Through a grant from the USDA Forest Service, State and Private Forestry, the North East State Foresters Association (NEFA) is offering the Northeast Silviculture Institute for Foresters (Institute), a series of training workshops in silviculture. A full online training option with 92 separate training videos filmed at the 2017 training, has also been made available. The training is delivered by an academic team coordinated by the Universities of New Hampshire and Vermont – drawing on the best experts from the other universities in the region as well as other experts.
NEFA chose to pursue this project given significant new knowledge needed by foresters to make silvicultural decisions on the ground. Threats to forests in the northeast United States from fragmentation, invasive plants and insects, high-grading, climate change and shifts in wood utilization and manufacturing capacity have revealed gaps in the knowledge of, and learning opportunities for, working forest managers – especially in silviculture. Field foresters need updated and accurate information regarding new and emerging forest science to assure their silvicultural decisions made are as informed as possible.
The Institute workshops are designed to provide northeast U.S. foresters with the appropriate knowledge to make sound, science-based decisions for forest ecosystem management, harvests and regeneration. Institute training is designed so it can be used in the USDA Forest Service’s National Advanced Silviculture Program (NASP) to provide landscape-specific materials for northeast forests. Such a curriculum did not exist for the northeast under NASP prior to the Institute. While good silviculture training has been available through state workshops and particularly through the Society of American Foresters (SAF) meetings, these have not been as in-depth and intensive as envisioned by the Institute.
The Institute workshops or six distinct modules:
- NASP New England and Northern New York Overview (2 days)
- Northern Hardwood Forest Type (2 days)
- Mixed Oak Hickory Forest Type (2 days)
- Pine, Oak and Hemlock Forest Type (2 days)
- Spruce – Fir Forest Type (2 days)
- Climate Adaptation and Forest Carbon
Each of the forest type workshops include at least:
- Silvics of individual species & Stand Dynamics including land use history
- Silvicultural Systems and Practices including growth, yield, quality and regeneration
- Economics, utilization & markets
- Forest Health
- Wildlife Considerations specific to forest type
- Soils
- Site Quality and Productivity
- Sample prescriptions
- Legal, landowner objectives & carbon considerations
- Field Trip into forest type
Pre-requisites – pre-work is required of attendees.
There are limited attendee slots available for the Institute workshops and an application is required of foresters who are interested in participating in one or more of the Institute workshops. A modest workshop fee is charged of attendees.
NASP
National Advanced Silviculture Program
https://www.fs.fed.us/forestmanagement/vegetation-management/silvicultu…
The National Advanced Silviculture Program (NASP) consists of four national core courses taught over a 9-week period providing graduate-level instruction in silviculture and forest ecology to Forest Service employees seeking to be certified as silviculturists. NASP is open to employees from other Federal Agencies as well as those from State Agencies.
NASP is conducted in collaboration with four leading academic institutions. The first module, Ecological Systems, is conducted by the University of Minnesota. The second module, Inventory and Decision Support, is conducted by the Oregon State University. The third module, Landscape Ecology, is conducted by the University of Massachusetts at the Northern Arizona University. The final module, Advanced Silviculture Topics, is conducted by the University of Tennessee. Students on the certification track take a fifth regional module developed specifically for expertise in regional forest types as well as complete a detailed project and defend their project to a panel of about six professionals, including professional silviculturists, a university professor, a district ranger and a professional biologist. The Northeast Silviculture Institute for Foresters serves as the regional module for northeastern forest types.
