Karin Tilberg

From the President/CEO Spring 2021

July 22, 2021 By Karin Tilberg

After graduating from the University of Maine School of Law in 1984, I landed a dream job working with one of Maine’s great conservation leaders, Clinton B. “Bill” Townsend, at his law firm in Skowhegan, Maine. I went to law school with the intention of pursuing land use and conservation law but it was Bill who helped show me how to apply what I’d learned. It was hard work since there was little conservation funding and tools like conservation easements were relatively new. At the time, about 5% of Maine was conserved through public ownership– state, federal, or local–and some modest ownerships by conservation entities. Today, nearly 40 years later, about 21% of Maine is in some form of conservation status. A great deal of that increase is the result of the use of conservation easements. They have become a trusted and enduring conservation device and they are the primary tool for the Forest Society of Maine, which now holds or helps monitor one million acres of conservation easements in Maine.

The December 2020 Maine Won’t Wait Report of the Maine Climate Action Council convened by Governor Janet Mills set a goal of bringing the total of conserved lands in the state to 30% by 2030. The report notes that protecting natural and working lands is critical to maximize carbon storage, support working forests, ensure valuable ecosystems remain in place for future generations, and contribute to Maine’s fight against the effects of climate change. In recommending the 30% conservation goal, the report emphasizes that conserving forests through working forest conservation easements is one of the more cost-effective strategies to help reach carbon neutrality. FSM is perfectly positioned to help achieve this important goal. With your continued support, we can make the next decade another one of forest conservation success!
— Karin Tilberg

Originally published in Forest View, Spring 2021

Trails Run Through It

May 24, 2021 By Karin Tilberg

Snow-crusted trees and endless mountains are visible from the summit of Old Speck in Maine's western mountains. — Maine’s western mountains from the summit of Old Speck. Photo by Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust.

On a January morning the thermometer on my car read -12°F on what was the coldest day of the winter, so far. I was driving to meet conservation colleagues to climb Old Speck, following the Appalachian Trail (AT) to its summit. This section of the AT borders the Grafton Forest parcel that the Forest Society of Maine is seeking to conserve. When we headed up the trail, it had warmed to 6°F and the bright sun and brilliant snow dazzled us as we snowshoed 7.6 steep miles, round trip.

The Forest Society of Maine (FSM) is leading the effort to conserve approximately 21,300 acres of forestland that comprise the Grafton Forest project, and is joined by two partners, the Northeast Wilderness Trust (NEWT) and the Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust (MATLT). FSM will be placing a working forestland conservation easement on the majority of the forestland. NEWT will take ownership of the higher elevation land and place a Forever Wild Easement on land that will be held by MATLT.

Grafton Forest is uniquely important to those who hike, maintain, and help provide rescue services for those on the AT. Two AT side trails, the Speck Pond Trail and the Notch Trail, cross the Grafton Forest project lands to connect with the bordering AT. The project will ensure these side trails and access to them will remain into the future. Dogsled, ski, ATV, and snowmobile trails also thread the property and are important to local residents.

Two people snowshoe uphill through snow-covered trees. — Snowshoeing to Old Speck. Photo by Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust.

At the summit of Old Speck, we looked out over the Grafton Forest lands, stretching out to the west to form a magnificent viewshed for the AT. From the fire tower, there are 360-degree views of the snow bedecked mountains, lakes, and forests. Not only stunningly beautiful, the project area is also highly rated for terrestrial climate resilience by The Nature Conservancy and will form a bulwark against development pressure from the nearby Sunday River Ski Resort.

Gazing at the snow-covered mountain landscape I felt my spirits soar knowing of the strong partnerships with the landowner, many conservation and recreation organizations, and donors who are working with FSM to safeguard this special place. Conserving this area is vital for responding to climate change, maintaining working forests and wildlife habitats, and for the future enjoyment of all who are inspired by the vantage across Grafton Forest.

–Karin Tilberg
Article originally published in the 2021 spring edition of Forest View, FSM’s biannual newsletter.

FSM OpEd in Bangor Daily News

May 14, 2021 By Karin Tilberg

Opportunity in Front of Us

There is much discussion in Maine about how best to mitigate climate change. The December 2020 “Maine Won’t Wait” report of the Maine Climate Council sets forth a broad and well-researched set of actions to do so. One of them is simple and relatively inexpensive: keep Maine’s forests as forests. This opportunity is right in front of us, but is often relegated to the back burner. This action should be prioritized, and quickly.

Here are some facts. At approximately 89% forested, Maine is the most forested state in the United States. These forests are also the most unfragmented forests east of the Mississippi River and are a tremendous economic engine providing wood products, employment, and outdoor recreation. They provide habitat for a diverse array of species including moose, Canada lynx, and Eastern brook trout, and are globally significant for migratory songbirds. However, a little-known fact is that the managed forests in Maine absorb or sequester more than 60% of the human-made greenhouse gases generated in the state every year. This underscores the importance of concentrating efforts on retaining Maine’s forests so they can continue to sequester carbon as well as provide opportunities for the forest products industry and outdoor recreation.

Specifically, “Maine Won’t Wait” states that conserving forests through conservation easements is one of the more cost-effective strategies to help reach carbon neutrality by maintaining forest cover. Voluntary purchases of working forest easements and lands will support robust forest products economies, increase carbon storage opportunities, conserve biodiversity, and enhance climate adaptation and resilience for wildlife, people, and communities. The Forest Society of Maine, along with other land trusts, is working with landowners who wish to retain ownership of forestland but want to prevent the land from being developed and from having public access restricted.

As a land trust, the Forest Society of Maine acquires permanent conservation easements on forestlands to ensure they are not converted to other uses such as housing, commercial, or utility infrastructure development. This is the type of action that can keep Maine’s forests intact, but it takes funding to do so. A land bond for the Land for Maine’s Future Program would replenish this program and enable opportunities for forestland conservation that keeps land on the tax rolls and accessible to the public. Maintaining forestland will not happen on its own–the demand for second homes, often at the edges of woodlands, has been accelerated by the pandemic and the resulting desire to be in rural areas. For the first time in a long time, forestland acreage in Maine is starting to shrink.

Supporting programs like the Land for Maine’s Future Program that fund conservation easements will help ensure that forests continue to sequester carbon, support jobs, safeguard habitat for wildlife, and provide public access to the land. Let’s act on this opportunity in front of us.

Karin R. Tilberg, President/CEO Forest Society of Maine

https://bangordailynews.com/2021/05/13/opinion/contributors/an-lmf-bond-will-support-jobs-wildlife-and-public-access-to-maine-land/

Karin Tilberg joins Natural and Working Lands Committee

February 24, 2020 By Karin Tilberg

By FSM Executive Director Karin Tilberg

Upon taking office in 2019, Maine Governor Janet Mills determined that the issue of carbon pollution, and its impacts on Maine’s environment and people, would be one of her administration’s top priorities. Through legislation, the Maine Climate Council was created to develop plans and strategies to reduce Maine’s greenhouse gas emissions, mitigate damage to Maine’s infrastructure and economy, create and sustain jobs, and more.

In my capacity as executive director for the Forest Society of Maine, I was appointed to a subcommittee of the Council called the Natural and Working Lands Working Group. This group consists of many voices and perspectives including farmers, forestland owners, scientists, and others. I’ve been honored to sit around the table with these people and learn from their expertise and experiences.

FSM, and others, in this group have highlighted an important fact: Maine’s forests are already working hard to address the problem of carbon pollution—naturally. Current research shows that at least half of Maine’s annual carbon emissions are offset by carbon stored by Maine’s forests. Even harvested timber can store carbon in long-lived wood products such as furniture, certain kinds of building materials, and musical instruments.

FSM’s mission is to conserve Maine’s forestlands for their ecological, economic, recreational, and cultural values. By helping landowners to maintain forests as forests, primarily through permanent conservation easements, FSM’s work also helps to ensure that forests will continue to store carbon, while also providing our state economy with useful products and good-paying jobs.

Maine’s forests are a key part of the solution to carbon pollution, and FSM’s work helps keep it that way.

Want to do your part to conserve forests and reduce carbon pollution in Maine? Here are three ways you can make a difference, today:

Learn more about the many ways that carbon pollution is impacting our state.
Share this page with a friend or family member who also loves Maine’s North Woods.
Invest in forestland conservation by making a gift to the Forest Society of Maine.

From the E.D.

December 18, 2019 By Karin Tilberg

Maine’s forests are outstanding in so many respects – the economic opportunities they provide in the wood products and outdoor recreation sectors, the foundation for healthy fish and wildlife habitat and clean water, the cultural and historic values they hold, and their ability to refresh our lives with beauty and a sense of grandeur.

Maine’s forests are storing vast amounts of carbon.

Maine’s forests also store, or sequester, carbon and lots of it. Why should we care that Maine’s forests store large amounts of carbon? Carbon sequestration in forests helps to offset increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere such as occurs from forest conversion to other land uses, forest fires, and from other sources of human activity such as fossil fuel combustion. Trees and plants take up CO₂ from the atmosphere through photosynthesis and store it as carbon in their trunks, branches, foliage, and roots. Utilizing wood for construction and other durable materials also represents an enormous contribution to carbon storage.

Maine is known as the most heavily forested state in the United States with approximately 17.5 million acres of forestland. The trees in Maine’s forests store hundreds of millions of metric tons of carbon in just the portions of the trees that are above ground. Much more carbon is stored in the stumps and roots. And lots more carbon is stored in the forest soil. To understand the significance of these numbers, it is currently estimated that 50% or more of Maine’s total CO₂ emissions are being stored by Maine’s forests each year.

The Forest Society of Maine is proud to work with forest landowners, conservation partners and, with your help, to implement permanent conservation solutions that keep Maine’s forests as forests–storing carbon in the trees, soils, and wood products far into the future.

-Karin Tilberg

Published in FSM’s biannual newsletter, Forest View, fall 2019 edition.