2023 Schedule – Pacific Time

Through the USDA Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities Program, the New England Forestry Foundation (NEFF) is anchoring a nationally relevant pilot program in New England to demonstrate how well-managed forests and sustainably harvested wood products can address climate change while supporting biodiversity and benefiting both rural and urban stakeholders. With support from this program, small landowners and land trusts will be empowered to help implement this vision,showcasing how the values of long-term land conservation can work in concert with climate-smart forest management on private forest lands. This will include refining the definition of “climate-smart” forest management, implementing climate-smart practices via foresters and loggers and generating measurable climate benefits in the form of increased carbon sequestration and storage. A central aspect of this project is a collaboration with the Family Forest Carbon Program (a project of the American Forest Foundation and the Nature Conservancy) to inform and enroll smaller forest landowners. In addition, NEFF will conduct several landowner outreach pilot efforts in strategic geographies throughout New England that will focus on reaching underserved landowners in local wood baskets and offer training to the loggers and foresters that landowners (including land trusts) depend on to implement sound forest management. This workshop will frame how regional partnerships are key to implementing the landscape-scale goals of this project, including the value of strong engagement from land trusts.