Watershed Forestry Partnership
Forests for Clean Water, Habitat, and Flood Mitigation
The Watershed Forestry Partnership facilitates research, communication, collaboration, and implementation of forest restoration and management practices that protect water resources in the Lake Champlain basin. We are a collaborative of practitioners, researchers, agency representatives, and others, who share best practices, new information, and coordinate efforts around funding opportunities and basin-wide restoration strategy. We are currently focused on riparian forest restoration as a key strategy to protect and improve water quality, provide terrestrial and aquatic wildlife habitat, and reduce the impacts of flooding.
The Watershed Forestry Partnership is funded by UVM Extension, Lake Champlain Sea Grant, American Forests, PUR Projet, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service, and UVM alumnus Bruce Lisman.
Looking for the Watershed Forestry program run by the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation? We collaborate with them, but they are a different entity and program. To learn more about their work and/or contact their Watershed Forester, click here.
News and highlights from the Partnership
New Grower's Listserv is now live!
In order to provide a better way for native tree producers in Vermont and New York to communicate with each other, share information, and coordinate efforts, the Watershed Forestry Partnership has created a Growers' Listserv. To subscribe, send an email with your first & last name and the email you wish to be on the list to shawn.white [at] uvm.edu
Note that this is a separate list from the general Watershed Forestry Partnership Listserv and meant specifically for nurseries. To subscribe to the general list, see below.
Nursery Meeting held August 23, 2024
Several nurseries in the partnership met in August at the UVM Forestry Lab to discuss ways to increase local tree production and support local nurseries, including forming a "Tree Hub" to coordinate production, share equipment & seeds/starts. Click here for meeting notes, and watch for information about the next meeting to be held in early December.
Read the Summer 2024 Newsletter
Riparian Forest Practitioners Meeting held March 27, 2024
The Watershed Forestry Partnership annual meeting was held in person this year at the Davis Center of the University of Vermont campus in Burlington on March 27th. The draft agenda included updates and discussions on funding, site maintenance and preparation strategies, the status of nursery stock and production, native tree seed collection, landowner outreach strategies, project monitoring, and bird habitat assessment. Links to the meeting recordings are available on the Annual Meeting Page.
Check out our Fall 2022 Newsletter
Report released on the shortage of native trees and shrubs for restoration projects in Vermont - October 2021
The Watershed Forestry Partnership and the USFWS Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program released a follow-up report to the June report. This one summarizes the results of a survey of current and aspiring growers of native trees and shrubs for restoration plantings. The report quantifies how much plant material is being purchased, how much is bought-in from out-of-state, and what the limitations and challenges are for growers. Read it here!
Report released on the demand for native trees for restoration projects in Vermont - June 2021
The Watershed Forestry Partnership and the USFWS Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program have partnered to quantify and address the native tree stock shortage in Vermont. Read the first report from the project, summarizing the results of a recent survey of organizations who buy native trees for riparian and wetland restoration projects.
To join the Watershed Forestry Partnership listserv to receive more information about upcoming events and webinars, or to simply be part of the conversation, send an email command (“subscribe watershedforestry FirstName LastName”) to listserv [at] list.uvm.edu from the email address where you want to receive the emails. Alternatively, contact Shawn White, Watershed Forestry Coordinator, at shawn.white [at] uvm.edu. To read past posts on the listserv, go to the UVM public list archives and search for “Watershed Forestry”.