TRAINING FOREST RESOURCES GRADUATES FOR AN EXURBAN FOREST FUTURE

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: COMPLETE
• Funding Source: OTHER GRANTS
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 1020668
• Grant No.: 2020-38420-30719
• Cumulative Award Amt.: $246,000.00
• Proposal No.: 2018-09326
• Project Start Date: Apr 15, 2020
• Project End Date: Apr 14, 2025
• Grant Year: 2020
• Program Code: [KK]- National Needs Graduate Fellowships Program

Recipient Organization
UNIV OF CONNECTICUT
438 WHITNEY RD EXTENSION UNIT 1133
STORRS,CT 06269

Performing Department
Natural Resources and Env

Non Technical Summary
Across the United States exurbanization is a predominant land use change, which has profound implications for our nation's forest resources. Exurban development impacts ecological functioning, affects the character and viability of the forestry sector, and creates myriad challenges for forestry practitioners such as small parcel management, changing landowner attitudes and objectives, and increased importance of non-traditional forest management entities. To be successful and meet the US forestry sector's changing needs and employer base, the next generation of forestry professionals will require intensive interdisciplinary training and knowledge, skills, and abilities that match these novel landscapes and stakeholder needs.We will develop an inter-disciplinary Master's Level graduate training program in Exurban Forest Management and Planning focused around experiential service-learning and intensive preparation in skills associated with the following foundations: 1) exurban forest management, planning, and policy, 2) socio-ecological systems theory and application, 3) ecosystem science and management, and 4) communication and engagement through project-based service learning. Service learning courses will direct students through an Exurban Forest "Residency" program that embeds students within partner organizations from relevant employment sectors. Our goal is to provide future forestry practitioners a training foundation and direct experience working with categories of potential employers in novel and expanding sectors of forest management stakeholders. We anticipate successfully directing our six Fellows into professional positions focused around management of forest resources in exurban landscapes, and expect that this program will provide a strong basis for ongoing efforts to prepare forest resources graduates for an exurban forest future.

Animal Health Component

(N/A)

Research Effort Categories

Basic

(N/A)

Applied

(N/A)

Developmental

(N/A)

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
123	0699	1070	100%

Knowledge Area
123 - Management and Sustainability of Forest Resources;

Subject Of Investigation
0699 - Trees, forests, and forest products, general;

Field Of Science
1070 - Ecology;

Keywords

ecosystem

exurban development

forestry

socio-ecological systems

Goals / Objectives
Our overall goal is to provide a training foundation for future forest resource practitioners and leaders that will allow them to effectively navigate the complex socio-ecological system of exurban forest landscapes and provide them with a set of knowledge, skills, and abilities that meets the needs of employers who conduct exurban land management. To address this goal we willdevelopan inter-disciplinary graduate training program focused on experiential service-learning and intensive preparation in a set of knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) that are relevant to exurban forest stakeholder organizations (identified based on extensive review of employment opportunities at such organizations). The specific objectives of the fellowship will be to provide 6 MS-level graduate studentstrainingfocused on four complementary foundations and related KSAs:Exurban forest management, planning, and policy - will provide a strong knowledge base in forest management techniques and implementation challenges in exurban regions, including forest planning, policy, and law.Socio-ecological systems theory and application - focus on complex relationships between ecological functioning and human well-being and livelihoods, including feedbacks, thresholds, adaptation, and resilience and their application to land use decision-making.Ecosystem science and management - will focus on quantification, monitoring, and management of a broad array of ecosystem services associated with exurban forests using cutting edge techniques in geospatial and ecosystem science.Communication and engagement through project-based service learning - applied experience developing research and monitoring plans to quantify ecosystems services and resilience; management, leadership, and critical thinking skills.

Project Methods
The organizational structure and philosophy of the NNF program will include problem-based research that includes both academic scholarship and experiential learning. We will employ backwards design in mentoring, courses, and in achieving core competencies in general: 1) set goals and learning objectives, 2) create assessments that align with the learning objectives, and 3) design instructional materials and activities that prepare students for the assessments. We will apply Bloom's Taxonomy as our framework for assessment of student competency in the knowledge, skills, and abilities identified from review of employment advertisements in relevant fields. Assessment areas will include: 1) describe exurban forest ecosystem functioning and management strategies that affect functioning, 2) describe how social, economic, and political systems affect exurban forest ecosystems, 3) execute tools for assessing human decision-making and effective communication methods for working with diverse stakeholders, and 4) demonstrate the ability to operate effectively in a team-based practical application of knowledge and skills, 5) analyze an existing forest resources or ecosystem science issue in the context of exurban landscapes, and 6) prepare and evaluate a monitoring and adaptive management strategy to meet desired outcomes for multiple stakeholders. Core competencies will be evaluated during annual assessments and formal coursework assessments.NNF Fellows will be matched with an academic advisor based on mutual research interests, but the overall faculty team will provide a broad mentoring base to support the diverse Fellow cohort and the inherently interdisciplinary work. We will facilitate a mentoring environment designed to support the diverse pool of Fellows. Prior to the beginning of the fellowship program, the project team will engage in a collaborative mentoring workshop to ensure that best practices for mentoring diverse students will be followed by all advisors and mentor teams. Diversity-focused mentoring strategies to be focused on in the workshop and program as a whole will include: 1) modeling professional responsibility, 2) demystification of graduate school, 3) creating a sense of belonging and avoiding isolation, 4) combatting "impostor syndrome", 5) providing appropriate role models, 6) addressing spokesperson burden and stereotyping. Core mentoring activities and strategies followed at the program level will include: 1) initial meetings designed to assess student background and personality to aid in planning the overall mentoring strategy, 2) shared orientation to introduce students, mentors, and the institution, 3) shared faculty mentoring and peer mentoring to ensure a diversity of viewpoints are considered, 4) core expectations, signposts, and milestones introduced at the outset, 5) consistent assessment, review, and constructive feedback, and 6) structured activities and professional socialization to create a sense of community.The central experiential learning activity will be an Exurban Forest "Residency" program and subsequent "Consultancy Practicum". For the Residency program, students will be embedded with stakeholder/potential employer organizations in a rotation for each of the first three semesters of the MS program and will receive credit for an Exurban Forest Residency course in each semester. The goals of the Residency program are to afford students a direct collaborative experience with potential employers, to provide a window into the workings of the employment sectors, to allow fellows to make connections in potential employment sectors, and to give fellows the opportunity to apply KSAs acquired in the classroom to "real-world" situations. Stakeholder organizations will fill the following potential employer categories for which we have identified project partners: 1) Government Agency (CT-DEEP), 2) Land Trust/Non-profit (Joshua's Trust), and 3) Cooperative Extension (UConn Department of Extension). To provide diverse exurban forest professional experiences and lessen the burden on collaborating stakeholder organizations, two of the six fellows will rotate to each organization each semester, such that each fellow will rotate to each organization during their first three semesters.Fellows will document their work with the stakeholder organization and present their experience to the larger group at the end of the semester, including challenges and take-aways concerning their interest in employment in the sector before and following the residency experience.In the final semester, following the Residency rotations, the fellows will participate in a semester-long "Consultancy Practicum" where they will work as a team to address "real-world" issues by developing and implementing a research and monitoring program focused around ecosystem services and resilience in fragmented forest parcels in collaboration with a local forest landowner (Joshua's Trust). The goals of the practicum will be to provide fellows the opportunity to conduct an independently directed, team-based project, designed in collaboration with a partner organization, which models the work done by environmental or forestry consultants for forest landowners. The practicum will be structured around two class meetings per week (1.5 hours each), which will function as "lab meetings" with an emphasis on project-focused time for planning and data analysis, with shared instruction by the PDs. The outcome of the course will be a detailed report on the activities undertaken presented to the partnering organization. During these experiential learning opportunities, Fellows will receive direct mentoring from all of the faculty engaged in the program as well as staff from the cooperating organizations with the goal of providing students experience in "on-the-ground" problem solving, project implementation, and communication in a structured, mentored environment.In addition to course work and experiential learning, Fellows will develop an independent Master's research project in collaboration with their major advisor, committee members, and professional partners. Research projects addressed by the Fellows will depend on specific student research interests and facilities and resources necessary to carry out these project will depend on specific research questions (but see Facilities for available resources). Each Fellow will focus on a specific area of ecosystem science and functioning and land management and will be paired with local stakeholders with an interest in understanding these functions. Examples of research topic areas that Fellows (and faculty mentors) could focus on include: 1) carbon and nutrient cycling (Fahey, Lawrence, Helton), 2) complex adaptive systems and ecosystem resiliency (Fahey, Lawrence, Helton), 3) synanthropic wildlife (C. Rittenhouse, T. Rittenhouse), 4) human dimensions and decision-making (Morzillo, C. Rittenhouse), 5) land-use planning and parcelization (Morzillo, C. Rittenhouse, Vokoun), and 6) specialty wood products and non-timber forest products (Worthley, Fahey). Specific research projects will be developed in consultation with major advisors, but must represent a substantial contribution to Forest Resources, as determined by each Fellow's advisory committee.

Progress 04/15/20 to 04/14/25

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for the project is forest stakeholders, including a broad spectrum of traditional and non-traditional forest owners, managers, and advocates. Over the course of the project the program has interacted with a large number of forest stakeholders in the southern New England region, both directly through project components and indirectly through student research projects and other activities. Each student completed an Internship experience with a forest stakeholder organization, with partner organizations including local and national non-profits and local and state governmental agencies. Finally, in the Residency program in which the cohort worked together, we partnered with a non-profit forest landowner organization, a local Land Trust (Haddam Land Trust), on a forest stewardship planning process and collaboratively developed a forest land management plan for one of their properties, Swan Hill Preserve in Higganum, CT. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?As described in the accomplishments section the project has led to the development of an interdisciplinary graduate training program that includes social science/human dimensions research, ecosystem ecology, landscape ecology, and forestry and combines these disciplines in the training of a cohort of graduate students who have individual research interests/topics, but are engaging with all the other disciplines and incorporating these areas into their work. The program directly supported the training of 6 graduate students who have all graduated from the MS program in the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment at UConn. The cohort included 4 female students, 1 gender nonbinary student, and 1 male African American student. All students who completed the program have moved into professional or academic positions related to their field of study. Two students are currently working in environmental consulting (Fuss & O'Neill, Davey Resource Group), one for a state agency (Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management), one for a federal agency (USDA Forest Service - ORISE Fellowship), and two in an academic setting (Harvard Forest, PhD Program at UConn). How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?In the course of the Exurban Forest Ecosystem Management colloquium, Internship and Residency programs we have engaged a broad spectrum of stakeholders and provided an opportunity for outreach and engagement between the students fellows and stakeholders who represent both and audience for their work as well as potential employers or collaborators in the future. We believe that this model of combined networking and knowledge-transfer is an efficient method of dissemination that also fulfills a component of the training mission. In addition, the baseline provided by these interactions will provide an important connection for future efficient and targeted dissemination of results following completion of student research projects and for development of future collaborative work in the internship and residency phase of the project. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Despite the issues presented by the COVID-19 Pandemic, we successfully progressed a 6-student cohort of MS fellows through the full proposed program and all fellows completed the requirements of the UConn NRE Department Master of Science program. The students supported by the program worked in a variety of disciplinary areas associated with exurban forest ecosystem management. These areas include: urban forest population dynamics, forest ecosystem response to pest outbreaks, human dimensions of wildlife management, modeling of endangered wildlife species habitat use, ecotoxicology of long-lived chemicals transported from uplands to waterways, and forest landscape conservation modeling. All students in the program completed the coursework sequence described in the original proposal with all of the student fellows participating in an Exurban Forest Ecosystem Management Colloquium course together in each of the semesters of the program. We also implemented all of the experiential components of the Fellowship program with students, mentors, and the project team completing the "Exurban Forest Ecosystem Management Residency" internship program and "Exurban Forest Consultancy Practicum" as a cohort group. For the Internship experience organizations and stakeholder mentors were recruited through their participation in the Fall 2020 Colloquium course which included a series of conversations between the cohort and stakeholder organizations. These organizations included local/regional/national non-profits (e.g., New England Forestry Foundation, Forest Stewards Guild), local and regional land trusts (e.g., Avalonia, Joshua's Trust), forestry practitioners, and state/national governmental agencies (e.g., CT-DEEP, USGS, NRCS). Following these conversations the fellows and their mentors completed an Internship project/experience in Summer and Fall of 2021. The six Internship programs included as partner organizations multiple divisions of a State Governmental Agency (CT-DEEP), a national nonprofit (Forest Stewards Guild), and an extension Center (UConn Center for Land Use Education and Research). For the Practicum experience the cohort of fellows collaborated with a local land trust (Haddam Land Trust) to develop a Stewardship plan for a recently acquired exurban forest parcel in Higganum CT (Swan Hill Preserve). The cohort and mentor team met weekly and conducted multiple site visits and had several discussions with the landowner on their vision and goals for the property and their broader organization. From this information the group collaboratively developed a land management and site stewardship plan for the Swan Hill Preserve. The stewardship plan included forest, wildlife, water, and recreation management components and will be used by the Land Trust to manage the site in the coming years.

Publications

• Type: Other Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2025 Citation: Bischoff, K.E., D. Katz, C.D. Rittenhouse, and T.A.G. Rittenhouse. 2025. High overlap in niches and suitable habitat between an imperiled and introduced cottontail. Ecology and Evolution 15:e71083, DOI:10.1002/ece3.71083.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2023 Citation: Bischoff, K., D. Katz, C.D. Rittenhouse, and T.A.G. Rittenhouse. Mapping potential habitat for New England Cottontail. The Wildlife Society Annual Conference, Louisville, KY, November 8, 2023.

Progress 04/15/23 to 04/14/24

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for the project is forest stakeholders, including a broad spectrum of traditional and non-traditional forest owners, managers, and advocates. Over the course of the project the program has interacted with a large number of forest stakeholders in the southern New England region, both directly through project components and indirectly through student research projects and other activities. Each student completed an Internship experience with a forest stakeholder organization, with partner organizations including local and national non-profits and local and state governmental agencies. Finally, in the Residency program in which the cohort worked together, we partnered with a non-profit forest landowner organization, a local Land Trust (Haddam Land Trust), on a forest stewardship planning process and collaboratively developed a forest land management plan for one of their properties, Swan Hill Preserve in Higganum, CT. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?All students who completed the program have moved into professional or academic positions related to their field of study. Two students are currently working in environmental consulting (Fuss & O'Neill, Davey Resource Group), one for a state agency(Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management), one for a federal agency (USDA Forest Service - ORISE Fellowship), and two in an academic setting (Harvard Forest, PhD Program at UConn). How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We willcontinue communication with the fellows to monitor their post-graduation career advancement and satisfaction/experience with the program.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Program has been completed but we are continuing to work with students to publish theses into journal articles. We are also tracking progress of students in early career positions.

Publications

• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2023 Citation: Bischoff, K., C.D. Rittenhouse, and T.A.G. Rittenhouse. Shrublands alleviate competitive interactions between imperiled and introduced cottontails. International Mammalogical Congress, Anchorage, AK, July 14-20, 2023.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2023 Citation: Bischoff, K., C.D. Rittenhouse, and T.A.G. Rittenhouse. Introduced competitor reduces abundance of New England cottontail at patches within Connecticut. Northeast Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies Annual Conference, Hershey, PA, May 1, 2023.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Dunn, A.R., A.T. Morzillo, and R.A. Christoffel. Human dimensions of timber rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) management to reduce human-wildlife conflict. Human Dimensions of Wildlife. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10871209.2024.2302815
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Dunn, A.R., A.T. Morzillo, L.S. Keener-Eck Larson, and R. A. Christoffel. 2024. Spatial analysis of attitudes toward timber rattlesnakes (Crotalus horridus) where encounter occurs within an exurban landscape. Society & Natural Resources 37:251-269. https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920.2023.2269554
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Bigelow, L., R.T. Fahey, J. Grabosky, R. Hallett, J. Henning, M. Johnson, and L. Roman. 2024. Predictors of street tree survival in Philadelphia: tree traits, biophysical environment, and socioeconomic context. Urban Forestry and Urban Greening. 94, 128284.

Progress 04/15/22 to 04/14/23

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for the project is forest stakeholders, including a broad spectrum of traditional and non-traditional forest owners, managers, and advocates. Over the past year the program has interacted with a large number of forest stakeholders in the southern New England region, both directly through project components and indirectly through student research projects and other activities. Each student has also completed an Internship experience with a forest stakeholder organization, with partner organizations including local and national non-profits and local and state governmental agencies. Finally, in the Residency program in which the cohort has been working together, we have partnered with a non-profit forest landowner organization, a local Land Trust (Haddam Land Trust), on a forest stewardship planning process and collaboratively developed a forest land management plan for one of their properties, Swan Hill Preserve in Higganum, CT. Changes/Problems:The Fellowship program has been conducted entirely since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the cohort beginning during the height of the pandemic in Fall 2020 and all activities and courses adapted and conducted remotely. Despite the substantial difficulties and hardships this has placed on the students and the project team as a whole, and the significant alterations and reimagining that this has required, the project to date has been highly successfully and is on track to meet the goals and timeline outlined in the original proposal. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?As described in the accomplishments section the project has led to the development of an interdisciplinary graduate training program that includes social science/human dimensions research, ecosystem ecology, landscape ecology, and forestry and combines these disciplines in the training of a cohort of graduate students who have individual research interests/topics, but are engaging with all the other disciplines and incorporating these areas into their work. The program directly supported the training of 6 graduatestudents who have all graduated from the MS program in the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment at UConn. The cohort included 4 female students, 1 gender non-binary student, and 1 male African American student. All students who completed the program have moved into professional or academic positions related to their field of study. Two students are working in environmental consulting (Fuss & O'Neill, Davey Resource Group), two for state agencies (New Jersey Forest Service, Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management), and two in an academic setting (Harvard Forest, PhD program at UConn). How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?In the course of the Exurban Forest Ecosystem Management colloquium, Internship and Residency programs we have engaged a broad spectrum of stakeholders and provided an opportunity for outreach and engagement between the students fellows and stakeholders who represent both and audience for their work as well as potential employers or collaborators in the future. We believe that this model of combined networking and knowledge-transfer is an efficient method of dissemination that also fulfills a component of the training mission. In addition, the baseline provided by these interactions will provide an important connection for future efficient and targeted dissemination of results following completion of student research projects and for development of future collaborative work in the internship and residency phase of the project. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The program is largely complete, but we will continue interacting with the non-profit organizations that were engaged in the program to assess the effectiveness of the collaboration for those stakeholders. We will also continue communication with the fellows to monitor their post-graduation career advancement and satisfaction/experience with the program.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Despite the issues presented by the COVID-19 Pandemic, we successfully progresseda 6-student cohort of MS fellows through the full proposed program and all fellows completed the requirements of the UConn NRE Department Master of Science program. The students supported by the program workedin a variety of disciplinary areas associated with exurban forest ecosystem management. These areas include: urban forest population dynamics, forest ecosystem response to pest outbreaks, human dimensions of wildlife management, modeling of endangered wildlife species habitat use, ecotoxicology of long-lived chemicals transported from uplands to waterways, and forest landscape conservation modeling. All students in the program completed the coursework sequence described in the original proposal with all of the student fellows participating in an Exurban Forest Ecosystem Management Colloquium course together in each of the semesters of the program. We also implemented all of the experiential components of the Fellowship program with students, mentors, and the project team completing the "Exurban Forest Ecosystem Management Residency" internship program and "Exurban Forest Consultancy Practicum" as a cohort group. For the Internship experience organizations and stakeholder mentors were recruited through their participation in the Fall 2020 Colloquium course which included a series of conversations between the cohort and stakeholder organizations. These organizations included local/regional/national non-profits (e.g., New England Forestry Foundation, Forest Stewards Guild), local and regional land trusts (e.g., Avalonia, Joshua's Trust), forestry practitioners, and state/national governmental agencies (e.g., CT-DEEP, USGS, NRCS). Following these conversations the fellows and their mentors completed an Internship project/experience in Summer and Fall of 2021. The six Internship programs included as partner organizations multiple divisions of a State Governmental Agency (CT-DEEP), a national nonprofit (Forest Stewards Guild), and an extension Center (UConn Center for Land Use Education and Research). For the Practicum experience the cohort of fellows collaborated with a local land trust (Haddam Land Trust) to develop a Stewardship plan for a recently acquired exurban forest parcel in Higganum CT (Swan Hill Preserve). The cohort and mentor team met weekly and conducted multiplesite visits and had several discussions with the landowner on their vision and goals for the property and their broader organization. From this information the group collaboratively developed a land management and site stewardship plan for the Swan Hill Preserve. The stewardship plan included forest, wildlife, water, and recreation management components and will be used by the Land Trust to manage the site in the coming years.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: K. E. Bischoff, T. A. G. Rittenhouse, and C. D. Rittenhouse. 2023. Landscape context and spatial attributes matter for New England cottontail occupancy. Journal of Wildlife Management e22417. https://wildlife.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jwmg.22417
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: K. E. Bischoff, Rittenhouse, T.A.G. and C.D., Rittenhouse. 2023. Introduced competitor reduces abundance of an imperiled cottontail. Biological Invasions. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10530-023-03124-1
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2023 Citation: K. M. OConnor, Bischoff, K. E, Rittenhouse, T. A. G., Kilpatrick H. J. Fine-scale selection of cover habitat by sympatric eastern and New England cottontails (Sylvilagus floridanus, transitionalis). In review. Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2023 Citation: Dunn, A.R., A.T. Morzillo, and R.A. Christoffel. Human dimensions of timber rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) management to reduce human-wildlife conflict. Human Dimensions of Wildlife.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2023 Citation: Dunn, A.R., A.T. Morzillo, L.S. Keener-Eck Larson, and R.A. Christoffel. Spatial analysis of attitudes toward timber rattlesnakes (Crotalus horridus) where encounters occur within an exurban landscape. Society & Natural Resources.
• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Dunn, A.R., and A.T. Morzillo. 2022. Talking turtles: understanding perceptions of illegal turtle collection and trade in CT. Connecticut Wildlife. September/October 2022
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Dunn, A.R., A.T. Morzillo, L.S. Larson, and R.A. Christoffel. 2022. Collaborative exurban landscape management of Timber Rattlesnakes. Pathways Conference (Human Dimensions of Fisheries and Wildlife), Bremerton, WA
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Rittenhouse, C.D., E.H. Berlin, N. Mikle, S. Qiu, D. Riordan, and Z. Zhu. 2022. An object-based approach to map young forest and shrubland vegetation based on multi-source remote sensing data. Remote Sensing 14(5), 1091.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2022 Citation: Dyer, J., R. Fahey, D. Tanzer*, K. Rivers, A. Barker-Plotkin. Relating forest drought - defoliation resistance to pre-disturbance growth and memory of prior defoliation. Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting. August, 2022, Montreal, QC.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2022 Citation: Bigelow, L. J. Henning, L. Roman, and R.T. Fahey. Shifting Composition, Structure, and Characteristics of Philadelphias Street Trees. Urban Tree Diversity Conference, St. Petersburg, FL. Aug. 2-3, 2022.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2022 Citation: Bigelow, L. J. Henning, L. Roman, and R.T. Fahey. Longitudinal Community Analysis of Philadelphias Street Trees (2015-2021). International Society of Arboriculture Annual International Conference, 11-14 September 2022, Malm�, Sweden.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Other Year Published: 2023 Citation: AM Baranovic, AM Helton, AA Provatas, A Haynes, DM Walters, JE Brandt. PFAS in Ground Water Discharges in the Farmington River Watershed.
• Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Katy Bischoff. Shrublands alleviate competitive interactions between imperiled and introduced cottontails. MS Thesis, Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Connecticut.
• Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Abigail Dunn. Landscape management of timber rattlesnakes (Crotalus horridus) in Connecticut. MS Thesis, Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Connecticut.
• Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Alison Baranovic. Investigating PFAS Patterns in Aquatic Ecosystems. MS Thesis, Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Connecticut.
• Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Levon Bigelow. Factors Influencing Street Tree Survival in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. MS Thesis, Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Connecticut.
• Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Jillian Dyer. Relating Forest Drought-Defoliation Resistance to Legacies of Pre-disturbance Growth and Site Conditions. MS Thesis, Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Connecticut.

Progress 04/15/21 to 04/14/22

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for the project is forest stakeholders, including a broad spectrum of traditional and non-traditional forest owners, managers, and advocates. Over the past year the program has interacted with a large number of forest stakeholders in the southern New England region, both directly through project components and indirectly through student research projects and other activities. In the course of the project Colloquium course we engaged with multiple forest stakeholders in broad-based discussion of their organizational structures, goals, and needs. These included local and regional land trusts, local and regional non-profits, local, state, and federal governmental agencies, and a number of forest landowners from a variety of circumstances and backgrounds. These interactions served to introduce the student fellows to the diversity of forest stakeholders in the landscape as well as making connections between students and organizations that are potential collaborators and employers. Each student has also completed an Internship experience with a forest stakeholder organization, with partner organizations including local and national non-profits and local and state governmental agencies. Finally, in the Residency program in which the cohort has been working together, we have partnered with a local Land Trust on a forest stewardship planning process. Changes/Problems:The Fellowship program has been conducted entirely since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the cohort beginning during the height of the pandemic in Fall 2020 and all activities and courses adapted and conducted remotely. Despite the substantial difficulties and hardships this has placed on the students and the project team as a whole, and the significant alterations and reimagining that this has required, the project to date has been highly successfully and is on track to meet the goals and timeline outlined in the original proposal. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?As described in the accomplishments section the project has led to the development of an interdisciplinary graduate training program that includes social science/human dimensions research, ecosystem ecology, landscape ecology, and forestry and combines these disciplines in the training of a cohort of graduate students who have individual research interests/topics, but are engaging with all the other disciplines and incorporating these areas into their work. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? In the course of the Exurban Forest Ecosystem Management colloquium, Internship and Residency programs we have engaged a broad spectrum of stakeholders and provided an opportunity for outreach and engagement between the students fellows and stakeholders who represent both and audience for their work as well as potential employers or collaborators in the future. We believe that this model of combined networking and knowledge-transfer is an efficient method of dissemination that also fulfills a component of the training mission. In addition, the baseline provided by these interactions will provide an important connection for future efficient and targeted dissemination of results following completion of student research projects and for development of future collaborative work in the internship and residency phase of the project. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? By the end of the Spring 2022 semesterthe fellowship cohort will complete theExurban Forest Consultancy Practicum where the cohort is workingwith a stakeholder group to develop a stewardship plan. The outcome of this experience is toprovide the fellowship cohort with practical project development and management experience. The fellows will have also completed work associated with the Internship experience and will be communicating the results of those experiences to stakeholder groups through various forums. The Fellows in the program will mostly (perhaps all) complete their programs in May or August of 2022, but there may be some delay on completion timelines due to the challenges of a program that was initiated and has, to date, been conducted entirely under various levels of COVID protocols and restrictions (see Changes/Problems).

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Despite the issues presented by the COVID-19 Pandemic, we have maintained a 6 student cohort of MS fellows supported by the program who are working in a variety of disciplinary areas associated with exurban forest ecosystem management. These areas include: urban forest population dynamics, forest ecosystem response to pest outbreaks, human dimensions of wildlife management, modeling of endangered wildlife species habitat use, ecotoxicology of long-lived chemicals transported from uplands to waterways, and forest landscape conservation modeling. The cohort has completed thecoursework sequence described in the original proposal with all of the studentfellows participating in an Exurban Forest Ecosystem Management Colloquium course together in both the Fall 2021and Spring 2022semesters. We have implementedthe experiential components of the Fellowship program with students, mentors, and the project team completing the"Exurban Forest Ecosystem Management Residency" internship program and currently engaging in the "Exurban Forest Consultancy Practicum" as a cohort group. For the Internship experience organizations and stakeholder mentors were recruited through their participation in the Fall 2020 Colloquium course which included a series of conversations between the cohort and stakeholder organizations. These organizations included local/regional/national non-profits (e.g., New England Forestry Foundation, Forest Stewards Guild), local and regional land trusts (e.g., Avalonia, Joshua's Trust), forestry practitioners, and state/national governmental agencies (e.g., CT-DEEP, USGS, NRCS). Following these conversations the fellows and their mentors completed an Internship project/experience in Summer and Fall of 2021. The six Internship programs included aspartner organizations multiple divisions of a State Governmental Agency (CT-DEEP), a national non-profit (Forest Stewards Guild), and an extension Center (UConn Center for Land Use Education and Research).For the Practicum experience the cohort of fellows are collaborating with a local land trust (Haddam Land Trust) to develop a Stewardship plan for a recently acquired exurban forest parcel in Higganum CT (Swan Hill Preserve). The cohort and mentor team meet weekly and have been conducting site visits and discussions with the landowner on their vision and goals for the property and their broader organization.

Publications

• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2022 Citation: Abigail R. Dunn, Anita T. Morzillo, Lindsay S. (Keener-Eck) Larson, Rebecca A. Christoffel. Integrating Human Dimensions, Encounter, and Landscape Data to Evaluate Human-Timber Rattlesnake Conflict. North American International Association of Landscape Ecologists (IALE) Annual Meeting. April 11-14, 2022 (Virtual)
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2022 Citation: Abigail R. Dunn, Anita T. Morzillo, Lindsay S. (Keener-Eck) Larson, Rebecca A. Christoffel. Human Dimensions of Timber Rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) Management to Reduce Human-Wildlife Conflict. Northeast Fish and Wildlife Conference. April 3-5, 2022. Long Branch, NJ.
• Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2022 Citation: Alison Baranovic and Jessica Brandt. Investigating PFAS Composition and Concentration in the Farmington River Watershed, CT. CAHNR Graduate Research Forum. April 9, 2022.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2022 Citation: K. E. Bischoff, Rittenhouse, T. A. G., Rittenhouse, C. D. Effects of Landscape Patterns on Native and Introduced Cottontails. Northeast Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies Annual Conference. April 3-5, 2022. Long Branch, NJ.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2022 Citation: K. E. Bischoff, Rittenhouse, T. A. G., Rittenhouse, C. D. Effects of Landscape Patterns on New England and Eastern Cottontail Metapopulations in Connecticut. New England Cottontail Annual Technical Committee Meeting. 2022.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2021 Citation: K. E. Bischoff, Rittenhouse, T. A. G. Using Dynamic Occupancy Models to Aid Management of an Imperiled Cottontail. The Wildlife Societys Annual Conference. 2021

Progress 04/15/20 to 04/14/21

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for the project is forest stakeholders, including a broad spectrum of traditional and non-traditional forest owners, managers, and advocates. Over the past year the program has interacted with a large number of forest stakeholders in the southern New England region, both directly through project components and indirectly through student research projects and other activities. In the course of the project Colloquium course we engaged with multiple forest stakeholders in broad-based discussion of their organizational structures, goals, and needs. These included local and regional land trusts, local and regional non-profits, local, state, and federal governmental agencies, and a number of forest landowners from a variety of circumstances and backgrounds. These interactions served to introduce the student fellows to the diversity of forest stakeholders in the landscape as well as making connections between students and organizations that are potential collaborators and employers. Changes/Problems:The Fellowship program has been conducted entirely since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the cohort beginning during the height of the pandemic in Fall 2020 and all activities and courses adapted and conducted remotely. Despite the substantial difficultiesand hardships this has placed on the students andthe project team as a whole, and the significant alterations and reimagining that this has required, the project to date has been highly successful and ison track to meet the goals and timeline outlined in the original proposal. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?As described in the accomplishments section the project has led to the development of an interdisciplinary graduate training program that includes social science/human dimensions research, ecosystem ecology, landscape ecology, and forestry and combines these disciplines in the trainingof a cohort of graduate students who have individual research interests/topics, but are engaging with all the other disciplines and incorporating these areas into their work. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?In the course of the Exurban Forest Ecosystem Management colloquium we have engaged a broad spectrum of stakeholders and provided an opportunity for outreach and engagement between the students fellows and stakeholders who represent both and audience for their work as well as potential employers or collaborators in the future. We believe that this model of combined networking and knowledge-transfer is an efficient method of dissemination that also fulfills a component of the training mission. In addition, the baseline provided by these interactions will provide an important connection for future efficient and targeted dissemination of results following completion of student research projects and for development of future collaborative work in the internship and residency phase of the project. The goals and early results of the program were presented to the Northeast-Midwest State Foresters AllianceForest Resource Planning Committee on 7/1/21 by PI Fahey in a presentation entitled: "Increasing diversity in graduate program & providing work experience" What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? During Fall 2021 Residency program each of the fellows will be embedded within a stakeholder organization to experience the work environment and become familiar with the goals and needs of the organization. The fellows will report back to the cohort group on their experiences in theFall 2021 version of the Colloquium course. The remaining course sequence of the Fellowship program will be completed by the fellows cohort during the Fall 2021 and Spring 2022 semesters. This will include the Exurban Forest Ecosystem Management Colloquium and a new graduate-level Exurban Forest Management course that will be taken by all of the fellows. During the Spring of 2022 the fellowship cohort will participate collaboratively in a capstone-style Exurban Forest Consultancy Practicum where the cohort as a group will work with a stakeholder group (or an existing collaborative project combining stakeholders) on a specific project that will help the stakeholder(s) meet a need and also provide the fellowship cohort practical project development and management experience. The partner organization and specific project that will be the focus of the Practicum will be determined during the Fall 2021 semester. The Fellows in the program will mostly (perhaps all) complete their programs in May 2022, but there may be some delay on completion timelines due to the challenges of a program that was initiated and has, to date, been conducted entirely under COVID protocols (see Changes/Problems).

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? During the reporting period we have accomplished our primary goal of initiating the proposed interdisciplinary graduate training program. We completed thesuccessful recruitment of 6 MS-level graduate students from an applicantpool including 35 highly qualified candidates. Candidates were selected to promote a diverse training cohort in a variety of respects based on background (undergraduate institution type and degree program), prior experience, disciplinary research interests, and fit with potential mentors. The cohort includes fourfemale students, onestudent from an underrepresented minority group, and one non-gender binary student. Disciplinary interests of the students span the spectrum proposed in the original application, with human dimensions, ecotoxicology, ecosystem ecology, landscape ecology, forest pests and pathogens, urban ecology and forestry, and forest planning, policy,management, and silviculture all represented in the student cohort and their research projects. We initiated the coursework sequence described in the original proposal with all of the students fellows participating in an Exurban Forest Ecosystem Management Colloquium course together in both the Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 semesters. Additional coursework has been prepared for the remainder of the project timeframe. We have initiated development of the experiential components of the Fellowship program with students, mentors, and the project team collaboratively developing relationships for the Fall 2021 "Exurban Forest Ecosystem Management Residency" internship program. Organizations and stakeholder mentors were recruited through their participation in the Fall 2020 Colloquium course which included a series of conversations between the cohort and stakeholder organizations. These organizations included local/regional/national non-profits (e.g., New England Forestry Foundation, Forest Stewards Guild), local and regional land trusts (e.g., Avalonia, Joshua's Trust), forestry practitioners, and state/national governmental agencies (e.g., CT-DEEP, USGS, NRCS). Following these conversations the fellows and their mentorsdeveloped plans for an Internship project/experience to be completed with one (or more in collaborative projects) of these organizations in Fall 2021.

Publications

• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2021 Citation: AM Baranovic, JE Brandt. Movement of PFAS through aquatic and terrestrial systems. CT Conference on Natural Resources
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2021 Citation: Abigail Dunn, Lindsay Larson, Anita T. Morzillo. Spatial Analysis of Attitudes Towards Timber Rattlesnakes. CT Conference on Natural Resources