NSRC Hosts USFS Research Leadership at Massabesic

CRSF Director Aaron Weiskittel, UMaine’s lead site as part of the Northeastern States Research Cooperative (NSRC, https://nsrcforest.org/), organized and hosted a 2-day workshop with US Forest Service personnel at the Massabesic Experimental Forest (MEF) this week focused on future research opportunities and needs. Attendees included Cindi West, Director of the Northern Research Station (USFS NRS), NRS research ecologists and fire science specialists, along with representatives from Maine TREE, The Nature Conservancy, Maine Forest Service, and the Forest Stewards Guild. The potential for prescribed fire and the importance of outdoor recreation were highlighted, given the uniqueness of MEF’s forest type and surrounding communities. The outcomes highlighted the potential importance of NSRC to help fund applied research projects that build on MEF’s long legacy as a USFS Experimental Forest. Unfortunately, the USFS has yet to fund NSRC in FY25.

The NSRC supports cross-disciplinary, collaborative research in the Northern Forest — a 26-million acre working landscape that is home to about two million residents and stretches from eastern Maine through New Hampshire and Vermont and into northern New York. Broad research goals are stipulated in the NSRC congressional authorization.

A summary of the NSRC and current projects can be accessed at https://crsf.umaine.edu/resource/nsrc-summary-sheet/