Low Impact Forestry
What is the Low-Impact Forestry Program?
The Low-Impact Forestry (LIF) program at MOFGA is a group of loggers, foresters, landowners, farmers and interested persons educating about, practicing and advocating for ecologically based and economically sound forest practices. We practice and endorse forestry that seeks to reduce the known harmful impacts of logging, and promote the social and ecological benefits. The LIF program hosts workshops year round covering all sorts of forestry-related topics from logging with draft animals to home firewood production. The LIF staff also participate in collaborative logging projects that explore creative forest management and contracts that benefit both landowner and logger.
Commercial Logging
For several years, professional members of the LIF staff have gathered annually at MOFGA’s Common Ground Woodlot to manage the forest. The purpose of these harvests has been not only to implement MOFGA’s forest management plan, but also to experiment with various methods of logging and methods of compensation. The LIF group promotes the appropriate use of machinery in the woods and has used machinery alongside draft animal power. Throughout the commercial harvests we have maximized efficiency while minimizing the known harmful effects of logging by using animals and machines in their most appropriate roles. The result has been a complete management plan and a large amount of lumber that has been used throughout the fairgrounds.
Read more about Low-Impact Forestry
Forestry as if the Climate Mattered: Carbon Considerations
By Mitch Lansky If the future really mattered, how would forests be managed to improve, rather than degrade, future timber values? How would trees be cut to minimize damage to the residual forest? How would foresters measure success toward minimizing damage? How would loggers be paid to lower logging impacts? How would forests be managed
Managing Invasive Forest Plants Organically at MOFGA
By Noah Gleason-Hart, MOFGA’s Low-Impact Forestry Specialist Like many landowners in Maine, MOFGA has a significant and growing non-native and invasive plant population in our forest. We’ve carried out some control work in the past, but the recommendations in our recently updated forest management plan made it clear that if we intend to maintain an
Low-Impact Forestry: Forestry as if the Future Mattered, Carbon Addendum
By Mitch Lansky To meet the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, countries that are major carbon dioxide sources will have to greatly reduce the majority of their fossil-fuel carbon emissions in just a few decades. Many scientists have concluded, however, that emission reductions are not enough. Carbon dioxide can
What is Low-Impact Forestry?
By Noah Gleason-Hart “Low-impact forestry is all about logging with horses, right?” is a question I often hear when I talk about the work I do at MOFGA with the Low-Impact Forestry (LIF) Program. It’s a question I always appreciate, both because it highlights how low-impact forestry is perceived within the larger community, and because
Forest Management Plans: You Can Get There from Here
By Noah Gleason-Hart If thoughtful forest stewardship is a long, winding road, then a forest management plan (FMP) is the map that can lead to a healthy, complex and productive forest. These documents – written by licensed foresters – describe the current state of a forest, define the landowner’s objectives and prescribe actions a landowner
Don’t Kill All the Japanese Knotweed!
Japanese knotweed (Polygonum cuspidatum) has the unfortunate reputation of “invasive species” which means that there has been a concerted effort to eliminate it. In the process, we may be losing a valuable source of medicine. Not only that but Japanese knotweed has been a food source for both human and animal foragers alike, and its
Upcoming Low-Impact Forestry Events
Chainsaw Safety Course— Skowhegan
June 11 @ 8:00 am - June 12 @ 4:00 pmChainsaw Safety Course— Bridgton
July 9 @ 8:00 am - July 10 @ 4:00 pmLow Impact Forestry 101
July 16 @ 9:30 am - 1:30 pmHayday: A Field & Forest Day at MOFGA
July 23 @ 10:00 am - 2:00 pmLogging with Farm Tractors and Forestry Winches
August 27 @ 8:30 am - 3:30 pm
