The Forest Ecosystem Monitoring Cooperative has produced a number of documents over the year. Below are some of the key reports, publications and other documents produced by the Cooperative

Long-term Monitoring Updates, Synthesis Reports, and Annual Reports

The Forest Ecosystem Monitoring Cooperative, periodically collates and reports on the long-term trends in key monitoring datasets. We have compiled this information into long-term updates that give an overview of the data for that year, as well as putting it in context with longer data trends, providing quick, digestible summaries of the data. These quick snapshots of key ecosystem components provide useful information for understanding, tracking and management.

Long-term Monitoring Update Cover image
  • Regional Forest Health Monitoring Program: 2023 Report
    2023 Regional Forest Health Monitoring Program Report
  • Regional Forest Health Monitoring Program: 2022 Report
    2022 Regional Forest Health Monitoring Program Report
  • Regional Forest Health Monitoring Program: 2021 Report
    Regional Forest Health Monitoring Program: 2021 Report
  • 2019 Massachusetts Forest Health Monitoring Report
    2019 Massachusetts Forest Health Monitoring Report
  • Forest Ecosystem Monitoring Cooperative Long-Term Monitoring Update - 2018
    Building on the success of the 2017 monitoring report, FEMC has worked with project leaders from several of FEMC's flagship monitoring programs as well as other key monitoring programs from around the state to produce another installment of the annual monitoring report. This report provides an overview of the data collected in 2018, as well as a comparison of that data to the long-term trends and the greater context of the information presented.
  • Forest Ecosystem Monitoring Cooperative Long-Term Monitoring Update - 2017
    Building on the success of the 2016 monitoring report, FEMC has worked with project leaders from several of FEMC's flagship monitoring programs as well as other key monitoring programs from around the state to produce another installment of the annual monitoring report. This report provides an overview of the data collected in 2017, as well as a comparison of that data to the long-term trends and the greater context of the information presented.
  • Forest Ecosystem Monitoring Cooperative Regional Monitoring Update - 2017
    Building on the success of the 2016 monitoring report, FEMC has worked to expand summaries of several select datasets to a more regional assessment of trends and conditions. The result is the FEMC Regional Monitoring Update, for data-year 2017, covering the states of Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont. This report provides an overview of the data collected in 2017, as well as a comparison of that data to the long-term trends and the greater context of the information presented.
  • Forest Ecosystem Monitoring Cooperative Long-Term Monitoring Update - 2016
    Building on the success of the 2015 monitoring report, FEMC has worked with project leaders from several of FEMC's flagship monitoring programs as well as other key monitoring programs from around the state to produce another installment of the annual monitoring report. This report provides an overview of the data collected in 2016, as well as a comparison of that data to the long-term trends and the greater context of the information presented.
  • Forest Ecosystem Monitoring Cooperative Regional Monitoring Update - 2016
    Building on the success of the 2015 monitoring report, FEMC has worked to expand summaries of several select datasets to a more regional assessment of trends and conditions. The result is the first FEMC Regional Monitoring Update, for data-year 2016, covering the states of Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont. This report provides an overview of the data collected in 2016, as well as a comparison of that data to the long-term trends and the greater context of the information presented.
  • Vermont Monitoring Cooperative: 2015 Long-Term Monitoring Update
    In addition to updates to all the findings presented in 2014, this year we are able to include a new section on 19 years of trout population monitoring in Ranch Brook.
  • Vermont Monitoring Cooperative: 2014 Long-Term Monitoring Update
    In addition to updates to all the findings presented in 2013, this year we are excited to report on additional long-term datasets, including Aerial Detection Surveys that have generated statewide maps of forest disturbance going back to 1995, Sentinel Stream Monitoring that tracks conditions in undisturbed watersheds for signs of climate change, and Ozone Pollution Monitoring that looks for trends in atmospheric concentrations of ozone and its impact on sensitive plant species.
  • Vermont Monitoring Cooperative: 2013 Long-Term Monitoring Update
    Vermont Monitoring Cooperative: 2013 Long-Term Monitoring Update
  • Vermont Monitoring Cooperative 1998 Annual Report
    Documentation of the results from studies conducted in 1998 at two VMC sites at Mt. Mansfield and Lye Brook Wilderness Area.
  • Vermont Monitoring Cooperative 1997 Annual Report
    1997 VMC Annual Report
  • Vermont Monitoring Cooperative 1996 Annual Report
    1996 VMC Annual Report
  • 1995 VMC Annual Report
    1995 VMC Annual Report
  • 1993 VMC Annual Report
    1993 VMC Annual Report
  • 1994 VMC Annual Report
    1994 VMC Annual Report
  • 1992 VMC Annual Report
    1992 VMC Annual Report
  • 1991 VMC Annual Report
    1991 VMC Annual Report

Technical Reports

Conference Proceedings

  • Proceedings of the 2023 Annual Conference
    Proceedings of the annual conference including plenary session summary, contributed talks abstracts, and working session outcomes.
  • Conference Proceedings of the 2022 FEMC Annual Conference
    An executive summary of the conference plenary session and materials for all presentations and workshops.
  • FEMC 2021 Conference Proceedings
    Facing Change: Reimagining forested communities in a time of disruption. Proceedings of the 2021 FEMC Annual Conference, including program summaries and contributed talk abstracts.
  • Proceedings of the 2020 Forest Ecosystem Monitoring Cooperative Annual Conference
    Revealing a Changing Forested Landscape: Where we have come from, what we have learned, and what is next in long-term ecosystem monitoring. Proceedings of the 2020 Forest Ecosystem Monitoring Cooperative Annual Conference.
  • Proceedings of the 2019 Forest Ecosystem Monitoring Cooperative Conference
    The proceedings of the 2019 Forest Ecosystem Monitoring Cooperative Conference, where the theme was Monitoring for Impacts of Climate Change: Tracking and measuring outcomes in northeastern forests, include summaries of the morning's plenary keynote speakers focusing on surveying the impacts of climate change on key forest ecosystem processes and services, organizer-supplied summaries of the workshops, and the abstracts from the afternoon contributed talks.
  • Proceedings of the 2018 Forest Ecosystem Monitoring Cooperative Conference
    The proceedings of the 2018 Forest Ecosystem Monitoring Cooperative Conference provide summaries of the morning's plenary keynote speakers focusing on surveying the impacts of climate change on key forest ecosystem processes and services, organizer-supplied summaries of the workshops, and the abstracts from the afternoon contributed talks.
  • Proceedings of the 2017 Forest Ecosystem Monitoring Cooperative Conference
    The proceedings of the 2017 Forest Ecosystem Monitoring Cooperative Conference provide summaries of the morning's plenary keynote on principles of effectively communicating science and advocating for forest ecosystem monitoring and research to policy makers, managers and the public, organizer-supplied summaries of the workshops, and the abstracts from the afternoon contributed talks.
  • Proceedings of the 2016 Vermont Monitoring Cooperative Conference
    The proceedings of the 2016 Vermont Monitoring Cooperative Conference provide summaries of the morning's plenary session on understanding the links between forest management and watershed-level health, organizer-supplied summaries of the working group sessions, and the abstracts from the afternoon contributed talks.
  • Proceedings of the 2015 Vermont Monitoring Cooperative Conference
    The proceedings of the 2015 Vermont Monitoring Cooperative Conference provide summaries of the morning's 13 lightning talks on key long-term ecosystem monitoring programs, a retrospective on 25 years of VMC, organizer-supplied summaries of the working group sessions, and the abstracts from the afternoon contributed sessions.
  • Proceedings of the 2014 Vermont Monitoring Cooperative Conference
    The proceedings of the 2014 Vermont Monitoring Cooperative and Mt. Mansfield Science and Stewardship Conference provides a synthesis of the morning plenary session with key policy makers and advocates, summaries of afternoon working sessions, and the abstracts from the contributed presentations.
  • Proceedings of the 2013 Vermont Monitoring Cooperative Conference
    The proceedings from the 2013 VMC Conference provide overviews of talks given by key academic, state and federal leaders, executive summaries of afternoon working sessions, and abstracts from contributed presentations.

Other Publications

  • Recreation Impacts on Dimensions of Northeast Regional Forest Health
    FEMC Regional project 2023-2024: Recreation Impacts on Dimensions of Northeast Regional Forest Health
  • Assessing the Risk of Invasive Plant Introductions at Trailheads in the Adirondack Park, NY
    This report documents the Forest Ecosystem Monitoring Cooperative (FEMC) collaboration with Dr. Colin Beier (SUNY-ESF) and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to expand on previous work by Rockefeller (2016) and Larkin (2017) in order to examine the risk of invasive plant propagule transport by visitors to trailheads in the Adirondack Park, New York (NY). This project was designed as a case study to explore the utility of using digitized trail registry data to answer ecological questions.
  • Estimates of Storage, Sequestration, Harvest-Related Removals and Transport-Related Emissions of Carbon in the Pisgah State Park, 2008 to 2021
    Forest Ecosystem Monitoring Cooperative. 2022. Estimates of Storage, Sequestration, Harvest-Related Removals and Transport-Related Emissions of Carbon in the Pisgah State Park, 2008 to 2021. https://www.doi.org/10.18125/v31lrj. South Burlington, VT.
  • Inventory of moderate and intensive timber clearings detected via remote sensing in New Hampshire between 2000 and 2018 (Version 1.1)
    A technical report by the FEMC in which we evaluate (1) the number, timing, and size of moderate (>20ft2/ac residual basal area) and intensive (<20ft2/ac residual basal area) timber clearings (>3 ac in size) in NH between 2000 and 2018 detected via remote sensing, (2) the proportion of those clearings determined to be intensive (i.e., clearcuts), and (3) the likely post-harvest outcome (i.e., silviculture or land use conversion).
  • Hemlock woolly adelgid-induced losses in riparian corridors in New York State
    The loss of eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) due to the invasive pest hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae; HWA) could have profound impacts to riparian forest function and provisional services. Following a request by collaborators in New York State (NYS) to identify and prioritize riparian corridors at potential risk of future hemlock losses due to HWA (2013-2027, USFS 2012b, 2012c), we created risk maps using three riparian buffer widths (50-, 100-, and 200-ft) for NYS. We expressed projected basal area (BA) losses two ways: in ft2/ac and as a percentage of total stand BA. We found that the central and southern portions of the state are at risk of greater losses of hemlock in the riparian corridor, which could influence water quantity and quality adjacent to large population centers (e.g., New York City). Because of the large size of the pixels used to represent loss (240m x 240m, 14.23 ac), we found that the width of the riparian buffer (i.e., 50-, 100-, 200-ft) did not drastically influence the projected losses. As the density of streams in NYS is high, we recommend using our sub-catchment level maps for identifying watersheds with elevated potential BA losses, and then pinpointing stream corridors within the sub-catchment for research, monitoring, or future management and restoration efforts.
  • FEMC Browse Impacts Report
    REGIONAL ASSESSMENT OF BROWSE AND ITS IMPACTS ON FOREST VEGETATION
  • Preservation of Historical Forest Health Reports and Data in Massachusetts
    This FEMC final report documents the process of preserving Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation reports and data stored at the DCR Archives offices in Boston. Reports are typically annual bureau summaries and span from 1932 to 2010.
  • Massachusetts Forest Health Mapping Standardization, Analysis and Access: Final Report
    This report describes the methods and outputs of a project undertaken by the Vermont Monitoring Cooperative (VMC), in collaboration with the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, to expand digital holdings of forest disturbance mapping back in time and assess temporal patterns in that data.
  • New York Forest Health Mapping Digitization, Analysis and Access: Final Report
    This report describes an the methods and outputs of a project undertaken by the Vermont Monitoring Cooperative (VMC), in collaboration with the the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), to expand digital holdings of forest disturbance mapping back in time, and to demonstrate ways that that data could be integrated into the existing VMC holdings.
  • The Vermont Forest Ecosystem Management Demonstration Project
    2004 research report
  • Highlights from the Forest Ecosystem Management Demonstration Project
    2003 research summary
  • Proceedings of the 8th Eastern CANUSA Forest Science Conference: Understanding and Managing ECANUSA Forests in a Changing Environment
    Proceedings of the 8th Eastern CANUSA Forest Science Conference: Understanding and Managing ECANUSA Forests in a Changing Environment
  • Vermont’s Changing Forests: Key Findings on the Health of Forested Ecosystems from the Vermont Monitoring Cooperative - October, 2009
    The Vermont Monitoring Cooperative (VMC) was established in 1990 to track changes occurring in Vermont’s forests. Only limited information about the health and baseline conditions of forested ecosystems was available at that time. This report offers a sampling of the extraordinary amount of information VMC has assembled in its first 18 years. This report represents the written contributions of 19 cooperators, but collective efforts of dozens of researchers from varying backgrounds and disciplines working collaboratively to compile and tell the stories contained in this document.
  • 1991 VMC Annual Report
    1991 VMC Annual Report