Forestland Management Office
Responsible for the more than 8,000 acres of forest owned by Penn State. These lands are used for teaching, research, recreation, and as a renewable resource for timber and other forest products.
Latest News
May 8, 2025
Cultural burning by Indigenous peoples increased oak in forests near settlements
A debate continues among scientists over whether tree composition in forests in eastern North American historically have been influenced more by climate or by cultural burning, which is the intentional and controlled use of fire by Indigenous people to manage their environment. Now, a new study of southern New England forests by a team including a researcher from Penn State lends credence to the cultural burning hypothesis, suggesting that fire-tolerant vegetation — oak, hickory and pine — were significantly more abundant near Indigenous settlements over the last 5,000 years.
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April 29, 2025
College of Agricultural Sciences graduate students receive awards
Graduate students in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences were recognized for their accomplishments during the 2025 Graduate Student Award Celebration, hosted by the Office for Research and Graduate Education and held recently on the University Park campus.
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April 25, 2025
Traditional forest medicinal plant ghost pipe used differently today
Despite a long history of traditional medicinal use in the United States, the collection, consumption and efficacy of the peculiar forest plant aptly named ghost pipe, scientific name Monotropa uniflora, remains a mystery. Now, with social media and the internet driving a resurgence in the harvest and economic trade of the parasitic species — which appears strangely white because it is devoid of chlorophyl — a research team from Penn State has taken the first step toward documenting its new status.
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April 25, 2025
Penn State celebrates the 2025 student sustainability award winners
Penn State Sustainability has announced the 2025 recipients of its sustainability awards. These accolades, including the John Roe Sustainability Impact Award, the Student Sustainability Advisory Council Tree Award and the Pennsylvania Environmental Resource Consortium Campus Sustainability Champion Award, commend the extraordinary contributions of students in spearheading sustainability initiatives.
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