After the 2011 Tornado: Impacts on Massachusetts’ Forests

The Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary will host a lecture on After the 2011 Tornado: Impacts on Massachusetts’ Forests, on February 10th from 1:30 to 3 p.m.

The 2011 tornado left a visible scar on our landscape. After the tornado, much of the affected forested land underwent salvage logging to remove the fallen trees; however, Brimfield State Forest did not. Instead, fallen trees were left on the ground. Research conducted in 2012 and 2017 has allowed us to study the effects of the tornado and salvage logging on forest recovery by comparing Brimfield State Forest to salvage-logged areas nearby. Join Danelle Laflower and Jennifer Santoro to look specifically at the tree sapling regrowth to determine how the forest is recovering after the tornado.

Jennifer Santoro is a second-year PhD student working with Dr. Tony D’Amato in the Silviculture and Applied Forest Ecology lab at the University of Vermont. Her research focuses on the impacts of climate change, invasive species, and natural disturbance on New England forests. This past summer, Jen worked with Danelle and a team of researchers to study the effects of the 2011 tornado on forest recovery in Brimfield State Forest.

Danelle Laflower is a Wales, MA resident and forest ecologist with a passion for watching forests grow and change, and for this project in particular. Danelle had the pleasure of collecting the Brimfield State Forest study data for both the 2012 and 2017 surveys.