Maurice Goddard

On January 29 and 30 the Seventh Goddard Forum will feature presentations and discussion on the topic of “PA’s Third Forest: Challenges and Opportunities in the Next Century.”

Pennsylvania's forests have undergone significant changes from the forest that greeted the first Quaker settlers who arrived at Penn's Landing on the Friendship in 1692.

The second forest is today's even-aged product of the age of exploitation that removed that first forest to feed the growing mines, railroads, and eastern cities between 1865 and 1915.

Today's forest covers approximately 60 percent of Pennsylvania's twenty-nine million acres, and one-quarter of that is publicly owned.

The Seventh Goddard Forum will examine what Pennsylvania's third forest will look like and how we can impact its development, focusing particularly on the thirteen million acres in private ownership.

Issues such as urbanization and sprawl; climate change and acid precipitation; invasive species; increasing demands for fiber, energy, recreation, and second homes; and increasing parcelization and fragmentation present challenges as well as opportunities.

The 2007 Goddard Forum will focus on crucial issues that will arise over the next century, including ecologic changes and challenges, climate-change challenges in the forest and opportunities, social and human issues, water resource issues, economic issues, and more.

The forum will focus first on the current state of the forest and on issues that must be addressed for the next century, examining some of the problems faced by private forest lands, sprawl, use of forest resources, water resource issues, and climate change.

In breakout sessions the participants will then identify the problems warranting the highest priority. A second series of panel discussions will examine a variety of policies that might address the issues for the future. In a final series of breakout sessions the participants will select a suite of policies to create a third "Penn's Woods" that will best meet the needs of our grandchildren.

People who will benefit from this conference include members of the conservation community, whether in industry, land trusts, environmental groups, or government; forest landowners; those involved in forestry and energy industries that currently rely or will rely on the forest for their livelihood; planners interested in conservation of open space or rural development; those interested in examining the role of the forests in mitigating climate change and how we can adapt to climate change; companies and groups concerned about the quantity and quality of our water supply; and persons involved in research on issues related to forestry, energy, the water supply, climate change, forest ecology, urban sprawl, and sustainable futures.

For and the most up-to-date program and contact information, visit the Seventh Goddard Forum webpage.

12/8/2006