• Zuni Mountains of New Mexico are a New Forest Restoration Priority, February 2, 2012
• Unified support for collaborative forest restoration in New Mexico’s Zuni Mountains, January 25, 2012
• New Issue of Forest Wisdom Delves into the Implementation of Sustainable Biomass Harvesting and Retention Guidelines, September 20, 2011
• An "All Lands Approach" May Help Prevent Future Wildfires Like Las Conchas and Wallow in New Mexico and Arizona, July 19, 2011
• New Guide Discusses Fuels Treatment for Mixed Conifer Forests, May 10, 2011
• Forest Wisdom 17 - Forest Managers Face Wide Range of Recreation Issues, May 4, 2011
• Aitkin County, Minnesota Designated as the Forest Guild’s Newest Model Forest, April 25, 2011
• Youth Conservation Corp Application for New Mexico now available, February 28, 2011
• Guild to Participate in Congressional Briefing on Biomass, February 8, 2011
• Report Sheds New Light on Undervalued Part of Our Forests, January 19, 2011

Zuni Mountains of New Mexico are a New Forest Restoration Priority
February 2, 2012 —New Mexico will get $7.6 million in federal money for a ten year forest restoration project in the west-central part of the state, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilcask announced Thursday. The Zuni Mountain Landscape area is 210,000 acres, most of which is encompassed by the Mt. Taylor Ranger District of the Cibola National Forest. The project is focused on improving forest and watershed health, reducing risk of severe wildfires, and protecting wildlifeincluding the endangered Zuni bluehead sucker. Project funding was awarded through the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program and involves a broad array of collaborators including the Forest Guild, National Wild Turkey Federation, the New Mexico Forest and Watershed Restoration Institute, Zuni Pueblo, Acoma Pueblo, Ramah Navajo Chapter, Mt. Taylor Manufacturing, Cibola and McKinley Counties, the New Mexico Environment Department, and others. Read more

Unified support for collaborative forest restoration in New Mexico’s Zuni Mountains
January 25, 2012 —In a letter to the Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment, New Mexico’s congressional delegation reaffirmed their support for collaborative forest restoration in the Zuni Mountains. Restoration in the Zuni Mountains is the product of long collaboration between the Cibola National Forest, the Forest Guild, the National Wild Turkey Federation, the New Mexico Forest and Watershed Restoration Institute, and the Wood Industries Network.

The Zuni Mountains saw nearly 100 percent tree removal during the railroad logging period starting the 1890s. Today, they have become unnaturally dense and are threatened by catastrophic fire, similar to the Las Conchas Fire that burned 156,000 acres last year. The proposed restoration project will reduce wildfire risk and wildfire suppression costs, improve forest and watershed health, support rural economies, and leverage non-federal investments. The project would invest $7.6 million dollars over ten years to restore 56,000 acres of forest and generate 92 jobs—a great value when compared to the $41 million dollars spent on suppression of the Las Conchas fire.

Read the congressional delegation’s letter here or click here to learn more about the Zuni Mountain restoration strategy.

New Issue of Forest Wisdom Delves into the Implementation of Sustainable Biomass Harvesting and Retention Guidelines
September 20, 2011 —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.

An "all lands approach" may help prevent future wildfires like Las Conchas and Wallow in New Mexico and Arizona
July 19, 2011 —The Las Conchas Fire around Los Alamos is the largest fire in New Mexico history while the Wallow Fire has the same dubious distinction in Arizona. There is no silver bullet solution to prevent these kinds of unprecedented fires but a new project in northern New Mexico is a step in the right direction. The Forest Guild is working through the successful Collaborative Forest Restoration Program (CFRP) to plan forest restoration across the top priority 10,000 acres in the Rio Trampas watershed. The Rio Trampas is an on-the-ground example of Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack’s "All-Lands Approach" to forest restoration because it will work across four jurisdictions; the Carson National Forest, Picuris Pueblo, State Land Office of New Mexico, and the Bureau of Land Management. Planning will prioritize areas at risk of severe wildlfire, erosion, and sedimentation. Then treatments will remove young trees, prepare the forest for natural cycle of low intensity surface fire, and reduce the risk of another record breaking fire. The last 100 years of land use change and fire suppression has increased density of younger trees in these forests and greatly increased the risk of larger, more severe fires. Read more here

New Guide Discusses Fuels Treatment for Mixed Conifer Forests
May 10, 2011 —The Forest GuildComprehensive Fuels Treatment Practices Guide for Mixed Conifer Forest: California, Central and Southern Rockies, and the Southwest. The guide covers the definition of mixed conifer, past land use and management activities, fire regimes and historic conditions, and impact of altered fire regimes in mixed conifer forests. The second half of the guide discusses effectiveness and impacts of different fuels treatment techniques such as prescribed fire, silvicultural treatments, and combinations of cutting and burning in mixed conifer forests. The guide also draws on interviews with 75 managers and experts and includes a synthesis of their insights into specific impediments to effective management and ways of overcoming them. For example, smoke management and wildlife habitat protections are two common issues that can make treatments more complicated, though not impossible. Read more here

Forest Wisdom 17 - Forest Managers Face Wide Range of Recreation Issues
May 4, 2011 —Recreation is an activity that best connects people with their outdoor world. For many of us, time spent in woodlands and forests at an early age shaped our perception of and relationship with nature.This issue of Forest Wisdom focuses on the relationship between recreation and responsible forest management. From invasive species to off-road vehicle use to protection of endangered species, both successes and challenges faced by Guild foresters are explored. Read the issue here

Aitkin County, Minnesota Designated as the Forest Guild’s Newest Model Forest
April 25, 2011 —Forests within Aitkin County, Minnesota and managed by the Aitkin County Land Department have been designated as the newest Model Forest through a program of the Forest Guild. “The designation of the Aitkin County Model Forest was a unanimous decision made by the local field reviewers and the national review committee,” reported Mike DeBonis, Executive Director of the Forest Guild. “The Cornish and Libby forests in Aitkin County are managed to produce marketable forest products on a sustained basis, balancing timber harvest and growth, and community needs.”

The Guild has designated 20 Model Forests across the United States. Aitkin County is the first Model Forest in the Lake States region of the upper Midwest. "The designation was a multi-step process including an on-site field evaluation by Forest Guild members from our region," said Mark Jacobs, Land Commissioner for the Aitkin County Land Department. "We are pleased with the recognition of the work we do as public land mangers and hope that this designation helps to highlight the overall high-quality forest management practiced in the Lake States region." Read the press release here or visit the model forest website.

Youth Conservation Corp Application for New Mexico now available
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. The Forest Guild Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) works in partnership with all five of New Mexico’s national forests.

The mission of this youth program is to provide career training in natural resources for 16-25 year olds from areas of the state that have few employment opportunities. Through training from the Guild and working no the ground, crew members learn about forest management, fire ecology, watershed health, and wildlife ecology. Some crew members have gone on to pursue college degrees in natural resource management.

An important focus of the program is on field-based training that has real world applications. For example, crews have been involved in gathering monitoring data about fuels reduction treatments, assisting with feasibility studies of trout reintroduction, and rehabilitating forests after fire. For more information click here Find the application to join the Forest Guild's Youth Conservation Corp (YCC) crews this summer in new Mexico here.
For an application to be a YCC trainer click here

Guild to Participate in Congressional Briefing on Biomass
On February 17, Bob Perschel, the Northeast Region Director for the Forest Guild, will join other experts in a congressional briefing. The briefing will focus on a number of elements of biomass energy, including its applications for heating and cooling our homes and buildings, and electric power generation. Panelists will dispel some myths about biomass and highlight why it can be used efficiently as a renewable energy resource. We are fortunate to have experts from academia, industry, and the non-profit community on hand to discuss various aspects of biomass energy, including:
Andrea Colnes, Biomass Energy Resource Center: Overview
Robert Perschel, Forest Guild : Sustainable Forestry! Wood Supply
Mike Jostrum, Plum Creek: Land Managementffimberland Owner Perspective
Steve Walker, New England Wood Pellet: Industry & Applied Technology
Dennis Becker, PbD, University of Minnesota: Rural Economic Development. Wealth Capture and Retention
Cbad Davis, Sustainable NorthWest and Rural Voices for Conservation Coalition: Case Studies from Western Forest-Based Communities
For more information click here

Report Sheds New Light on Undervalued Part of Our Forests
January 19, 2011 —A new Forest Guild report commissioned by the Climate Action Reserve focuses on the carbon stored in lying dead wood (LDW). The Forest Guild with the help of members and partners has produced a comprehensive report that highlights the differences in carbon storage in major forest types of the U.S. and discusses the influence that growth cycles, external disturbances, and forest management practices have on LDW. LDW generally accounts for between 2 and 5 percent of carbon stored in forests or about 2.4 billion tons of carbon in the U.S. The new report also provides an in-depth discussion of various sampling methods and guidance for managers planning dead wood inventories.

Download this comprehensive study of quantities and measure of lying dead wood here.