UNITY — The Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association and a team of forestry experts are set to offer two workshops on assisted migration efforts.

Assisted migration is a climate adaptation tool where people plant trees beyond their historical ranges to keep pace with climate change’s effects on local ecosystems. The workshops include Nursery Beds and Forest Planting on Saturday, May 18, and Insights from Experimental Planting Studies in Maine on Tuesday, May 21.

Both events will take place at MOFGA’s Common Ground Education Center, 294 Crosby Brook Road.

In the May 18 workshop, running from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., participants can learn about assisted migration efforts in the MOFGA woodlot, planting trees for assisted migration, managing nursery beds to grow trees for assisted migration, and other forest climate adaptation efforts. This interactive workshop will be led by Aleta McKeage, project partner; Maren Granstrom, consulting forester at Silver Maple Forestry; and Jack Kertesz, MOFGA’s landscape coordinator. A catered lunch will be included.

At the May 21 presentation, set for 5-6:30 p.m., participants will hear from a team of researchers at the University of Maine about how their recent and ongoing research efforts are helping people understand how forest tree regeneration responds to extreme climate conditions and how that relates to assisted migration in Maine. The speakers for this workshop will be Dr. Jay Wason, Laura Pinover, and Emily MacDonald from the Wason Lab of Forest Ecosystem Physiology at the University of Maine.

To learn more, visit mofga.org.

Check out other upcoming area events!