Project Overview

A red oak-white pine ecosystem on Maine’s coast, Holt Research Forest (HRF), has filled a key niche of long-term ecosystem monitoring since its establishment in 1983. While many landowners in Maine steward oak-pine forests, HRF is a rare research generator on this critical forest type. A recent harvest at HRF in the fall of 2020 provided a timely opportunity to monitor and distribute data on the impact of disturbance on oak-pine ecosystems, particularly in the context of climate change. With funding provided by the Forest Ecosystem Monitoring Fund through Forest Ecosystem Monitoring Cooperative, we collected, digitized, and distributed pre- and post-harvest data on overstory composition and regeneration at HRF. This effort gave landowners practical data and tools to inform their management while providing researchers with a long-term foundational dataset for future studies. It additionally contributed to an established body of research from HRF, housed by FEMC, tracking ecosystem change on-site as climate change shifts ecological systems across the region. Lastly, the project contributed to workforce development in forestry and forest research by providing students and early-career professionals with practical, applied experience working in the field and with HRF datasets.

Objectives

Dataset Availability

Downloadable: 3 datasets

Tags

Status - Completed

Start date: 2023-06-01

End date: 2024-08-01

Study Area

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