WEBVTT

1
00:00:01.290 --> 00:00:02.123
<v ->Hi, everyone.</v>

2
00:00:02.123 --> 00:00:06.240
I'm gonna be sharing updates on FEMC's work for 2024.

3
00:00:06.240 --> 00:00:08.070
I'm gonna start with some administrative

4
00:00:08.070 --> 00:00:11.520
and organizational updates about FEMC.

5
00:00:11.520 --> 00:00:14.310
So first off, this year, we expanded our team

6
00:00:14.310 --> 00:00:16.320
and also had a few staff promotions.

7
00:00:16.320 --> 00:00:18.600
So both Elissa and Soren were promoted

8
00:00:18.600 --> 00:00:21.900
to assistant director and data engineer, respectively.

9
00:00:21.900 --> 00:00:22.860
And Nick Aflitto,

10
00:00:22.860 --> 00:00:26.040
who is a new forest entomologist on the UVM faculty,

11
00:00:26.040 --> 00:00:28.080
joined us as a faculty advisor.

12
00:00:28.080 --> 00:00:31.470
We also welcomed a new ECO AmeriCorps member, Matt Rios,

13
00:00:31.470 --> 00:00:33.030
and three student employees

14
00:00:33.030 --> 00:00:35.550
who are helping tremendously with FEMC's work.

15
00:00:35.550 --> 00:00:36.720
These include Nate Smith,

16
00:00:36.720 --> 00:00:38.760
who's working with our web development team,

17
00:00:38.760 --> 00:00:41.040
Molly Babowal, who's helping with communications,

18
00:00:41.040 --> 00:00:41.873
and right now,

19
00:00:41.873 --> 00:00:43.950
especially helping with conference planning.

20
00:00:43.950 --> 00:00:47.463
And Elaina Buursma, who's our data archive assistant.

21
00:00:48.660 --> 00:00:52.380
All right, moving on to reviewing FEMC's 2024 work.

22
00:00:52.380 --> 00:00:53.460
We're gonna start by talking

23
00:00:53.460 --> 00:00:55.833
about our regional and state projects.

24
00:00:56.700 --> 00:00:58.590
This year, we continued our work

25
00:00:58.590 --> 00:00:59.940
on monitoring the connections

26
00:00:59.940 --> 00:01:02.940
between recreation and forest health.

27
00:01:02.940 --> 00:01:06.240
And this really looked like building out the last stages

28
00:01:06.240 --> 00:01:08.880
for the methods aspect of that project

29
00:01:08.880 --> 00:01:12.750
and the geospatial analysis aspect of that project.

30
00:01:12.750 --> 00:01:16.440
So the methods working group worked on refining a list

31
00:01:16.440 --> 00:01:18.180
of monitoring methods to categorize

32
00:01:18.180 --> 00:01:19.680
and identify methods that can be used

33
00:01:19.680 --> 00:01:21.570
to answer forest ecosystem questions

34
00:01:21.570 --> 00:01:23.160
related to recreation.

35
00:01:23.160 --> 00:01:25.350
And these methods focused on monitoring birds,

36
00:01:25.350 --> 00:01:28.350
amphibians and reptiles, soil, and invasive plants.

37
00:01:28.350 --> 00:01:29.430
And from these methods,

38
00:01:29.430 --> 00:01:31.380
they built a decision support tool

39
00:01:31.380 --> 00:01:32.340
that will aid users

40
00:01:32.340 --> 00:01:34.710
in selecting appropriate methods for their needs.

41
00:01:34.710 --> 00:01:36.300
This tool is partially available now,

42
00:01:36.300 --> 00:01:38.010
and we're looking forward to getting the last pieces

43
00:01:38.010 --> 00:01:40.020
of it online very, very soon.

44
00:01:40.020 --> 00:01:41.490
There's also a report available

45
00:01:41.490 --> 00:01:43.320
that cites the validated methods

46
00:01:43.320 --> 00:01:45.450
that are included in this tool and provides guidance

47
00:01:45.450 --> 00:01:46.950
in developing a monitoring program.

48
00:01:46.950 --> 00:01:48.120
So we're very hopeful

49
00:01:48.120 --> 00:01:51.030
that this tool will be able to help for us managers

50
00:01:51.030 --> 00:01:52.770
and researchers identify methods

51
00:01:52.770 --> 00:01:54.150
that may be appropriate

52
00:01:54.150 --> 00:01:58.023
to better monitor recreation's impact on forest lands.

53
00:01:59.670 --> 00:02:02.940
We also expanded the geospatial component of this project.

54
00:02:02.940 --> 00:02:04.620
So you may recall that last year,

55
00:02:04.620 --> 00:02:07.470
we had developed recreation use hotspots

56
00:02:07.470 --> 00:02:08.850
based on Strava data.

57
00:02:08.850 --> 00:02:10.380
And we had combined that with other pieces

58
00:02:10.380 --> 00:02:14.220
of spatial information to create a portfolio

59
00:02:14.220 --> 00:02:16.890
of geospatial layers that could be used

60
00:02:16.890 --> 00:02:19.110
to understand the impact of recreation

61
00:02:19.110 --> 00:02:20.370
or the interactions

62
00:02:20.370 --> 00:02:22.230
between recreation and forest health

63
00:02:22.230 --> 00:02:24.000
across the northeast.

64
00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:25.350
We received feedback that it would be great

65
00:02:25.350 --> 00:02:27.900
to incorporate some other user data sets,

66
00:02:27.900 --> 00:02:29.370
and with input from stakeholders,

67
00:02:29.370 --> 00:02:31.740
we decided to use iNaturalist observations.

68
00:02:31.740 --> 00:02:35.280
So the reason for this was that folks were thinking

69
00:02:35.280 --> 00:02:37.740
that maybe iNaturalist users might be pretty different,

70
00:02:37.740 --> 00:02:39.750
particularly from the folks who are mountain biking,

71
00:02:39.750 --> 00:02:40.890
but maybe also from the folks

72
00:02:40.890 --> 00:02:43.260
who are hiking and tracking that hiking on Strava,

73
00:02:43.260 --> 00:02:45.630
and they're probably likely going to different places.

74
00:02:45.630 --> 00:02:48.810
And so we now have trail use hotspots

75
00:02:48.810 --> 00:02:50.880
based on Strava hiking and biking data,

76
00:02:50.880 --> 00:02:52.950
as well as iNaturalist observations,

77
00:02:52.950 --> 00:02:55.290
which are aggregated to the nearest trail

78
00:02:55.290 --> 00:02:57.273
since many of them are off-trail.

79
00:02:59.310 --> 00:03:01.470
The geospatial portfolio also now

80
00:03:01.470 --> 00:03:04.800
incorporates soil suitability and trail use

81
00:03:04.800 --> 00:03:07.650
based both on those hiking and biking Strava data.

82
00:03:07.650 --> 00:03:10.860
And then also based on iNaturalist user data.

83
00:03:10.860 --> 00:03:12.720
The lines here are colored

84
00:03:12.720 --> 00:03:15.990
based on where you have potentially high impact

85
00:03:15.990 --> 00:03:17.220
from recreation on soils

86
00:03:17.220 --> 00:03:20.700
to the lighter yellows and oranges are lower impact.

87
00:03:20.700 --> 00:03:22.230
And high impact is places

88
00:03:22.230 --> 00:03:23.730
where there's low soil suitability.

89
00:03:23.730 --> 00:03:27.030
So the soil suitability map is sort of the background there.

90
00:03:27.030 --> 00:03:28.890
And also pretty high use.

91
00:03:28.890 --> 00:03:32.940
And then where the lowest impact is most likely low use

92
00:03:32.940 --> 00:03:36.930
and relatively high or relatively safe soils for recreation.

93
00:03:36.930 --> 00:03:39.120
And then the middle is, you know, some combination of those,

94
00:03:39.120 --> 00:03:40.530
and those combinations can vary.

95
00:03:40.530 --> 00:03:42.870
And so this can help managers understand

96
00:03:42.870 --> 00:03:45.360
where they might wanna target particular interventions

97
00:03:45.360 --> 00:03:47.463
to protect soils in these areas.

98
00:03:48.660 --> 00:03:50.340
The last product that I wanna highlight

99
00:03:50.340 --> 00:03:52.050
in the geospatial portfolio

100
00:03:52.050 --> 00:03:53.550
that we're providing as an output

101
00:03:53.550 --> 00:03:56.250
from the Recreation &amp; Forest Health Regional Project

102
00:03:56.250 --> 00:03:58.680
is this one that incorporates an understanding

103
00:03:58.680 --> 00:04:01.140
of the block forest block sizes,

104
00:04:01.140 --> 00:04:03.780
particularly as they relate to wildlife needs.

105
00:04:03.780 --> 00:04:06.870
So we assess three different buffer sizes from trails,

106
00:04:06.870 --> 00:04:07.890
and then you're actually able

107
00:04:07.890 --> 00:04:11.370
to see the dark green to light green is the size

108
00:04:11.370 --> 00:04:13.740
of the forest blocks that remain.

109
00:04:13.740 --> 00:04:15.540
And then you can also look at that

110
00:04:15.540 --> 00:04:17.820
in comparison with how heavily trails are used.

111
00:04:17.820 --> 00:04:19.560
And again, this can help managers figure out

112
00:04:19.560 --> 00:04:20.393
where they might wanna

113
00:04:20.393 --> 00:04:23.943
target different wildlife protection intervention efforts.

114
00:04:25.290 --> 00:04:26.430
All right, next, I wanna talk

115
00:04:26.430 --> 00:04:27.960
about a new regional project this year,

116
00:04:27.960 --> 00:04:29.100
which was to assess the rates

117
00:04:29.100 --> 00:04:32.733
of forest clearing and conversion across the northeast.

118
00:04:34.680 --> 00:04:36.450
So the goal for this project was

119
00:04:36.450 --> 00:04:39.000
to detect annual forest loss and regrowth,

120
00:04:39.000 --> 00:04:41.400
which we're able to do at a 10-meter resolution

121
00:04:41.400 --> 00:04:43.860
to identify the amount of true forest conversion

122
00:04:43.860 --> 00:04:46.710
between 2016 and 2023.

123
00:04:46.710 --> 00:04:48.840
This is important because there's a lot of maps

124
00:04:48.840 --> 00:04:49.920
that provide information

125
00:04:49.920 --> 00:04:51.720
about where forest has been cleared,

126
00:04:51.720 --> 00:04:53.670
but when you look at those over many, many years,

127
00:04:53.670 --> 00:04:54.810
you see that in many places,

128
00:04:54.810 --> 00:04:56.880
forest is also regrowing in those places.

129
00:04:56.880 --> 00:04:57.930
A lot of those locations

130
00:04:57.930 --> 00:05:00.480
are under current active forest management

131
00:05:00.480 --> 00:05:03.900
where there's a cycle of forest cutting and then regrowth.

132
00:05:03.900 --> 00:05:05.190
This is pretty different from places

133
00:05:05.190 --> 00:05:07.920
where forest is actually being cut and then converted.

134
00:05:07.920 --> 00:05:10.710
And so we wanted to do a project based on feedback

135
00:05:10.710 --> 00:05:12.510
at last year's joint committee meeting

136
00:05:12.510 --> 00:05:16.230
to try and identify those different rates of change.

137
00:05:16.230 --> 00:05:17.850
We're using Sentinel-2 data,

138
00:05:17.850 --> 00:05:21.137
and Soren is currently in the process

139
00:05:21.137 --> 00:05:22.500
of running these models.

140
00:05:22.500 --> 00:05:25.350
He has done a test that I'll talk about a little bit.

141
00:05:25.350 --> 00:05:27.480
We have nearly 25,000 training points

142
00:05:27.480 --> 00:05:29.520
or almost 3,500 per year

143
00:05:29.520 --> 00:05:31.200
that we're running the model for.

144
00:05:31.200 --> 00:05:34.050
And we're incorporating 17 different training layers,

145
00:05:34.050 --> 00:05:38.310
which you can see in this bar chart at the bottom.

146
00:05:38.310 --> 00:05:40.530
I apologize that my face is kind of in the way,

147
00:05:40.530 --> 00:05:42.060
but I will send these slides as well,

148
00:05:42.060 --> 00:05:45.570
so you can look at them in more detail if you want to.

149
00:05:45.570 --> 00:05:47.400
All right, so at the time that I recorded this,

150
00:05:47.400 --> 00:05:49.470
Soren was in the process of running some test code

151
00:05:49.470 --> 00:05:51.930
for this project, and he reported

152
00:05:51.930 --> 00:05:55.110
that we have a pretty high average classification accuracy

153
00:05:55.110 --> 00:05:57.030
better than some comparable products,

154
00:05:57.030 --> 00:05:58.470
and that the models are pretty good

155
00:05:58.470 --> 00:06:00.300
at identifying regeneration

156
00:06:00.300 --> 00:06:02.938
and actually able to notice reforestation

157
00:06:02.938 --> 00:06:06.720
after a cut or a clearing within three to six years.

158
00:06:06.720 --> 00:06:09.030
So that is that you can actually see regeneration

159
00:06:09.030 --> 00:06:11.610
in the model in a relatively short amount of time.

160
00:06:11.610 --> 00:06:14.490
Unfortunately, we're not able to include 2015 data

161
00:06:14.490 --> 00:06:17.430
as there's a known issue with Sentinel,

162
00:06:17.430 --> 00:06:22.230
but we are able to provide these data for 2016 to 2023.

163
00:06:22.230 --> 00:06:24.090
And the next steps for this will be to run the model

164
00:06:24.090 --> 00:06:25.800
for the entire region that will be happening

165
00:06:25.800 --> 00:06:27.750
over just the next couple of weeks,

166
00:06:27.750 --> 00:06:30.240
and then classify each year's data from that.

167
00:06:30.240 --> 00:06:31.380
And then from there,

168
00:06:31.380 --> 00:06:34.953
we'll be able to classify forest change and forest regrowth.

169
00:06:37.140 --> 00:06:39.870
All right, so moving on to talking about our project

170
00:06:39.870 --> 00:06:42.240
to build a DNA metabarcoding database.

171
00:06:42.240 --> 00:06:44.940
It's a five-year project, so we started it last year

172
00:06:44.940 --> 00:06:46.410
and did more work on it this year.

173
00:06:46.410 --> 00:06:48.570
We'll be continuing through 2028.

174
00:06:48.570 --> 00:06:49.680
And the project is

175
00:06:49.680 --> 00:06:54.360
to build a region-wide DNA metabarcoding database

176
00:06:54.360 --> 00:06:57.030
for insect's DNA metabarcoding information

177
00:06:57.030 --> 00:06:59.040
that's coming from many of our partner states.

178
00:06:59.040 --> 00:07:01.740
There currently is not a database, a centralized database

179
00:07:01.740 --> 00:07:03.450
where this information can be stored,

180
00:07:03.450 --> 00:07:06.420
but it has a lot of potential utility

181
00:07:06.420 --> 00:07:08.610
for invasive species early detection

182
00:07:08.610 --> 00:07:11.460
and may also be really useful for entomologists

183
00:07:11.460 --> 00:07:14.460
or others who are interested in insect DNA

184
00:07:14.460 --> 00:07:17.403
that's being found across the northeastern forest.

185
00:07:18.270 --> 00:07:21.810
This year, we met with a good number of potential end users

186
00:07:21.810 --> 00:07:23.700
and data contributors

187
00:07:23.700 --> 00:07:26.220
who provided input on what the functionality

188
00:07:26.220 --> 00:07:27.540
of this database should be,

189
00:07:27.540 --> 00:07:28.560
what some of the pitfalls we

190
00:07:28.560 --> 00:07:30.300
should be concerned about might be.

191
00:07:30.300 --> 00:07:31.350
We were also able to meet

192
00:07:31.350 --> 00:07:36.350
with a team doing fungal DNA metabarcoding rather.

193
00:07:37.601 --> 00:07:39.810
And we're hopeful that those data

194
00:07:39.810 --> 00:07:42.570
may ultimately be able to be in this database as well,

195
00:07:42.570 --> 00:07:43.620
even though that's not the...

196
00:07:43.620 --> 00:07:45.934
We were really focusing more on insect's DNA

197
00:07:45.934 --> 00:07:47.673
when this project started.

198
00:07:48.570 --> 00:07:50.310
Like I said, from those conversations,

199
00:07:50.310 --> 00:07:53.010
we were able to identify desired tool functions

200
00:07:53.010 --> 00:07:54.810
in the areas of concern, and from there,

201
00:07:54.810 --> 00:07:57.930
developed a user experience designer position.

202
00:07:57.930 --> 00:08:01.200
We have that position description ready to go,

203
00:08:01.200 --> 00:08:03.090
and we plan to start the recruitment

204
00:08:03.090 --> 00:08:05.973
and hiring process in early 2025.

205
00:08:08.730 --> 00:08:10.890
Moving on to talking about some state-level work.

206
00:08:10.890 --> 00:08:13.500
So this year, we were able to do a sprint project

207
00:08:13.500 --> 00:08:14.611
for Rhode Island,

208
00:08:14.611 --> 00:08:16.590
and that project was really looking

209
00:08:16.590 --> 00:08:17.940
at what the land cover is

210
00:08:17.940 --> 00:08:20.250
in Rhode Island's riparian areas.

211
00:08:20.250 --> 00:08:22.980
So the goal was to create riparian buffer layers.

212
00:08:22.980 --> 00:08:24.780
We have two different sized buffers

213
00:08:24.780 --> 00:08:27.600
that show forest cover and land cover classifications

214
00:08:27.600 --> 00:08:30.240
within Rhode Island's riparian areas.

215
00:08:30.240 --> 00:08:33.232
So we have 100-meter buffer, 200-meter buffer.

216
00:08:33.232 --> 00:08:35.880
We provided online download and hosting

217
00:08:35.880 --> 00:08:38.100
of the resulting layers as well as a brief report

218
00:08:38.100 --> 00:08:40.020
describing methods and products.

219
00:08:40.020 --> 00:08:41.550
So this is a really great project for us,

220
00:08:41.550 --> 00:08:43.530
perfect size for a sprint project

221
00:08:43.530 --> 00:08:44.490
and really excited to be able

222
00:08:44.490 --> 00:08:47.013
to provide this information for Rhode Island.

223
00:08:48.120 --> 00:08:49.590
There are a few other state

224
00:08:49.590 --> 00:08:52.680
and regional projects that I do wanna mention.

225
00:08:52.680 --> 00:08:56.760
So one is that we did plan to update data in NEFIN,

226
00:08:56.760 --> 00:08:58.920
which is the Northeastern Forest Inventory Network,

227
00:08:58.920 --> 00:09:02.580
comparing different CFIs across the region.

228
00:09:02.580 --> 00:09:03.590
We also wanted to update data

229
00:09:03.590 --> 00:09:04.980
on the Forest Health Atlas

230
00:09:04.980 --> 00:09:08.613
and update our Vermont Indicators Dashboard information.

231
00:09:09.510 --> 00:09:11.910
This is underway, but one of the needs

232
00:09:11.910 --> 00:09:14.040
that we identified this year while we were attempting

233
00:09:14.040 --> 00:09:15.480
to accomplish this work is

234
00:09:15.480 --> 00:09:17.130
that we do need another team member

235
00:09:17.130 --> 00:09:18.537
with the skills and capacity

236
00:09:18.537 --> 00:09:22.200
to both build and maintain automated data updates.

237
00:09:22.200 --> 00:09:24.390
So we're currently in the process

238
00:09:24.390 --> 00:09:26.250
to hire for a part-time position.

239
00:09:26.250 --> 00:09:29.010
It's looking likely that they'll be a UVM graduate student,

240
00:09:29.010 --> 00:09:30.900
and we're really excited to bring somebody on board

241
00:09:30.900 --> 00:09:31.770
who can really focus

242
00:09:31.770 --> 00:09:33.930
on keeping these kinds of tools up to date

243
00:09:33.930 --> 00:09:35.520
with the most recent data.

244
00:09:35.520 --> 00:09:39.300
We also did award New Hampshire sprint project,

245
00:09:39.300 --> 00:09:41.580
and that's still TBD because it will be building

246
00:09:41.580 --> 00:09:43.410
on the regional forest clearing work,

247
00:09:43.410 --> 00:09:45.870
digging into that in more detail for New Hampshire.

248
00:09:45.870 --> 00:09:46.703
And so we're waiting

249
00:09:46.703 --> 00:09:49.290
on getting those results completely available

250
00:09:49.290 --> 00:09:51.060
before we decide the exact direction we're going

251
00:09:51.060 --> 00:09:51.893
for New Hampshire.

252
00:09:51.893 --> 00:09:52.726
This means that we'll probably be

253
00:09:52.726 --> 00:09:55.203
doing that work in early 2025.

254
00:09:59.040 --> 00:10:00.810
And then of course, this year, we did all the things

255
00:10:00.810 --> 00:10:01.643
that I kind of think of

256
00:10:01.643 --> 00:10:04.140
as FEMC's regularly scheduled programming.

257
00:10:04.140 --> 00:10:06.480
And these things will probably sound very familiar

258
00:10:06.480 --> 00:10:07.443
to many of you.

259
00:10:08.760 --> 00:10:11.850
So this includes our forest health monitoring work,

260
00:10:11.850 --> 00:10:14.943
and I do wanna provide an update on that for this past year.

261
00:10:16.470 --> 00:10:18.750
So this year, as last year, we were able

262
00:10:18.750 --> 00:10:22.380
to visit all 194 plots throughout the network.

263
00:10:22.380 --> 00:10:24.450
We have a crew of 12 research technicians

264
00:10:24.450 --> 00:10:25.920
who go to New Hampshire, New York,

265
00:10:25.920 --> 00:10:28.590
Massachusetts, and Vermont to do this work.

266
00:10:28.590 --> 00:10:31.050
We usually divide into groups of three or four,

267
00:10:31.050 --> 00:10:31.980
so that we can have folks

268
00:10:31.980 --> 00:10:33.540
in different places at once.

269
00:10:33.540 --> 00:10:36.420
Then there's a crew lead assigned to each of those groups.

270
00:10:36.420 --> 00:10:39.690
We do have separate crews that go to Maine and Connecticut

271
00:10:39.690 --> 00:10:43.500
and very kindly handle those plots for us.

272
00:10:43.500 --> 00:10:47.490
We do overstory analysis as well as seedling regeneration,

273
00:10:47.490 --> 00:10:51.903
sapling survival, and a browse and damages assessment.

274
00:10:54.270 --> 00:10:55.770
I think many of you know this already,

275
00:10:55.770 --> 00:10:57.540
but for those of you who are less familiar

276
00:10:57.540 --> 00:10:59.040
with our plot network,

277
00:10:59.040 --> 00:11:03.180
the two plot layouts adopted by the FEMC FHM program

278
00:11:03.180 --> 00:11:04.290
accommodate plot layouts

279
00:11:04.290 --> 00:11:05.850
from each state's historical force

280
00:11:05.850 --> 00:11:07.290
health monitoring efforts.

281
00:11:07.290 --> 00:11:09.600
So we have the clustered FIA style

282
00:11:09.600 --> 00:11:10.860
that you see here on the left

283
00:11:10.860 --> 00:11:13.350
and then also the nested CFI style

284
00:11:13.350 --> 00:11:14.250
that you see on the right.

285
00:11:14.250 --> 00:11:16.083
And that varies from state to state.

286
00:11:18.450 --> 00:11:19.830
This was our third year being able

287
00:11:19.830 --> 00:11:22.320
to collect data from across the entire region

288
00:11:22.320 --> 00:11:24.653
and our fourth year from the entire region

289
00:11:24.653 --> 00:11:26.040
except for New York.

290
00:11:26.040 --> 00:11:27.540
So we're really looking forward to being able

291
00:11:27.540 --> 00:11:31.530
to do some time series analysis on the FHM data

292
00:11:31.530 --> 00:11:34.860
coming up in our upcoming FHM report.

293
00:11:34.860 --> 00:11:37.650
But we are still working on analyzing the 2024 data.

294
00:11:37.650 --> 00:11:39.990
And so in the meantime, I wanted to share some

295
00:11:39.990 --> 00:11:41.760
of the 2023 highlights with you

296
00:11:41.760 --> 00:11:43.440
that we haven't shared previously.

297
00:11:43.440 --> 00:11:46.410
You can see a summary on the left-hand of the slide

298
00:11:46.410 --> 00:11:50.340
of 2023 sort of summary information about seedlings,

299
00:11:50.340 --> 00:11:53.730
saplings, mature trees that were measured.

300
00:11:53.730 --> 00:11:55.290
But I'll let you review that

301
00:11:55.290 --> 00:11:57.270
on your own rather than reading it to you.

302
00:11:57.270 --> 00:11:58.350
I wanted to share a little bit

303
00:11:58.350 --> 00:11:59.370
from these two charts.

304
00:11:59.370 --> 00:12:02.400
So one was looking at percent of trees

305
00:12:02.400 --> 00:12:04.740
that had poor vigor ratings across the region.

306
00:12:04.740 --> 00:12:07.410
And you can see here that you can also assess

307
00:12:07.410 --> 00:12:11.040
which states had more of those particular species

308
00:12:11.040 --> 00:12:12.600
with poor vigor ratings.

309
00:12:12.600 --> 00:12:14.407
But what we find is that particularly,

310
00:12:14.407 --> 00:12:17.580
American beach and white ash have the highest percentage

311
00:12:17.580 --> 00:12:18.810
of poor vigor ratings.

312
00:12:18.810 --> 00:12:22.500
And this is most likely due to the diseases and stressors

313
00:12:22.500 --> 00:12:24.930
that we're already very familiar with.

314
00:12:24.930 --> 00:12:28.680
We also looked at tree size class by species.

315
00:12:28.680 --> 00:12:29.820
And what you see here is

316
00:12:29.820 --> 00:12:34.140
that there is some variability in the tree sizes

317
00:12:34.140 --> 00:12:36.870
across these different species across the entire region.

318
00:12:36.870 --> 00:12:39.030
And I'll let you dig into this information

319
00:12:39.030 --> 00:12:40.800
in more detail on your own,

320
00:12:40.800 --> 00:12:42.360
but these are the kinds of pieces of information

321
00:12:42.360 --> 00:12:45.030
that we're able to provide in our FHM reports,

322
00:12:45.030 --> 00:12:46.620
and we do make those available online.

323
00:12:46.620 --> 00:12:48.750
So I really would encourage you to look at them.

324
00:12:48.750 --> 00:12:50.310
Like I said, we're very excited

325
00:12:50.310 --> 00:12:52.530
to start doing more time series analyses

326
00:12:52.530 --> 00:12:53.880
in our upcoming report

327
00:12:53.880 --> 00:12:55.983
for the 2024 monitoring season.

328
00:12:57.300 --> 00:12:59.640
I've already mentioned some of the major successes

329
00:12:59.640 --> 00:13:02.220
from 2024's forest health monitoring season.

330
00:13:02.220 --> 00:13:03.053
But just to review,

331
00:13:03.053 --> 00:13:05.430
again, we're really excited about the ability

332
00:13:05.430 --> 00:13:07.410
both from the regionalization of this project

333
00:13:07.410 --> 00:13:09.840
over the past several years and also from now

334
00:13:09.840 --> 00:13:13.350
having three to four different data points across time

335
00:13:13.350 --> 00:13:16.170
to be able to look at time series analyses

336
00:13:16.170 --> 00:13:17.857
and greater regional patterns.

337
00:13:17.857 --> 00:13:19.140
And we're really looking forward

338
00:13:19.140 --> 00:13:19.973
to being able to do that,

339
00:13:19.973 --> 00:13:23.340
particularly in the 2024 forest health monitoring report.

340
00:13:23.340 --> 00:13:28.050
Also, last season, we updated our data entry system

341
00:13:28.050 --> 00:13:32.070
to include online in-field data entry,

342
00:13:32.070 --> 00:13:33.960
and that has really improved the efficiency

343
00:13:33.960 --> 00:13:34.860
of our field crews

344
00:13:34.860 --> 00:13:39.090
and for the QA/QC process following the field season.

345
00:13:39.090 --> 00:13:40.560
So that's been a really big improvement.

346
00:13:40.560 --> 00:13:43.800
And in 2024, we were really able to hone that system,

347
00:13:43.800 --> 00:13:46.590
dial it in, and make it as efficient as possible.

348
00:13:46.590 --> 00:13:48.330
We also expanded our crew lead training,

349
00:13:48.330 --> 00:13:51.566
so we have better data quality control in the field.

350
00:13:51.566 --> 00:13:54.539
And then looking ahead to 2025, we're excited again

351
00:13:54.539 --> 00:13:56.730
to be exploring more trends and patterns

352
00:13:56.730 --> 00:13:58.110
through the data analysis.

353
00:13:58.110 --> 00:14:00.270
And then we will be shifting the FEMC crews

354
00:14:00.270 --> 00:14:01.110
to different states.

355
00:14:01.110 --> 00:14:04.080
So the New York DEC crew is gonna handle a lot

356
00:14:04.080 --> 00:14:05.130
of the plots in New York.

357
00:14:05.130 --> 00:14:06.660
And then the FEMC crew is going

358
00:14:06.660 --> 00:14:08.370
to be taking over the monitoring

359
00:14:08.370 --> 00:14:09.540
in Connecticut and Rhode Island,

360
00:14:09.540 --> 00:14:11.567
which as I mentioned previously,

361
00:14:11.567 --> 00:14:14.013
a Connecticut crew had been handling for us.

362
00:14:15.480 --> 00:14:16.890
I also wanna provide an update

363
00:14:16.890 --> 00:14:18.330
on our Ecosystem Monitoring Fund,

364
00:14:18.330 --> 00:14:20.733
which has been running for the past few years.

365
00:14:22.560 --> 00:14:24.060
So this was our fourth year

366
00:14:24.060 --> 00:14:25.710
running the Ecosystem Monitoring Fund.

367
00:14:25.710 --> 00:14:27.930
This year was somewhat smaller than previous years,

368
00:14:27.930 --> 00:14:30.090
and we were able to make $40,000 available

369
00:14:30.090 --> 00:14:32.790
for projects of up to $20,000.

370
00:14:32.790 --> 00:14:35.370
As previously, these projects aim to provide support

371
00:14:35.370 --> 00:14:38.580
for the collection, aggregation, analysis, and utilization

372
00:14:38.580 --> 00:14:41.130
of forest ecosystem monitoring information.

373
00:14:41.130 --> 00:14:42.570
And we received nine proposals

374
00:14:42.570 --> 00:14:44.400
representing nonprofits and universities

375
00:14:44.400 --> 00:14:47.430
located in Connecticut, Maine, New York, and Vermont.

376
00:14:47.430 --> 00:14:49.140
And we were able to fund four projects,

377
00:14:49.140 --> 00:14:50.730
and we did receive some additional funding

378
00:14:50.730 --> 00:14:52.020
from the Forest Service

379
00:14:52.020 --> 00:14:53.550
to get us to that fourth project,

380
00:14:53.550 --> 00:14:55.347
which we were very appreciative for.

381
00:14:55.347 --> 00:14:56.850
And those projects were located

382
00:14:56.850 --> 00:14:58.893
in Maine, New York, and Vermont.

383
00:15:00.690 --> 00:15:01.770
So these are the specific projects

384
00:15:01.770 --> 00:15:04.050
that we were able to fund this past year.

385
00:15:04.050 --> 00:15:05.520
As you can see, they range

386
00:15:05.520 --> 00:15:07.650
from New York to Maine to Vermont.

387
00:15:07.650 --> 00:15:10.597
They cover fungi, they cover citizen science,

388
00:15:10.597 --> 00:15:13.170
they look at a long-term forest

389
00:15:13.170 --> 00:15:14.610
and tree growth monitoring network

390
00:15:14.610 --> 00:15:16.410
in coastal spruce ecosystems,

391
00:15:16.410 --> 00:15:17.880
and then also look at urban forests.

392
00:15:17.880 --> 00:15:19.290
So a wide range of topics.

393
00:15:19.290 --> 00:15:21.600
And again, this is really a way for FEMC

394
00:15:21.600 --> 00:15:23.430
to expand the number of topics

395
00:15:23.430 --> 00:15:25.533
and projects we are really able to touch.

396
00:15:26.580 --> 00:15:28.728
So looking collectively across all four years

397
00:15:28.728 --> 00:15:30.750
of the Ecosystem Monitoring Fund,

398
00:15:30.750 --> 00:15:32.880
we've been able to fund 20 projects

399
00:15:32.880 --> 00:15:36.328
with nearly $400,000 awarded from federal sources.

400
00:15:36.328 --> 00:15:38.880
This brought in almost $500,000

401
00:15:38.880 --> 00:15:40.470
in non-federal matching funds.

402
00:15:40.470 --> 00:15:42.060
So this has been a really important piece

403
00:15:42.060 --> 00:15:44.949
of meeting FEMC's cost share obligations.

404
00:15:44.949 --> 00:15:47.460
But not only that, it's been a really important way

405
00:15:47.460 --> 00:15:50.124
that FEMC's been able to expand its monitoring reach

406
00:15:50.124 --> 00:15:53.400
to places where we might not be able to get to otherwise,

407
00:15:53.400 --> 00:15:55.680
topics we may not be able to cover otherwise,

408
00:15:55.680 --> 00:15:58.680
and expand the network of partners that we work with.

409
00:15:58.680 --> 00:16:01.680
So we funded projects that cover a range of topics

410
00:16:01.680 --> 00:16:03.810
from on-the-ground monitoring to remote sensing

411
00:16:03.810 --> 00:16:06.120
that look at understory and forest canopy.

412
00:16:06.120 --> 00:16:07.800
They look at wildlife, they look at fungus,

413
00:16:07.800 --> 00:16:09.510
they look at bacteria.

414
00:16:09.510 --> 00:16:11.040
They've used citizen science methods

415
00:16:11.040 --> 00:16:12.870
or they've developed new methods.

416
00:16:12.870 --> 00:16:14.340
And we've worked with nonprofits,

417
00:16:14.340 --> 00:16:16.110
land trusts, colleges, and universities.

418
00:16:16.110 --> 00:16:18.870
So this has been a really exciting program for FEMC.

419
00:16:18.870 --> 00:16:21.840
We are hoping that we'll be able to continue it in 2025

420
00:16:21.840 --> 00:16:23.220
and are currently assessing the budget

421
00:16:23.220 --> 00:16:24.930
to see if that will be possible.

422
00:16:24.930 --> 00:16:26.340
But if it won't be possible,

423
00:16:26.340 --> 00:16:27.750
we will continue looking for ways

424
00:16:27.750 --> 00:16:30.050
to be able to bring this back in future years.

425
00:16:31.440 --> 00:16:32.273
And then of course,

426
00:16:32.273 --> 00:16:33.540
there's always even more happening

427
00:16:33.540 --> 00:16:35.610
behind the scenes for FEMC,

428
00:16:35.610 --> 00:16:36.630
and it's really important to me

429
00:16:36.630 --> 00:16:37.740
to mention all of the work

430
00:16:37.740 --> 00:16:38.970
that our web development team

431
00:16:38.970 --> 00:16:40.800
has been working on this past year

432
00:16:40.800 --> 00:16:43.052
to upgrade FEMC's web infrastructure.

433
00:16:43.052 --> 00:16:45.330
These are just, quote, a few highlights,

434
00:16:45.330 --> 00:16:47.670
but as you can see, there are many things

435
00:16:47.670 --> 00:16:49.110
that the web team has worked on,

436
00:16:49.110 --> 00:16:52.230
including reviving the Vermont ANR permit relationship

437
00:16:52.230 --> 00:16:54.900
and workflow to drive data to our archive,

438
00:16:54.900 --> 00:16:58.038
setting up new data shares for large data storage,

439
00:16:58.038 --> 00:17:01.920
which has been really, really important for our capacity.

440
00:17:01.920 --> 00:17:04.470
Creating a data archive tutorials page.

441
00:17:04.470 --> 00:17:06.960
We've worked on a CodeIgniter upgrade

442
00:17:06.960 --> 00:17:08.070
that's really, really important

443
00:17:08.070 --> 00:17:10.170
and has taken a good portion of the year,

444
00:17:10.170 --> 00:17:11.130
and actually is the reason

445
00:17:11.130 --> 00:17:12.990
that we brought in Nate Smith,

446
00:17:12.990 --> 00:17:14.430
that student employee who's been working

447
00:17:14.430 --> 00:17:16.230
with our web dev team.

448
00:17:16.230 --> 00:17:17.670
We upgraded and added features

449
00:17:17.670 --> 00:17:19.320
to our eco news website.

450
00:17:19.320 --> 00:17:22.830
We assisted in transferring Lake Met Station equipment.

451
00:17:22.830 --> 00:17:24.600
We continue development and refinement

452
00:17:24.600 --> 00:17:27.210
of our online data collection forms for FHM,

453
00:17:27.210 --> 00:17:28.300
and so much more.

454
00:17:28.300 --> 00:17:30.180
And I just really wanna give a shout out

455
00:17:30.180 --> 00:17:31.350
to our web dev team.

456
00:17:31.350 --> 00:17:33.450
They carry so much of what FEMC does

457
00:17:33.450 --> 00:17:35.940
because everything we do practically is delivered

458
00:17:35.940 --> 00:17:38.070
via the web and our website is really huge.

459
00:17:38.070 --> 00:17:40.050
So there's a ton of work that they're doing all the time

460
00:17:40.050 --> 00:17:41.760
that I think otherwise goes unseen.

461
00:17:41.760 --> 00:17:44.640
And I think it's really important to recognize this work

462
00:17:44.640 --> 00:17:45.921
and that there's so much to it

463
00:17:45.921 --> 00:17:50.430
and that FEMC just really couldn't function without them.

464
00:17:50.430 --> 00:17:51.540
I wanna share some details

465
00:17:51.540 --> 00:17:54.093
about the work FEMC already has on deck.

466
00:17:55.800 --> 00:17:57.270
I talked a little bit earlier

467
00:17:57.270 --> 00:18:00.000
about the work that FEMC did in 2024

468
00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:02.160
on the DNA metabarcoding database.

469
00:18:02.160 --> 00:18:04.470
This is that five-year grant that we have

470
00:18:04.470 --> 00:18:07.500
that's funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

471
00:18:07.500 --> 00:18:10.620
Looking ahead to 2025, this work will be continuing.

472
00:18:10.620 --> 00:18:12.720
We're really excited that we're gonna move

473
00:18:12.720 --> 00:18:15.570
into the process for hiring a user experience designer,

474
00:18:15.570 --> 00:18:17.970
and then developing the designs for the database.

475
00:18:17.970 --> 00:18:20.850
We're really excited for it to be really user-friendly

476
00:18:20.850 --> 00:18:23.820
and have a lot of cool different functionality,

477
00:18:23.820 --> 00:18:26.280
so that it's a really usable database

478
00:18:26.280 --> 00:18:28.350
that can provide a lot of different kinds of information

479
00:18:28.350 --> 00:18:30.600
related to insect's DNA.

480
00:18:30.600 --> 00:18:32.517
We'll also be receiving feedback

481
00:18:32.517 --> 00:18:35.040
on those designs from data owners

482
00:18:35.040 --> 00:18:37.410
and potential end users of the database to make sure

483
00:18:37.410 --> 00:18:39.720
that those designs really will meet their needs.

484
00:18:39.720 --> 00:18:40.553
And then from there,

485
00:18:40.553 --> 00:18:43.803
we'll begin building the beta version of the database.

486
00:18:45.270 --> 00:18:46.103
We also will be

487
00:18:46.103 --> 00:18:48.150
wrapping up the Forest Clearing Regional Project I

488
00:18:48.150 --> 00:18:49.050
discussed earlier.

489
00:18:49.050 --> 00:18:52.320
I expect that this will be wrapped up in early 2025.

490
00:18:52.320 --> 00:18:54.570
We'll be doing model runs for the entire region,

491
00:18:54.570 --> 00:18:56.130
and then classifying each year's data

492
00:18:56.130 --> 00:18:59.940
to get those rates of forest clearing, forest conversion,

493
00:18:59.940 --> 00:19:03.890
and forest regeneration over the entire region.

494
00:19:03.890 --> 00:19:06.330
And then I also wanna mention a couple

495
00:19:06.330 --> 00:19:08.430
of more partnership efforts

496
00:19:08.430 --> 00:19:10.620
that FEMC has undertaken in the past year

497
00:19:10.620 --> 00:19:14.220
that are expanding FEMC's regional and national reach.

498
00:19:14.220 --> 00:19:15.840
So one of those is participating

499
00:19:15.840 --> 00:19:18.810
in the Forest Service's Forest Health Monitoring program

500
00:19:18.810 --> 00:19:20.070
modernization efforts

501
00:19:20.070 --> 00:19:21.925
and also regional coordination efforts.

502
00:19:21.925 --> 00:19:23.490
So I've had the opportunity

503
00:19:23.490 --> 00:19:24.930
to attend two different workshops,

504
00:19:24.930 --> 00:19:27.210
one in Davis, California in the spring

505
00:19:27.210 --> 00:19:29.040
and one in DC in the fall.

506
00:19:29.040 --> 00:19:32.670
Really thinking about indicators in the context

507
00:19:32.670 --> 00:19:36.330
of the Forest Service's Forest Health Monitoring program

508
00:19:36.330 --> 00:19:38.220
and also have spoken with them

509
00:19:38.220 --> 00:19:40.560
about participating in some efforts

510
00:19:40.560 --> 00:19:41.820
that they're undertaking

511
00:19:41.820 --> 00:19:44.880
to better coordinate data collection

512
00:19:44.880 --> 00:19:46.620
and data sharing across the region

513
00:19:46.620 --> 00:19:49.260
where there's currently a good amount of overlap.

514
00:19:49.260 --> 00:19:50.460
We're also participating

515
00:19:50.460 --> 00:19:52.560
in the expansion and centralization

516
00:19:52.560 --> 00:19:54.380
of a monitoring network in Vermont

517
00:19:54.380 --> 00:19:57.607
in the northeast region that's led out of UVM.

518
00:19:59.760 --> 00:20:02.880
That's all we have for updates on FEMC's 2024 work.

519
00:20:02.880 --> 00:20:04.860
We're really excited about 2025,

520
00:20:04.860 --> 00:20:06.090
and welcome you to get involved

521
00:20:06.090 --> 00:20:07.770
with many of the projects that we have.

522
00:20:07.770 --> 00:20:09.570
Come to our conference, come to webinars.

523
00:20:09.570 --> 00:20:10.710
We hope to see you around.

524
00:20:10.710 --> 00:20:11.543
Thanks.