Schoodic to Schoodic Forests

The undeveloped lands of the Schoodic Peninsula connect the coastal forest to the Great North Woods. Conservation efforts, in part by Maine Coast Heritage Trust and Frenchman Bay Conservancy, have helped protect key pieces of the region. This landscape provides an ideal setting to examine forest dynamics across climatic and environmental gradients and thus to make insights into the continuing changes that are unfolding. Through observational studies, we are investigating the establishment, growth, survival, and abundance of tree seedlings of multiple species. Tree seedlings are indicators of potential future forest composition and thus bellwethers of forest change.