Watershed Forestry Partnership

Future Forests for Clean Water

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 achieve water quality goals and provide other important benefits.

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 our partners

Riparian Forest Practitioners Meeting scheduled for March 27, 2024

The Watershed Forestry Partnership annual meeting will be held in person this year at the Davis Center of the University of Vermont campus in Burlington on March 27th from 8:30a - 4:30p.  The draft agenda includes 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.  Attendance is limited, so register early!  Registration deadline is March 16th.  To learn more, or to register, click here.  For additional information contact Shawn:  shawn.white [at] uvm.edu

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, you may 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”.