• Merchant, Roger
  Wee Woods
  rogmerch@gmail.com
  

In early 2019 I completed an online course on Forest Carbon Management from Michigan

State University. As a forester and photographer I was interested in learning more about

changing forest conditions as a result of our warming climate in Maine, as well as globally

on our home planet Earth.

Having participated and presented at the 2019 Forest Ecosystem Monitoring Cooperative -

Annual Conference in Vermont, I was enthused by the energy of the diverse field research

interests, speaking to new partnerships that were working to get a handle on forests and

climate change in New England.

Shortly afterwards Covid 19 broke out and the foundation of our lives, relationships and

communications became forever altered. Being retired from a career with University of

Maine Cooperative Extension, my collegial connections had likewise withered. However,

what didn’t fade away was my enduring interest in changing forest conditions, as illustrated

by my The 1942-2016 Forest FB page. Like many forest folks, I was taken by what we might

expect for species and structural change in Maine’s diverse forests as a result of the many

complexities of climate change.

My commitment to learning more about forests, climate change and carbon storage reached

a point of practical application in 2020. My thought was, “okay, I’ve invested in courses,

academics and a slew of Zoon sessions; how might I bring carbon storage closer to home?”

Looking out the back window onto our 2.7-forested acres in Glenburn, I was re-awakened

by the question, “I wonder how much carbon is stored out back in all the pine, aspen, red

maple, and balsam fir that make up our Wee Woods?”

This is what Every Tree Counts is about; forests, carbon storage and life giving oxygen from

all trees large and small. It’s also about what we did to figure this out in our little corner of

the vast Maine Woods.