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Into the Woods - Blog

We regularly post fresh content to our Into the Woods blog. Some posts are pulled from our print Into the Woods newsletter, and others are online-only exclusives. They range from quick takes on current events, to news and research connected to the New England woods, to stories of the people and places that inspire local forest conservation. Bookmark this page to look for new stories as they're published, or subscribe below to our Into the Woods email bulletin for alerts about new content.

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We welcome suggestions for future Into the Woods online topics! Please email your ideas to Tinsley Hunsdorfer at thunsdorfer@newenglandforestry.org.

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11Feb

What Is Exemplary Forestry and Why Does It Matter?

Since the New England Forestry Foundation (NEFF) was founded nearly 75 years ago, it has had a twin focus—land conservation and improving forest management. The results of our perspective on forest management are clear: after decades of management and multiple harvests, NEFF’s more than 145 Community Forests have extensive regeneration, large mature trees, and large […]
By 36creative • Posted February 11, 2019
25Sep

Build It With Wood’s Big Year

Writing by Build It With Wood Project Leader Nicole St. Clair Knobloch, photography by Pollux Chung. Last year, NEFF commissioned an analysis on the potential for a mill to produce cross-laminated timber (CLT) from New England wood. The work showed that CLT could be a viable regional forest product and building material, so we got […]
By 36creative • Posted September 25, 2018
22Aug

Mass Timber Mills Coming to Maine — but where and when?

The mass timber supply chain is coming to New England but where and when, exactly, remains an open question. In February of this year, two companies announced they would be opening cross-laminated timber (CLT) factories in Maine within eighteen to twenty-four months. SmartLam, LLC of Montana committed to announcing a mill site as did North Carolina-based […]
By 36creative • Posted August 22, 2018
21Aug

NEFF to Advise MIT Mass Timber Design Project on Affordable Housing

It seems that each month presents an exciting new partnership in service of bringing mass timber construction to New England. This August, NEFF has been invited to advise MIT architect John Klein on a project to bring affordable housing design to developers. The project, “An Engineering Demonstration for a Mass Timber Affordable Housing Prototype for […]
By 36creative • Posted August 21, 2018
14Aug

Let’s get buildings built

Last summer, when we released our report on the viability of cross-laminated timber in New England, we did not quite imagine how quickly mass timber might begin to take off in our region. Mass timber supply is coming, with the announcements six months ago of two companies bringing CLT plants to northern Maine and a […]
By 36creative • Posted August 14, 2018
17Apr

New Mills Bring Sustainable Timber and Jobs to Maine

An exciting and long-awaited announcement came in mid-February: A shuttered paper mill in Millinocket, Maine, will open once more, this time as a factory for cross-laminated timber (CLT) and other mass timber products. Two days later, another company also announced its intention to open a CLT plant somewhere in the state. Each plans to open […]
By 36creative • Posted April 17, 2018
07Dec

NEFF Takes on Climate Change

Massive fires across the west. Three major hurricanes striking the United States in quick succession, including the most powerful Atlantic storm ever recorded. The first of the three—Hurricane Harvey—dropped 19 trillion gallons of water on Texas. To give a sense of scale, that would be enough water to raise the level of all of the […]
By 36creative • Posted December 7, 2017
27Jul

NEFF Study: CLT is viable in New England

In April 2017, the New England Forestry Foundation released a report through its Build It With Wood program regarding the viability of engineered wood or “mass timber” products, particularly cross-laminated timber (CLT), in New England. The study was supported by the USDA Forest Service’s Wood Innovations Program and the research was conducted by a Finnish […]
By 36creative • Posted July 27, 2017
20Mar

NPR interviews leader in mass timber building design

Last fall, Here and Now’s Jeremy Hobson spoke with Michael Green, the Vancouver-based architect who has received international attention for both his support of wood construction and the wood buildings his firm has designed. Michael Green has been a longstanding proponent of building with wood. His TED Talk “Why we should build wooden skyscrapers” has […]
By 36creative • Posted March 20, 2017
27Feb

Second Mass Timber Conference

Portland, Oregon is preparing for the second annual International Mass Timber Conference and it’s shaping up to be even bigger than last year. Produced again by Forest Business Network, the conference is attracting professionals from around the world to discuss innovative building products such as cross-laminated timber (CLT), nail-laminated timber (nail lam), glue laminated timber […]
By 36creative • Posted February 27, 2017