The emerald ash borer (EAB) is an invasive beetle that causes high mortality in white, green, and black ash and was first detected in Vermont in 2018. Black ash (Fraxinus nigra) is a cultural and ecological keystone species that is deeply important for many Indigenous peoples of northeastern North America, including the Abenaki. This corky-barked tree also regulates hydrological regimes and nutrient cycling in forested wetlands. To better understand the community connections, distribution, and current condition of black ash in Vermont, Charlotte Cadow worked with the Vermont Urban and Community Forestry Program on research and outreach. Throughout the summer, Charlotte visited forested wetlands on state lands where she established long-term monitoring plots. In each plot, she collected data on basal area, herbaceous species, canopy cover, hydrology, microtopography, trunk condition, soil pH, and tree regeneration. This baseline data will be used to monitor changing forest dynamics and to inform future management of black ash.

Dylan O’Leary’s project took him to the sage steppe of southeastern Oregon where he worked with The Nature Conservancy and Oregon Desert Land Trust to develop a restoration plan for 500,000 acres of public and privately owned land heavily impacted by the exotic annual invasive cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum). Cheatgrass is spreading across the intermountain west, causing disruptions to the ecology by outcompeting native grasses and providing a fine continuous fuel for larger, hotter, and more frequent fires. His focus was on developing methodologies for interpreting satellite-derived cover maps of perennial and annual grasses in ways that lead to conservation action. Dylan surveyed hundreds of vegetation plots across a diversity of landforms and elevations to determine the accuracy of the cover maps. He then produced four mixed- model geospatial layers to address the likelihood of restoration success based on biotic and abiotic conditions, the spatial configuration of habitat patches, trends in vegetation composition, and climate adaptation and resilience.

Erica Hample collaborated with the Montpelier Parks Department and the Montpelier Parks Commission. She conducted a new ecological assessment of Hubbard and North Branch River Parks to inform an original combined management plan. Through a fine-grained field inventory, she delineated 39 occurrences of 22 natural communities. Erica created tailored management recommendations based on the assessed ecological condition of each occurrence.

She also spearheaded a community engagement event series with the Montpelier Conservation Commission and North Branch Nature Center. Based on input from community members, she curated 10 events to increase opportunities for connecting people and the landscape. These PLACE (Place-based Landscape Analysis and Community Engagement) events connected various organizations, stakeholders, governing bodies, and individuals. The culmination of these was a field walk where Erica informed 80 visitors on the natural history of Hubbard Park.

Trout Creek Ranch sprawls in the dry corner of southeast Oregon, spanning over half a million acres of high desert habitats. Conserved by the Oregon Desert Land Trust (ODLT) in 2021, the ranch is managed as a “wild and working landscape”—a mosaic of ecosystems stewarded for habitat integrity and connectivity while keeping ranchers and their cows on the land. Hayley Kolding homed in on the riparian-wetland areas of perennial creeks, springs, and meadows, which are disproportionately important as water resources for both wildlife and cattle in a desert landscape—especially in late summer, when seasonally intermittent streams dry up and upland forage resources are scarce. Sponsored by The Nature Conservancy, Hayley identified priority sites for assessment by factoring in remote sensing data, landowners’ values, and logistical details. Then she took to the ground, analyzing vegetation, channel structure, hydrology, and disturbance patterns to diagnose and rank the ecological value and management needs of 125 springs and meadows and 16 creeks.

The Southern pine beetle is moving north, putting globally rare, fire-dependent pitch pine ecosystems at risk. As part of a United States Forest Service and UVM regional assessment of northeastern pitch pine barrens, Sonya Kaufman spent the 2022 field season in three pitch pine forests: the Ossipee Pine Barrens in New Hampshire, the Waterboro Barrens in Maine, and the Green Mountain National Forest in Vermont. She collected vegetation data in stands that were categorized into four restoration and stewardship options: prescribed fire only, mechanical harvest only, mechanical harvest and prescribed fire, and no management. She dipped her toes into dendrochronology as she collected, mounted, and sanded 1,024 tree cores. Sonya spent much of this year counting tree rings and comparing the effects of restoration type on forest composition and mesophication. Her results underline the need for continued active management in pitch pine barrens: burning and thinning are crucial for supporting forest health and preventing devastation by the Southern pine beetle.