WISCONSIN—After Lymantria dispar (previously known as gypsy moth) populations caused widespread defoliation and mortality across oak-dominated forests in southern New England, these states are now benefiting from a project funded through a $191,201 USDA Forest Service Landscape Scale Restoration grant.

The project, Increasing Resiliency in Southern New England Oak Forests, is a partnership between the nonprofit Forest Stewards Guild; state forestry agencies in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island; and other organizations. A major catalyst for the project was the Lymantria dispar defoliation on close to 600,000 acres in the region, according to Peter Beringer, a Forest Service Eastern Region stewardship forester in New Hampshire.

“These three states—Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island—don’t have any connection to national forests,” said Beringer. “They don’t have any markets for their dead oak trees. Increased fire risk is also a factor. They are three years into this massive mortality, and they are trying to regenerate the forest.”

Christopher Riely of Sweet Birch Consulting, one of the project participants, described the project’s two parts: outreach to landowners in southern New England, and working with professional foresters and other natural resource professions on oak resiliency topics. “Forests are managed by people, and it requires successful interactions between landowners and foresters,” Riely said.

The project features events to spark collaboration and share knowledge among landowners, foresters and natural resource professionals, including:

• An oak regeneration learning exchange to foster conversation for foresters and biologists between states and agencies about oak regeneration management approaches, as well as public communication approaches.
• An oak forest resilience assessment workshop to provide hands-on training by key natural resource professionals with tools for assessing the condition of oak forests.
• Oak forest landowner stewardship summits that teach landowners to recognize signs of unhealthy oak forests; teach forest stewards how to communicate with landowners about what is happening on their land and what they can do about it; and build excitement for increasing oak resiliency.

The project will also collect, analyze and interpret data from southern New England states following the workshop and summits, and then transfer this knowledge to different audiences with reports and materials including an oak resiliency tool kit for forest landowners.

A few months after the project kicked off in 2019, the pandemic shook up plans for in-person events. Yet pivoting to online forums provided some unexpected advantages, such as greater opportunities for collaboration when events could draw virtual attendees from all three states.

“Another hidden success is there are a lot of new landowners in southern New England, and they’re interested in their forests,” said Amanda Mahaffey of the Forest Stewards Guild.

One example of knowledge shared during the forums is the use of slash walls. After a timber harvest, these slash walls—woody debris pushed into a wall shape — create a barrier that protects young trees from deer browsing.

Aerial surveys of current forest health conditions are underway and should be completed by September. The grant project is expected to be completed in 2022.

In addition to grant funding, the Forest Service also provides technical assistance through its Eastern Region Forest Health and Stewardship programs in this affected area.