WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.290 --> 00:00:02.123 Hi, everyone. 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 & 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.