MAINE TREE FOUNDATION

Holt: the holt woodlands research foundation was founded in 1980 to assist and support the university of maine in accomplishing its charitable and educational programs by providing real and personal property for the conduct of scientific research and experimentation in forestry and for the funding of programs and for the awarding of scholarships and grants to projects and students involved in forest research, conservation, replantation, management and ecological control. Maine tree continues research activities at holt and employ its best efforts to expand and better utilize the holt research forest as a place for public education relating to forest ecology and forest management. In 2024, made many needed improvements to the facility. We had three technicians that helped us continue the research on the property.

Tree farm - connecting family forest owners with their woodlands since 1952. Their mission is to help maine's family woodland owners realize the full potential of their woods while sustainably providing forest products and other woodland benefits such as clean water, habitat for wildlife, and recreational opportunities. In 2023, the maine tree farm program was recognized as their own 501 c 3 nonprofit. Maine tree will still continue to offer administrative services, but no longer in charge of their finances.

Teachers' tours (long-term education about forests program) is designed to increase public understanding of an appreciation for maine's 17 million acres of forest. Teachers' tours encourage recognition of and respect for all forest values, including wood, recreation, wildlife, aesthetics, soil and water quality, and biodiversity of plant and animal species through such programs as teachers' tours, outdoor classrooms and school forests, assistance to small landowners, collaboration with other groups to provide accurate information about the forest with a monthly electronic newsletter and providing outreach on forest bioproducts research to educators and the general public. In 2024, we continued to increase our participants to help increase their understanding of maine's forest resources. We included workforce development on both of our tours, so that the teachers could bring that back to their students.

Keeping maine's forests ia a collaboration of leaders from public, private, and nonprofit organizations with interest in the future of maine's north woods, including land ownership, recreation, the environment, community development, the forest products industry, and conservation. Kmf is a rare venue where discussion from different viewpoints occurs fact to face. Through kmf, those who care about the future of the maine woods can share information and resources, promote sustainable forest management and conservation, improve stewardship of forest lands, and speak with one voice to state and federal elected officials. Keeping maine's forest held two member forums in 2023. During those forums, participants and members discussed challenges associated with access to maine's forests. Fern - the forest ecology research network (fern) combines the best of project learning tree's curriculum with standard forest data collection protocols to provide community scientists with the tools they need to answer questions they have about the maine forests. In 2024, we received grants to create fern kits to have for schools and to help set up fern plots.

Sfi climate smart forestry: we received a grant to create a northeast climate smart forestry handbook and northeast climate smart forestry manual. A survey was created that was distributed to sfi certificate holders in the northeast. The survey consisted of climate change risks, climate change opportunities and forest management practices associated with sfi certification. The handbook has been created and is now in the editing process.