Williamsburg Forest: Forestry, Climate & Research Webinar & Field Tour
Session 4: Women’s Approach to Forest Climate Adaptation
May 8, 2024 Webinar, Noon-1pm
May 10, 2024 Field Tour, 9:30am – 1:30pm
WEBINAR RECORDING
Location: Williamsburg Forest (nr Brownville), owned and operated by Piscataquis County Soil & Water District (PCSWD). Williamsburg Forest, formally Demonstration Forest, is located on 180 acres in Williamsburg Township. The forest offers hiking, bird watching, hunting, snow shoeing and cross-country ski trails for year round enjoyment.
Discussion leaders: PCSWD Executive Director Sarah Robinson will lead a discussion on forestry, climate and research from the perspective of women practitioners (landowners, consulting foresters, logging contractors, researchers, and policy experts) with Molly London, licensed professional forester; Jessica Leahy, Henry W. Saunders Distinguished Professor of Forestry in the School of Forest Resources at the University of Maine; Julie Davenport, Maine Forest Service District Forester working with loggers and landowners in western Maine.
Introduction to Williamsburg Forest by Sarah Robinson [12-min video]
- Discussion Topics:
Overview of PCSWCD and History of Williams Forest
Forest Management Planning: Soils, trees, climate impacts
Rehab management to help address climate change at the landscape level v. property level
Maine Forest Service: Outreach and engaging with women landowners
Engaging Women in Landowner Stewardship & Climate Change
Legacy planning to ensure future forests
Books that influenced our hosts:
Child in the Woods by Richard Louv is the first book to bring together a new and growing body of research indicating that direct exposure to nature is essential for healthy childhood development and for the physical and emotional health of children and adults. Child advocacy expert Richard Louv directly links the lack of nature in the lives of today’s wired generation—he calls it nature-deficit—to some of the most disturbing childhood trends, such as the rises in obesity, attention disorders, and depression, and offers practical solutions and simple ways to heal the broken bond.
The Final Forest by William Dietrich. People want lumber, but often object to logging. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Dietrich vividly describes that dispute in this fast-moving chronicle of the battle for the last old-growth forest of Washington state’s Olympic Peninsula by sharing the stories of regular people trying to make an honest living in the timber industry, who provide basic resources demanded by Americans and citizens worldwide.
Resources
