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Forest Guild Success Stories |
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The Forest Guild is involved in a wide range of programs in support of our mission to promote ecologically, economically, and socially responsible forestry as a means of sustaining the integrity of forest ecosystems and the human communities dependent upon them.
Here are just a few success stories that have touched people, communities, and forests across the country:
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Ensuring Sustainable Biomass Harvesting
Woody biomass utilization holds tremendous promise for helping to meet the nation's renewable energy needs. Nevertheless, removing too much forest biomass poses a significant threat to the economic and ecological sustainability of our nation’s forests and the communities that depend on them. The Guild is working to promote and demonstrate sustainable biomass harvesting guidelines in the Northeast, Southeast, and Pacific West. We have conducted demonstration harvests and offer field training opportunities for interested landowners, foresters, and other natural resource professionals, loggers, and forestry students. To learn more, please visit: www.forestguild.org/biomass.html
Research that Makes a Difference
The Forest Guild research program supports the Guild's mission by synthesizing and conducting scientific research to advance our science based advocacy, field meetings, Model Forests, and members' land stewardship. Science goes hand in hand with Guild member's place-based experience to guide the practice of ecologically, economically, and socially responsible forestry. Recent Guild research includes A Comprehensive Fuels Treatment Practices Guide for Mixed Conifer Forest: California, Central and Southern Rockies, and the Southwest. To read these and other Forest Guild research publications, please visit:www.forestguild.org/reseach.html
Landscape Scale Forest Restoration
The Wallow and Las Conchas fires that burned over 600,000 acres in Arizona and New Mexico in 2011 and cost more than 100 Million in suppression costs reinforce the need for healthy forest ecosystems. For more than 25 years, the Forest Guild has been a leader in restoring forests collaboratively at a landscape scale. The Zuni Mountain Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Project is a great example of what can happen when diverse partners work together to support a common goal of healthy forests and vibrant communities. To learn more about the Forest Guild’s collaborative forest restoration work, please visit:
www.forestguild.org/CibolaCFLRP.html
Engaging Youth in Conservation
Many employers say it is difficult to find experienced local help, particularly in natural resource management. In response, the Forest Guild sponsors a youth corps program in New Mexico each summer to train local youth in forestry work. Since the program’s inception in 1999, over 500 youth have successfully completed the program and have contributed to the restoration and management of more than 3000 acres of New Mexico forest and range land. To learn more about the Forest Guild’s YCC program, please visit:
www.forestguild.org/ycc.html
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Forest Wisdom Issue 18
For biomass to be a part of our nation's renewable energy future, issues of
ecological sustainability and carbon impacts need to be understood and
accounted for. As this edition of Forest Wisdom demonstrates through
articles on landowners experience and use of the Guild's Northeast
sustainable biomass retention and harvesting guidelines, using biomass for
energy presents a suite of complex technical and social issues. Read it here.
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