University Forests at University of Maine

05/29/2026

Introducing summer crew 2026 Nick and Cam who are currently are pounding thought some plots to finish off the new Demeritt inventory. We not only use our inventory for traditional forest management purposes but to assist researchers who are looking for study sites with specific conditions.

After they wrap up plots the crew will be working on many other projects including, property line maintenance, pre commercial thinning, trail and recreation infrastructure maintenance.

05/21/2026

Now that the fire it is out is time for the researchers to get out and remeasure things on the burn unit.

05/18/2026

A huge thank you to the Maine Forest Service forest protection division who conducted a prescribed burn for us on the Demeritt forest today. Also thank you to Dr. Rose Abramov for organizing a “learn and burn” event to let people safely view the burn. There are several new research projects in this area looking at soils, tick populations, wildlife responses amoung other things. Burning is new for us on the forest and we could not have done it without the help of our partners at the Maine Forest Service.

05/17/2026

With the assistance of the Maine Forest Service we plan to conduct a prescribed burn on Monday May 18th. The burn will take place on the Demeritt Forest in the oak stand north of the Logan and between college ave extension and the Stillwater river. Expect to see and smell smoke in the area and see fire equipment. The Logan road parking lot will be closed Sunday and Monday and we ask people to please avoid college ave extension on Monday if possible to minimize traffic in the area.

We are conducting the burn to support several research projects and demonstrate the effects of this forestry practice for classes.

05/16/2026

05/07/2026

We will be doing a prescribed burn on the Demeritt Forest this spring to support several research projects. To prepare for this we did some fuel management today burning brush piles made up of branches we removed to reduce ladder fuels.

04/29/2026

Maine day today! Out hearty crew did the usual firewood donation. 1 cord heading to the Waldo county woodshed and another going to the Old Town Rotary charity auction. We had some great volunteers who cleaned up the road side along college ave extension as well!

04/23/2026

Charlie led a lab on one of our local harvest units last weekend for Dr. Libin Louis’s operations class. They discussed layout, BMPs and residual damage and other challenges like market quotas (why there is still a big pile wood on the yard!) Hands on learning at the University of Maine on the Penobscot Experimental Forest.

04/13/2026

Old Town Scout Troop 76 was on the forest practicing search and rescue skills with the University of Maine Volunteer Ambulance Corps and the Old Town fire department this weekend. The scouts worked through a scenario where they established a base camp and organized a search to locate lost hikers.

04/02/2026

We are saying goodbye to the old sugarhouse that served us well for many years. We built a new sugarhouse several years ago and and the old one is now only occupied by porcupines. But fear not we are giving it a proper Maine send off by feeding it into the evaporator to make more syrup. A fitting end for a good old building.