Project Overview
The Forest Health Monitoring Program was established in 1991 as a joint effort between the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation (FPR) and the Vermont Monitoring Cooperative (VMC) (as of March 2017 renamed to Forest Ecosystem Monitoring Cooperative (FEMC)) to monitor the condition of a range of tree species in Vermont. Plot design follows the structure set by the National Forest Health Monitoring Program with additional metrics added to reflect improvements in monitoring technologies and additions to monitoring objectives. In collaboration with the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, the FEMC expanded the Forest Health Monitoring program that has been running in Vermont for over 15 years to Massachusetts. In 2019 twenty forested plots were selected from the network of plots that MA DCR has maintained to monitor wood quality and yield on state lands since the 1960s. The goal is to establish a total of twenty-five plots by 2020. Plots were selected to be representative of MA forest composition and distributed across the state. The field crews measured tree demography, including saplings and seedlings, recorded browse, invasive species, and damages, and assessed crown health, among other metrics. Plots will be assessed on an annual basis to provide an early warning sign of forest stress and changes in demography. We thank Bill VanDoren and Nicole Keleher at MA DCR for help with this effort.
Objectives
Annual measurements of forest plots allow for a better understanding of trends in forest health, as well as potential drivers of decline.
Dataset Availability
By request: 9 datasets
Description only: 2 datasets
See the full list of available dataTags
Status - Completed
Start date: 2019-08-13
End date: 2021-12-31
Study Area
