2021 Events

Forestry and Wildlife Research Review and MN SAF Annual Meeting

Fire in Minnesota Ecosystems - Boreal Forests

To Leave or Not to Leave - Exploring Leave Trees in Minnesota

Minnesota Forest Carbon Series - Carbon Markets

Minnesota Forest Carbon Series - Silviculture and Carbon

Symposium on Lake States Lowland, Wet, and Floodplain Forests

54th North American Moose Conference and Workshop

Symposium on Lake States Pine-dominated Forests

Date: Tuesday January 19, 2021 from 9am-10am
Speaker: Matt Russell, UMN Department of Forest Resources

Carbon may be regarded as the most highly coveted forest product of the 2020’s. A benefit of trees is that they store and sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, making forests a natural climate solution. While foresters are familiar with measuring the number of boards and cords in a forest, less is known about how much carbon is found in an acre of woods. With a number of emerging markets that seek to pay landowners for the carbon in their trees, an increased understanding of the concepts and numbers behind forest carbon is needed. This presentation will provide several tips and resources for foresters and other natural resource professionals for integrating forest carbon in their work.

Additional Resources for carbon calculations:

• Measurement guidelines for the sequestration of forest carbon (USDA General Technical Report NRS-GTR-18)
• National scale biomass estimators for US tree species (Forest Science publication)

Date: Tuesday February 16, 2021 from 9am-10am
Speaker: Angie Gupta, UMN Extension

As natural resource professionals your office is often outside. You know plants, insects and ecosystems. You’re the perfect person to also know how to report invasive species. During this presentation we’ll cover the tools used in Minnesota to report invasive species:  including the Great Lakes Early Detection Network (GLEDN) app, EDDMapS online, ISMTrack and iNaturalist.

Resources:

• EDDMapS Pro Mobile App (57:30)
• Requesting Access to ISMTrack and Adding EDDMapS Users to ISMTrack (2:08)
• Making Identifications in iNaturalist (19:29)
• How to Geotag your Photos for iNaturalist (2:43)How to Use iNaturalist's Photo and Sound Uploader (2:30)
• EDDMapS Programs, watch the webinar (50:31)EDDMapS -
• https://www.eddmaps.org/index.html
• ISMTrack - https://www.ismtrack.org/Arrest the pest -
• https://www.mda.state.mn.us/reportapest
• iNaturalist - https://www.inaturalist.org/
• MIPN Invasive Plant Control Database - https://mipncontroldatabase.wisc.edu/

Date: Tuesday March 16, 2021 form 9am-10am
Speaker: Monika Chandler, MN Dept. of Agriculture and Sascha Lodge, MN DNR

Biological control provides cost-effective, sustainable, long-term management for select infestations.  The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) and County Agricultural Inspectors jointly coordinate leafy spurge and spotted knapweed biocontrol in Minnesota.  Monika Chandler (MDA) will discuss how biological control agents are developed including host-specificity testing to reduce the risk of damage to non-target plants.  Monika will describe how the biocontrol program works for public and private landowners.  Sascha Lodge (DNR Forestry) continues to build Forestry’s weed biocontrol program and will discuss the current status and future plans.

Resources:

• EDD MapS - Invasive species reporting and mapping system
• Midwest Invasive Plant Network
• MN DNR Aquatic Invasive Species Specialists

Date: Tuesday April 20, 2021 from 10am-11am 
Speaker: John Almendinger and Klaus Puettmann

Klaus Puettmann and John Almendinger will join Eli Sagor for a conversation about how foresters and ecologists understand the systems they work with. We’ll discuss integrating resilience and adaptive capacity into “traditional” practices, assessing complexity and management opportunities at multiple scales, and biological legacies. This is a rare opportunity to hear two giants in our field in an informal conversation. Don’t miss this one! 

Date: Tuesday May 18, 2021 from 9am-10am
Speaker: Heidi Roop, Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist in Climate Science, UMN Dept. of Soil, Water, & Climate

Scientific research informs our understanding of past and future climatic changes and is central to our understanding of the multi-dimensional impacts of climate change on human and natural systems. Despite thousands of peer-reviewed studies and strong scientific consensus on the human-driven nature of current climate change, why do we still see little political will and limited social acceptance and behavior change? Clearly, climate change is not only a science challenge. This talk will briefly outline some learnings from the fields of science and risk communication and explore how we can use a range of communication tools to more effectively catalyze the action needed to confront the climate change challenge head-on. 

Date: Tuesday June 15, 2021 from 9am-10am
Speaker: Jonathan Shears, Family Forest Carbon Program and Greg Bernu, Carlton County Land Commissioner 

We heard from the American Forest Foundation's Jonathan Shears on the ambitious new Family Forest Carbon Program they've developed in partnership with The Nature Conservancy. To date, nearly all but the largest-acreage family forest owners have been left out of carbon opportunities – such as carbon markets – that could help them overcome the costs of forest management and conservation. This new program aims to change that.

Then, we heard how a northern Minnesota county land department has managed sales of spruce tops for use in holiday and seasonal decorations. While potentially lucrative, selling spruce tops must be managed carefully to ensure sustainability over the long term. Carlton County land commissioner Greg Bernu will share his experience and lessons learned. 

Date: Tuesday July 20, 2021 from 9am-10am
Speaker: David C. Wilson, MN DNR - Forestry: Guideline Monitoring Program

David Wilson will provide an overview of the Guideline Monitoring Program, monitoring methods, and observed implementation levels for watersheds and ownerships across Minnesota. In 2013, the Guideline Monitoring Program was reconfigured to assess forest management guideline (FMG) implementation at a HUC8 watershed unit scale. Over 5 years, a snapshot of FMG implantation and potential water quality and forest health outcomes is collected across Minnesota’s forested regions. We will explore these implementation outcomes and provide an opportunity for discussion of forestry best management practices, and their use in Minnesota.

Date: Tuesday September 14, 2021 from 9am-10am (rescheduled from August 17)
Speaker: Brian Aukema, Professor, UMN Dept. of Entomology

Mountain pine beetle, an insect that has killed tens of millions of acres of mature pines in the western U.S. and Canada, has been expanding its range eastward. Though the mountain pine beetle has not yet reached Minnesota, the potential establishment of the species poses a serious threat to pine forests throughout the state.  If it were to arrive, mountain pine beetle would need to successfully assimilate into forests whose flora and fauna differ substantially from those in its native range. Brian presents some highlights of recent research that helps understand how the threat of mountain pine beetle may be facilitated or impeded by our native insects and trees.

Date: Tuesday September 21, 2021 from 9am-10am
Speaker: Joseph Bump, Associate Professor, UMN Dept. of Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology

The Voyageurs Wolf Project is a University of Minnesota research project that was started to address one of the biggest knowledge gaps in wolf ecology—what do wolves do during the summer?  Our goal is to provide a comprehensive understanding of the summer ecology of wolves in the Greater Voyageurs Ecosystem in northern Minnesota. Specifically, we want to understand the predation behavior and reproductive ecology (e.g., number of pups born, where wolves have dens, etc) of wolves during the summer.

Date: Tuesday October 19, 2021 from 9am-10am
Speaker: Marc Schwabenlander, CWD Research Program and Outreach Manager, MN Center for Prion Research and Outreach

As chronic wasting disease (CWD) continues to take hold in Minnesota and across North America, research and education are equally, vitally important for the management of this disease. The Minnesota Center for Prion Research and Outreach (MNPRO) is actively discovering innovations that advance CWD detection and help comprehend CWD's ecological significance, while also reaching a variety of audiences who are impacted by this complex neurological disease. In collaboration with state, regional, and national partners, MNPRO research and outreach activities promote CWD management that ultimately protects our deer heritage.

The presenter shared this fact sheet summarizing knowledge and links about CWD in Minnesota

Date: Tuesday November 16, 2021 from 9am-10am
Speaker: Sawyer Scherer, Forest Ecologist, UPM Blandin

(No recording available)

Many of Minnesota’s aspen dominated forests occupy Native Plant Communities that historically supported a much more diverse mixture of tree species.  Past management has often greatly reduced the diversity of these systems, and in particular has largely eliminated the presence of long-lived conifers. Today, many land managers are recognizing the values of restoring long-lived conifers across the region in order to positively impact landscape and stand level diversity, wildlife habitat, forest resiliency and carbon sequestration.  UPM Blandin has invested considerable effort over the past +20 years to develop cost effective and operational methods for restoring diverse mixedwood conditions across it’s forest landholdings. This video tour will explore these methods as well as the resulting conditions.

Date: Tuesday December 21, 2021
Speaker: Eric North, Assistant Professor of Urban & Community Forestry

As long-lived urban denizens, trees endure and are often viewed as unchanging components of our communities. With changes in climate, development, and new pests in our community, forests are facing increased pressure to do more with less. Learn about some of the challenges for our community trees and how you can address those challenges.