University of Vermont

The Northeastern States Research Cooperative (NSRC), jointly directed by the University of Vermont's School of Natural Resources and the Hubbard Brook Project of the USDA Forest Service Northeastern Research Station, today announced almost $1.8 million in research grants to study the Northern Forest and its communities. The grants were made possible through the efforts of U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt) and Judd Gregg (R-NH).

NSRC funded 25 proposals this second year of the partnership, with grants between $13,000 and $224,000. Projects include a study of how communities benefit from differentiated forest product markets, research into Internet cooperation by non-industrial private forest owners, a model of Northern Forest recreation and tourism, an investigation of the effects of soil acidification on forest and associated aquatic ecosystems and a study of how reservoir water level effects mercury bio-accumulation.

“The Northern Forest needs the NSRC and the important work it does throughout the communities and landscapes of the region,” said Leahy, a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior. “All of the NSRC partners, including the University of Vermont, the Hubbard Brook research community and the U.S. Forest Service, have taken great strides to protect land and promote sustainable economies throughout the Northern Forest.”

“I thank Senators Leahy and Gregg for securing this second year of NSRC funding to promote studies of the landscape, communities, and economics of the Northern Forest,” said Don DeHayes, dean of UVM's School of Natural Resources. “Enabling so many Northern Forest interests – from business and community leaders to federal and state agency personnel – to work towards the same goal of Northern Forest sustainability through this research cooperative is exactly what this unique region and its people deserve.”

“We in New Hampshire understand the vital importance of forests in our way of life and fully support the efforts of the Hubbard Brook research community in advancing our understanding of this key resource,” said Gregg, also a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior. “Forty years of sustained ecosystem monitoring and rigorous study at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest has given us a wealth of information that can now inform and support all our efforts to protect this national treasure that is the Northern Forest. The NSRC partnership expands our ability to achieve this by weaving together a network of sites and studies so we can better understand all the social, economic and natural challenges facing our region.”

The 26 million-acre Northern Forest – stretching from eastern Maine through New Hampshire, Vermont and northern New York – is home to one million residents. A working landscape and recreational region with vast forested watersheds and diverse wildlife, the Northern Forest has long been a priority for sustainable conservation and economic development. Congress created the NSRC in 1998 following the 1994 recommendations of a four-state “Northern Forest Lands Council” that had dedicated more than a decade of work on Northern Forest issues.

“The Hubbard Brook research community applauds the leadership of Senator Gregg and Senator Leahy in recognizing that the health of the Northern Forest ecosystem is important to all citizens. The research being supported by this funding program will help us understand how better to protect and sustain the forest and its natural communities for future generations,” said Judy Brown, acting executive director of the Hubbard Brook Research Foundation.

University of Vermont researchers earning the 2003 grant awards are:

• David Capen and Patricia Stokowski for “Do Conservation Easements Promote Sustainable Management of the Northern Forest?”

• Lisa Chase for “Participatory Modeling of Recreation and Tourism in the Northern Forest”

• Cecilia Danks, Thom McEvoy, Bryan Foster, William Keeton and Deane Wang for “Eco-cruise: Developing a Reliable, Rapid Assessment Protocol for Sustainable Forestry on Non-industrial Private Forest Lands”

• Joshua Farley for “Redefining "Productive": Implications for Sustainable Forest Management”’

• Gary Hawley (with USDA Forest Service Paul Schaberg) for “An evaluation of soil Ca:Al rations, foliar Ca and Al partitioning, and forest health”

• Jennifer Jenkins for “Factors influencing productivity in the Northern forest: a forest inventory approach”

• Patricia Stokowski for “Assessing Community Values: Public Discourse in Debates about Community Futures”

• Austin Troy (with USDA Forest Service J. Morgan Grove) for “Development of Functional Ecological Indicators of Suburban Sprawl for the Northeastern Forest Landscape”

• Alexey Voinov for “Applying Spatially Explicit Dynamic Landscape Modeling to Forest Watershed Planning and Adaptive Management in the Northern Forest;”

The NSRC will hold its first research workshop and conference, "Partnerships for the Northern Forest," in Burlington, Vt., Nov. 13-14, in coordination with the Northern Forest Center. For registration, a list of 2003 NSRC awards and detail, visit or contact: www.uvm.edu/snr/nsrc.

In Vermont
Dr. Melody Brown Burkins
NSRC Theme 1 Director
University of Vermont
School of Natural Resources
81 Carrigan Drive
Burlington, Vermont 05405
Phone: 802-649-5732
E-mail: melody.burkins@uvm.edu

In New Hampshire
Dr. Chris Eagar
Hubbard Brook Project Leader
USDA Forest Service
271 Mast Road
Durham, New Hampshire 03824
Phone: 603-868-7636
E-mail: ceagar@fs.fed.us