Please join us for a webinar on the release of a study commissioned by the Harry R. Hughes Center for Agro-Ecology and conducted together with Chesapeake Conservancy and University of Vermont that used national and regional datasets and county surveys to assess the health of one of Maryland’s important natural resources – forests.
Experts from the Hughes Center and Chesapeake Conservancy will present their latest findings in advance of the official rollout later that morning of the Technical Study on Changes in Forest Cover and Tree Canopy in Maryland.
The Maryland Forest Technical Study uses high-resolution data to analyze forest and tree canopy change at the local scale and provide a greater understanding of the key drivers of change and insights that may be used to develop policies that shift the balance to meet Maryland’s forest cover and tree canopy goals.
The study was conducted by a partnership of the Hughes Center, Chesapeake Conservancy and the University of Vermont Spatial Analysis Lab in consultation with the USGS, and an Advisory Committee comprised of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, the Department of the Environment, the Department of Planning, the Department of Agriculture and the Chesapeake Bay Program.
In an effort to improve Maryland’s statewide inventory of forest and tree canopy cover, assess forest and tree canopy change and the effectiveness of Maryland’s forest and tree programs, the Maryland Senate enacted a bill authorizing the study in 2019.
