1 Campus Center Way
Amherst
MA
The Massachusetts Department of Conservation & Recreation will hold its Canopy 2025 Forestry Forum at the Campus Center at UMass Amherst on May 29th from 8 am to 5 pm
Canopy 2025 – Innovations in Practice will explore the many values of our forest land, as well as the stewardship that strengthens, supports, and sustains them. Our forests are powerhouses that boost our economy, conserve wildlife, and fight climate change across the Commonwealth. Whether you are concerned about applying new approaches to forest conservation due to climate change, implementing novel forestry projects, or advancing your forest-based business, step under the canopy where we can all be innovative. Come engage in a full day of forest-centric conversations at Canopy 2025.
Schedule of Events
8:00am – 8:30am: Registration
8:00am – 9:00am: Information Alley
9:00am – 9:30am: Welcome
9:30am – 10:20am: Keynote Speaker
10:20am – 10:30am: Break
10:30am – 11:00am: Panel Discussion**
11:00am – 11:15am: Break
11:15am -12:15pm: Concurrent Breakout Sessions**
12:15pm – 1:15pm: Lunch, Information Alley
1:15pm – 2:15pm: Concurrent Breakout Sessions**
2:00pm – 3:00pm: Breakout Session
2:15pm – 2:45pm: Break, Information Alley
2:45pm – 3:45pm: Concurrent Breakout Sessions**
3:45pm – 4:00pm: Closing Remarks
4:00pm – 5:00pm: Optional Social Hour and Raffle
Breakout Session 1:
Knowledge is Power: Opportunities for landowners
Planning and implementing land stewardship practices can be challenging. Stop by this session to learn more about technical assistance, cost-share opportunities, and other creative ways to reach the goals for your forested lands!
Taking the Scenic Route: Stories of indirect routes into forestry and relation professions
Natural resource careers are not often advertised to students and younger generations as an option to pursue; as a result, there are many forestry professionals who have interdisciplinary backgrounds. However, this variety of experiences are not a detriment to the professions, but rather a critical component of it. Come listen and learn how these diverse backgrounds positively impact natural resource work every day.)
Stronger Together: Restoring cedar swamps through partnerships
Many restoration efforts require collaboration to be successful – restoring cedar swamps, a diminishing ecosystem across our landscape, is no different. Stop by this session to learn more about this ecosystem and why building long-term partnerships is critical to restoration and conservation projects.
Within Your Reach: Accessing and using federal forest data sources
How do we know what’s going on with our forests? How are changes tracked over time? How can we use this information to make better forest management decisions? Come to this session to have these questions answered, learn about publicly available forest-related data, and get a crash course on the US Forest Service’s Forest Inventory and Analysis program and the Climate Change Tree Atlas.
Breakout Session 2:
Changing Conditions and Changing Practices
Climate change is not only directly impacting forests, but forestry professionals, too. Foresters and timber harvesters are seeing on-the-ground conditions changing, first-hand. Come to this session to hear how professionals are being impacted by climate change, learn how they are combatting unexpected conditions and problem-solving on-the-fly, and walk away with new tactics to implement when conditions change overnight.
Teamwork Makes the Dream Work: Achieving your goals with a forester
Achieving goals on your land does not happen in isolation – landowners identify their goals and foresters make them a reality. Do you want to learn more about how landowner-forester dynamics work to achieve goals? Then this session is for you! Come participate in a conversation between landowners and foresters who have collaborated to put plans into action.
Throw Your (Hard) Hat into the Ring! – Getting into the profession
What’s keeping you from climbing the career ladder? There are often barriers to getting into forestry and other natural resource professions – let’s talk about ways to get you in the door, get you from Point A to Point B, and figure out how to overcome obstacles by keeping you reaching your professional goals.
Innovations in Practice in the Industry
The forest sector is ever evolving; this session will explore some of the new innovations being put into practice today by industry professionals.
Breakout Session 3:
From Small to Large: Disturbances, their impacts, and the recovery process
Large-scale disturbances such as wildfires, wind events, and ice storms have historically, and contemporarily, had impacts across the Massachusetts landscape. These types of events have ecological impacts – both positive and negative. Stop by this session to learn more about different kinds of disturbances, the impacts they have on our forests, and what it means for a forest to be in recovery.
Biodiversity and the Commonwealth
From Northern Hardwood Spruce Fir in the Berkshire Mountains to Pitch Pine Scrub Oak on the Coastal Plain, the forests of Massachusetts are diverse. Come learn about Governor Healey’s Biodiversity Executive Order, MassWildlife’s State Wildlife Action Plan, conservation planning tools like BioMap, and strategies that you can use to help ensure that our forests will continue to support a variety of native plants and animals.
Let’s Talk Forests! How and why to communicate natural resource work
You know the science in and out, but do you struggle to convey all that you know to the public, the press, or decision-makers? Come learn some tips, tricks, tactics, and tools from your professional peers to better communicate.
Thinking Ahead: Protecting land for the long-term
Are you worried what will happen to your land after you? Do you want to make sure your forests stay forested forever? Come learn more about programs that may help protect your forests in perpetuity. In this session you will learn more about conservation restrictions (CRs), forest legacy, and estate planning.
Cost of this event, including lunch and free parking in the Campus Center garage, is $25 per participant.
To attend this event, register at Canopy 2025: Innovations in Practice Forestry Forum | Mass.gov