MNPS Program, Western Mountains Chapter: Making Central Appalachian Forests More Resilient: Restoring Late-successional forest structure

YOU MUST REGISTER IN ORDER TO RECEIVE THE ZOOM LINK

We can accommodate 500 viewers on Zoom. First come first served. A recording will be available after the program.

Speaker: Dr. Pabodha Galgamuwa, Forest Science Program Manager, Maryland/DC Chapter, The Nature Conservancy

The Central Appalachians support exceptionally high numbers of plant and animal species and provide critical movement corridors for species responding to the impacts of climate change. The goal of The Resilient Forest Program of TNCs’ Maryland/DC Chapter is to conserve critical conservation corridors of the Central Appalachians where they pass through MD. Habitat connectivity, high age-class and structural diversity and presence of a wide range of forest types is critical to sustain a resilient forest landscape. The major goal of this Climate-informed Late-successional Forest Management Project (Ci-LSFMP) is to establish a network of demonstration projects in western MD to demonstrate the potential to accelerate development of old growth characteristics in western Maryland forests, through silvicultural techniques such as Structural Complexity Enhancement (SCE). Lessons learned from these projects would broaden the menu of forest management options on private and public lands and contribute towards having more late-successional habitats in the landscape, which is important for landscape-scale diversity and climate resiliency.

Our speaker, Dr. Pabodha Galgamuwa, has earned a B.Sc. in Agricultural Technology and Management and an M.Sc. in Environmental Forestry from the University of Peradeniya in Sri Lanka. He then came to the United States and earned a second master’s and a Ph.D. in Horticulture and Natural Resources from Kansas State University.

Pabodha works out of The Nature Conservancy’s Cumberland, Maryland, office where he designs and implements collaborative science-based forestry projects that contributes to making the Central Appalachian forests healthier and more resilient. His body of work integrates approaches from landscape ecology, restoration ecology, ecological forestry, silviculture, applied statistics, project management, and geo-spatial sciences including GIS, drone (sUAS) mapping and image analysis.

The program will be presented online through Zoom, in webinar format. You will not be able to share your own audio or video with other participants, but you will be able to submit questions in writing during the program.

Registration is required. After you register, you will receive a registration confirmation email with a link to the Zoom program.

The program is free and open to the public.

If you enjoy MNPS programs please consider clicking here to make a donation. And don't forget to renew your membership!