September 5, 2000
USM to Host a Seminar Series on Maine’s Forests

In advance of the referendum this November, the Environmental Science and Policy Program at the University of Southern Maine and the Maine TREE Foundation are sponsoring seminars on sustainable management of Maine's forests. The series will help residents of southern Maine become more informed about the role of the working forest and other forest issues.

The seminars, which are free and open to the public, will be held from 7-9 p.m. every Wednesday in October, in Room 303 Payson-Smith Hall, on USM’s Portland Campus and will feature speakers drawn from a variety of perspectives on this public policy issue, including conservation groups and forest industry groups.

On Wednesday, October 4, Lloyd C. Irland, President of The Irland Group will speak on “Nature and Production in the Maine Woods: An Economic History.” Irland, a forestry consultant, is a former official of the Department of Conservation and state economist. He has professional experience in U.S. Forest Service research and in academia. He serves on a subcommittee of the National Assessment of Climate Change. His fourth book, "The Northeast’s Changing Forest," was published by Harvard Press in fall, 1999. The Irland Group conducts research on market values and conditions for various wood products and timber supply assessments.

John M. Hagan, senior scientist at the Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences, will speak on Wednesday, October 11 on “Sustainable Forestry: How Do We Balance the Benefits?” The Manomet Center is a leader in environmental research. some of which is funded by the paper industry. It promotes the premise that a healthy economy and a healthy environment are compatible and inseparable goals. Through science-based partnerships, the center works to reduce the impact of commerce on the sustainability of natural resources. Its primary project in Maine is the Shifting Mosaic, a model for managing private industrial forestland for both economic and ecological goals.

Barbara Vickery of the Maine Chapter of the Nature Conservancy will discuss the
“Upper St. John River Project: Challenges in Conservation Design” on Wednesday, October 18. The Nature Conservancy has the mission of protecting habitat to preserve the plants, animals and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on earth. The Conservancy, which owns and manages Maine’s largest system of privately owned nature preserves, also protects land through trusts and conservation easements.

In the final seminar, on Wednesday, October 25, Karen Tilberg of the Northern Forest Alliance will talk about “Land Conservation in the North Woods.” The Northern Forest Alliance is a coalition of conservation, recreation and forestry organizations committed to protecting the northern forest of Maine, NH, VT and NY and to enhancing the ecological and economic sustainability of natural and human communities in the northern forest.

For more information, call Samantha Langley at USM at 780-5361, or Sherry Huber of the Maine TREE Foundation at 797-4454. The Maine TREE Foundation is a private, nonprofit, independent foundation that provides environmental education using the forest as a focus. The Environmental Science and Policy program at USM prepares students for careers in environmental planning.