182 00:08:33,750 --> 00:08:35,140 from the cooperative to be able to pay. 183 00:08:35,140 --> 00:08:39,700 So, for level two, all the landlords of the cooperative 184 00:08:39,700 --> 00:08:43,230 have to pay $75 every three years to enroll. 185 00:08:43,230 --> 00:08:46,620 So, it's a very minimal fee for these land owners 186 00:08:46,620 --> 00:08:51,620 and either a landowner with 160 acres themselves can apply 187 00:08:51,710 --> 00:08:56,660 and be part of a level two DMAP level 188 00:08:56,660 --> 00:09:00,230 or you can have neighboring land owners, 189 00:09:00,230 --> 00:09:02,520 that are a maximum distance of a half mile 190 00:09:02,520 --> 00:09:04,960 away from another participating landowner, 191 00:09:04,960 --> 00:09:07,830 enroll together into a cooperative. 192 00:09:07,830 --> 00:09:09,690 And then those neighboring landowners 193 00:09:09,690 --> 00:09:14,690 can collectively get the benefits of a level two DMAP 194 00:09:14,710 --> 00:09:15,910 and they can get the site visit 195 00:09:15,910 --> 00:09:18,270 from a wildlife biologist and forester 196 00:09:18,270 --> 00:09:20,850 and also a habitat management plan, 197 00:09:20,850 --> 00:09:24,610 where that helps them plan and understand what they can do 198 00:09:24,610 --> 00:09:28,090 on their individual properties to enhance wildlife habitat. 199 00:09:28,090 --> 00:09:29,880 And it's a non-regulatory program. 200 00:09:29,880 --> 00:09:33,590 So, it basically gets a lot of these landowners in the door 201 00:09:33,590 --> 00:09:36,300 and has them start thinking about what they can do 202 00:09:36,300 --> 00:09:40,150 on their properties to enhance wildlife habitat. 203 00:09:40,150 --> 00:09:45,150 And so, it's an extremely successful program in Wisconsin. 204 00:09:46,800 --> 00:09:48,800 There's also level three DMAP cooperatives 205 00:09:48,800 --> 00:09:53,060 that are at least 640 acres in size. 206 00:09:53,060 --> 00:09:56,350 And when you're a part of a level three DMAP, 207 00:09:56,350 --> 00:10:00,470 you also get first access into Snapshot Wisconsin, 208 00:10:00,470 --> 00:10:03,420 which is a trail camera network 209 00:10:03,420 --> 00:10:05,320 that exists throughout the state. 210 00:10:05,320 --> 00:10:08,250 And so, there's all of these various benefits 211 00:10:08,250 --> 00:10:09,950 by being involved in DMAP 212 00:10:09,950 --> 00:10:14,550 and many landowners find it appealing 213 00:10:14,550 --> 00:10:15,590 and want to participate. 214 00:10:15,590 --> 00:10:17,810 But sometimes, they find it difficult to connect 215 00:10:17,810 --> 00:10:21,090 with their neighboring landowners to form these cooperatives 216 00:10:21,090 --> 00:10:23,690 so that they can participate in these higher levels. 217 00:10:24,750 --> 00:10:27,610 And that's where our nonprofit, Golden Sands RC and D, 218 00:10:27,610 --> 00:10:30,300 stepped in to form the Cooperating for Woods 219 00:10:30,300 --> 00:10:32,000 and Wildlife program. 220 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:34,530 We received a Landscape Scale Restoration grant 221 00:10:34,530 --> 00:10:36,200 from the US Forest Service, 222 00:10:36,200 --> 00:10:38,990 with match from state and local partners. 223 00:10:38,990 --> 00:10:42,480 And we built this program with a regional management focus 224 00:10:42,480 --> 00:10:44,830 and focus on connecting land owners 225 00:10:44,830 --> 00:10:47,500 with natural resource professionals 226 00:10:47,500 --> 00:10:49,770 and having conversations like these, 227 00:10:49,770 --> 00:10:52,100 where land owners are able to interact 228 00:10:52,100 --> 00:10:53,830 with natural resource professionals, 229 00:10:53,830 --> 00:10:55,700 learn about what they could do on their properties 230 00:10:55,700 --> 00:10:58,580 and also connect with their neighbors as well. 231 00:10:58,580 --> 00:10:59,970 The goal was to be able to form 232 00:10:59,970 --> 00:11:03,630 level three DMAP cooperatives of at least 640 acres. 233 00:11:03,630 --> 00:11:04,930 And we wanted to be able to form 234 00:11:04,930 --> 00:11:06,630 at least one of these cooperative groups 235 00:11:06,630 --> 00:11:09,000 in each of these eight different counties. 236 00:11:09,000 --> 00:11:10,500 And we were successful in doing that. 237 00:11:10,500 --> 00:11:15,410 We formed 10 cooperative units through this first program 238 00:11:15,410 --> 00:11:19,790 with 10 different cooperatives 239 00:11:21,530 --> 00:11:23,070 in eight of the counties 240 00:11:23,070 --> 00:11:27,900 with over 10,000 acres of land enrolled. 241 00:11:27,900 --> 00:11:30,600 And the formation of these cooperatives, 242 00:11:30,600 --> 00:11:33,360 the first step was identifying priority areas. 243 00:11:33,360 --> 00:11:37,040 And we really leaned on natural resource professionals, 244 00:11:37,040 --> 00:11:39,250 that were within the individual counties, 245 00:11:39,250 --> 00:11:43,610 to be able to form and identify areas 246 00:11:43,610 --> 00:11:45,890 within the county that were relevant 247 00:11:45,890 --> 00:11:50,665 to forming these individual startup cooperatives. 248 00:11:50,665 --> 00:11:54,240 And once we identified those areas and ranked them, 249 00:11:54,240 --> 00:11:56,810 we sent out mailings to landowners 250 00:11:56,810 --> 00:11:58,520 that were within this region. 251 00:11:58,520 --> 00:12:00,090 We also sent postcards 252 00:12:00,090 --> 00:12:02,940 and then we also followed up with phone calls. 253 00:12:02,940 --> 00:12:07,860 And so, we invited these landowners to an initial meeting 254 00:12:07,860 --> 00:12:09,896 that we held in their communities 255 00:12:09,896 --> 00:12:12,990 with the natural resource professionals that were involved 256 00:12:12,990 --> 00:12:15,510 in the state's Deer Management Assistance Program. 257 00:12:15,510 --> 00:12:17,940 And once we had these initial meetings, 258 00:12:17,940 --> 00:12:21,570 we established our first network of landowners in the area. 259 00:12:21,570 --> 00:12:23,190 And usually, there was one land owner 260 00:12:23,190 --> 00:12:25,630 that was particularly enthusiastic 261 00:12:25,630 --> 00:12:27,400 and that we used as a resource 262 00:12:27,400 --> 00:12:29,740 and as a leader for that individual cooperative 263 00:12:29,740 --> 00:12:31,500 to go forward. 264 00:12:31,500 --> 00:12:34,220 And once we developed that network 265 00:12:34,220 --> 00:12:36,510 and foundation of land owners, 266 00:12:36,510 --> 00:12:40,350 those land owners formed an individual cooperative, 267 00:12:40,350 --> 00:12:41,660 enrolled into the program, 268 00:12:41,660 --> 00:12:43,730 received their initial site visits 269 00:12:43,730 --> 00:12:46,330 and then the following year, 270 00:12:46,330 --> 00:12:47,920 after they received their site visits 271 00:12:47,920 --> 00:12:49,220 and habitat management plans, 272 00:12:49,220 --> 00:12:53,300 we invited neighboring land owners around them 273 00:12:53,300 --> 00:12:54,410 to participate, 274 00:12:54,410 --> 00:12:57,100 any other landowners that were within a half mile, 275 00:12:57,100 --> 00:13:00,150 to be able to grow and expand those cooperatives. 276 00:13:00,150 --> 00:13:02,850 And this was really an effective strategy, 277 00:13:02,850 --> 00:13:05,730 bringing in motivated, enthusiastic landowners 278 00:13:05,730 --> 00:13:06,992 that were already involved 279 00:13:06,992 --> 00:13:09,950 and having other landowners around them, 280 00:13:09,950 --> 00:13:11,560 thinking about what they're missing out on 281 00:13:11,560 --> 00:13:14,260 and how they can participate and get involved as well. 282 00:13:15,780 --> 00:13:19,310 And so, overall the program was successful, 283 00:13:19,310 --> 00:13:21,140 we received funding for our new program, 284 00:13:21,140 --> 00:13:22,880 from the US Forest Service, 285 00:13:22,880 --> 00:13:25,190 Landscape Scale Restoration grant, 286 00:13:25,190 --> 00:13:28,040 to expand it to 12 counties. 287 00:13:28,040 --> 00:13:31,190 We, so far to date, between the new program 288 00:13:31,190 --> 00:13:32,640 and the old program, 289 00:13:32,640 --> 00:13:36,193 we enrolled over 13,500 acres of land 290 00:13:36,193 --> 00:13:39,210 into the Deer Management Assistance Program. 291 00:13:39,210 --> 00:13:44,210 We had over 125 landowners enrolled so far. 292 00:13:44,770 --> 00:13:46,570 Another element of this project as well is, 293 00:13:46,570 --> 00:13:48,200 that we received some funding 294 00:13:48,200 --> 00:13:50,490 to match with private landowners 295 00:13:50,490 --> 00:13:53,770 to restore Karner blue butterfly habitat on their properties 296 00:13:53,770 --> 00:13:55,340 within these cooperatives. 297 00:13:55,340 --> 00:13:57,760 And so far, we've restored over 100 acres 298 00:13:57,760 --> 00:13:59,150 of Karner blue butterfly habitat, 299 00:13:59,150 --> 00:14:02,080 which is a federally endangered species. 300 00:14:02,080 --> 00:14:03,280 And overall, 301 00:14:03,280 --> 00:14:06,550 we formed these countless landowner connections 302 00:14:06,550 --> 00:14:10,220 and landowner opportunities as well. 303 00:14:10,220 --> 00:14:12,890 And that's something that's been most inspirational to me, 304 00:14:12,890 --> 00:14:15,070 just seeing the communities of landowners 305 00:14:15,070 --> 00:14:17,660 that come together and are interacting 306 00:14:17,660 --> 00:14:19,200 and thinking about stewardship, 307 00:14:19,200 --> 00:14:21,933 that would have never done this in the past. 308 00:14:21,933 --> 00:14:26,740 And seeing those landowners learn from their neighbors, 309 00:14:26,740 --> 00:14:28,360 some landowners may be involved 310 00:14:28,360 --> 00:14:30,610 in the Environmental Quality Incentive Program 311 00:14:30,610 --> 00:14:33,630 or other cost share activities on their properties 312 00:14:33,630 --> 00:14:35,890 and they have information and ideas about the stewardship 313 00:14:35,890 --> 00:14:37,760 that they can share with their neighbors. 314 00:14:37,760 --> 00:14:41,780 And so, seeing these communities of landowners form 315 00:14:41,780 --> 00:14:44,500 and many landowners that never interacted with one another, 316 00:14:44,500 --> 00:14:48,080 starting to interact with one another through this program 317 00:14:48,080 --> 00:14:50,270 has been particularly inspirational to me 318 00:14:50,270 --> 00:14:51,793 and the work of this project. 319 00:14:53,830 --> 00:14:57,290 And so overall, I'm particularly enthusiastic 320 00:14:57,290 --> 00:15:00,177 about the work that we have done with Golden Sands RC and D 321 00:15:00,177 --> 00:15:03,470 and the Cooperating for Woods and Wildlife Program. 322 00:15:03,470 --> 00:15:06,010 And I would love to be able to see a similar work 323 00:15:06,010 --> 00:15:08,500 being done here in the Northeast. 324 00:15:08,500 --> 00:15:11,060 One nonprofit model that I know of, 325 00:15:11,060 --> 00:15:12,920 is Cold Hollow to Canada. 326 00:15:12,920 --> 00:15:15,950 I haven't connected with the group personally 327 00:15:15,950 --> 00:15:19,230 but I have heard and seen their website 328 00:15:19,230 --> 00:15:23,600 and that their mission is to maintain ecosystem integrity, 329 00:15:23,600 --> 00:15:25,940 biological diversity and forest resiliency 330 00:15:25,940 --> 00:15:28,870 through the Cold Hollow to Canada region in Vermont 331 00:15:28,870 --> 00:15:31,360 with a focus on community led stewardship 332 00:15:31,360 --> 00:15:34,170 and the conservation of our working landscape 333 00:15:34,170 --> 00:15:36,300 in the face of a changing climate 334 00:15:36,300 --> 00:15:38,920 and their pillars are sustainable stewardship, 335 00:15:38,920 --> 00:15:42,410 forest land conservation and community empowerment. 336 00:15:42,410 --> 00:15:45,280 And so, I think that there's different ways 337 00:15:45,280 --> 00:15:46,130 to be able to catalyze 338 00:15:46,130 --> 00:15:48,620 and bring different communities together, 339 00:15:48,620 --> 00:15:50,860 to be able to consider stewardship. 340 00:15:50,860 --> 00:15:53,010 And I think this is a model of that. 341 00:15:53,010 --> 00:15:55,470 There could also be other similar state programs 342 00:15:55,470 --> 00:15:57,560 that may form in the Northeast. 343 00:15:57,560 --> 00:15:59,100 There's none that I know of right now, 344 00:15:59,100 --> 00:16:00,070 that are similar 345 00:16:01,030 --> 00:16:05,240 to Wisconsin's State Deer Management Assistance Program. 346 00:16:05,240 --> 00:16:08,230 But if any of you know of any of that I'm not familiar with, 347 00:16:08,230 --> 00:16:09,840 I would love to learn from you. 348 00:16:09,840 --> 00:16:11,540 And then also, maybe there's a way 349 00:16:11,540 --> 00:16:14,250 to be able to build this into Current Use. 350 00:16:14,250 --> 00:16:16,010 I know that Current Use is a prevalent program 351 00:16:16,010 --> 00:16:17,670 here in the Northeast. 352 00:16:17,670 --> 00:16:21,320 Maybe there's a way to be able to bring landowners together 353 00:16:21,320 --> 00:16:23,730 and incentivize them to work to with one another 354 00:16:23,730 --> 00:16:26,450 and conduct management with one another, 355 00:16:26,450 --> 00:16:29,220 with a land taxation model in some way. 356 00:16:29,220 --> 00:16:31,240 And maybe that's something that's more difficult to do, 357 00:16:31,240 --> 00:16:32,730 policy wise 358 00:16:32,730 --> 00:16:36,670 but may have the most catalyzing effect. 359 00:16:36,670 --> 00:16:41,670 And so, those are just the ideas that I wanted to share, 360 00:16:41,970 --> 00:16:44,860 that I think may be relevant for the Northeast. 361 00:16:44,860 --> 00:16:46,420 I'm happy to learn from any of you 362 00:16:46,420 --> 00:16:50,380 and also answer questions, Golden Sands RC and D's website 363 00:16:50,380 --> 00:16:52,250 for the Cooperating for Woods and Wildlife Program 364 00:16:52,250 --> 00:16:53,810 is right up here. 365 00:16:53,810 --> 00:16:55,900 And you can learn about the program. 366 00:16:55,900 --> 00:16:57,930 We also did a video series 367 00:16:57,930 --> 00:17:01,060 and we were originally planning on doing a workshop 368 00:17:01,060 --> 00:17:02,650 for land owners throughout the region. 369 00:17:02,650 --> 00:17:05,943 We ended up doing a video series due to the 2020 pandemic. 370 00:17:06,832 --> 00:17:10,550 And so, we have interviews with landowners 371 00:17:10,550 --> 00:17:13,430 throughout the region, natural resource professionals 372 00:17:13,430 --> 00:17:15,280 about the value of this project. 373 00:17:15,280 --> 00:17:16,840 So, I encourage you to visit the website 374 00:17:16,840 --> 00:17:18,390 if you want to learn more. 375 00:17:18,390 --> 00:17:22,930 And with that, I'm happy to answer any questions. 376 00:17:22,930 --> 00:17:24,630 The current Executive Director 377 00:17:24,630 --> 00:17:26,270 is also willing to answer questions, 378 00:17:26,270 --> 00:17:27,770 that I trained to take over this project. 379 00:17:27,770 --> 00:17:29,980 Her name is Hannah Butkiewucz 380 00:17:29,980 --> 00:17:32,550 and also my email address, 381 00:17:32,550 --> 00:17:35,320 in my new role here at University of Vermont 382 00:17:35,320 --> 00:17:38,650 is provided in here as well. 383 00:17:38,650 --> 00:17:40,680 So, with that, I'm happy to answer any questions 384 00:17:40,680 --> 00:17:42,383 and thank you so much for your time. 385 00:17:43,580 --> 00:17:46,370 - Right, thank you for the great presentation. 386 00:17:46,370 --> 00:17:48,170 All right, were are you seeing mostly landowners 387 00:17:48,170 --> 00:17:49,930 from the MFL program 388 00:17:49,930 --> 00:17:52,240 or landowners from outside of it as well? 389 00:17:52,240 --> 00:17:54,520 - Ah, somebody knows Wisconsin. 390 00:17:54,520 --> 00:17:56,620 So, MFL is the Managed Forest Law program. 391 00:17:58,941 --> 00:18:00,144 And we were seeing landowners, 392 00:18:00,144 --> 00:18:02,468 both within the Managed Forest Law program, 393 00:18:02,468 --> 00:18:07,280 which is similar to Current Use here, in the Northeast, 394 00:18:07,280 --> 00:18:09,350 that it incentivizes landowners 395 00:18:09,350 --> 00:18:13,290 to do management on their properties 396 00:18:13,290 --> 00:18:15,660 and they get a tax benefit from that. 397 00:18:15,660 --> 00:18:17,120 And so, we were seeing, 398 00:18:17,120 --> 00:18:20,910 maybe the majority of the first landowners 399 00:18:20,910 --> 00:18:21,743 that we were working with, 400 00:18:21,743 --> 00:18:24,610 were already involved with Managed Forest Law 401 00:18:24,610 --> 00:18:25,530 because they were the ones 402 00:18:25,530 --> 00:18:28,020 that were already getting involved in stewardship. 403 00:18:28,020 --> 00:18:30,790 But as we were growing, we were getting more landowners 404 00:18:30,790 --> 00:18:33,810 that weren't involved with Managed Forest Law as much. 405 00:18:33,810 --> 00:18:34,650 And so, 406 00:18:34,650 --> 00:18:37,990 I think that's part of the exciting part of this project is, 407 00:18:37,990 --> 00:18:40,873 that you set the seed of individual landowners 408 00:18:40,873 --> 00:18:43,340 that are really excited and motivated 409 00:18:43,340 --> 00:18:44,960 to be able to work with one another. 410 00:18:44,960 --> 00:18:47,330 And then you can start reaching out to other landowners 411 00:18:47,330 --> 00:18:49,200 that are really not engaged 412 00:18:49,200 --> 00:18:51,270 and not thinking about stewardship. 413 00:18:51,270 --> 00:18:54,350 And they're afraid of missing out 414 00:18:54,350 --> 00:18:56,770 because their neighboring landowners are doing this 415 00:18:56,770 --> 00:18:58,560 and they want to have good wildlife habitat 416 00:18:58,560 --> 00:19:00,250 on their properties as well. 417 00:19:00,250 --> 00:19:02,010 - Well dude, just one more question. 418 00:19:02,010 --> 00:19:04,210 How did this play out in the longterm? 419 00:19:04,210 --> 00:19:06,060 Did landowners stay in the program 420 00:19:06,060 --> 00:19:08,380 and were there penalties for pulling put? 421 00:19:08,380 --> 00:19:10,990 - There's no penalties for pulling out 422 00:19:10,990 --> 00:19:13,740 and it's a non-regulatory program. 423 00:19:13,740 --> 00:19:16,470 Landowners, when we had the opportunity 424 00:19:16,470 --> 00:19:19,280 to re-enroll landowners into the program after three years 425 00:19:19,280 --> 00:19:21,280 because this is a three-year enrollment, 426 00:19:22,560 --> 00:19:27,130 all the cooperatives that I was managing in the beginning, 427 00:19:27,130 --> 00:19:30,290 re-enrolled this last year. 428 00:19:30,290 --> 00:19:32,470 So, landowners have been re-enrolling 429 00:19:32,470 --> 00:19:34,250 into these cooperative units 430 00:19:34,250 --> 00:19:38,800 and depending on the cooperatives, 431 00:19:38,800 --> 00:19:41,810 there's different levels of engagement of landowners, 432 00:19:41,810 --> 00:19:44,080 different levels of enthusiasm 433 00:19:44,080 --> 00:19:47,730 but it all depends on the individual community 434 00:19:47,730 --> 00:19:50,353 and the individual players within each cooperative. 435 00:19:52,360 --> 00:19:53,730 - Great, thank you so much. 436 00:19:53,730 --> 00:19:56,060 And if there are any more questions, 437 00:19:56,060 --> 00:19:58,420 please reach out to Hannah and Josh. 438 00:19:58,420 --> 00:20:00,173 - Yes. Thank you so much everyone.