John Daigle

Saturday, November 16, 3:30 pm – 5:00 pm – Regional Impact Award Presentation and Talk

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The Native Plant Trust is pleased that Dr. John Daigle, a tribal member of the Penobscot Indian Nation, professor of Forest Recreation Management, and a program leader for the Parks, Recreation, and Tourism program at the University of Maine, will accept Native Plant Trust’s 2024 Regional Impact Award. The award recognizes individuals or organizations for regionally significant leadership and achievement in conservation, horticulture, or education. Director of Conservation Michael Piantedosi nominated Daigle for his role in the Ash Protection Collaboration Across Wabanakik, whose mission is to center, protect, and restore the sacred relationship between Wabanaki peoples and ash ecosystems. In Wabanaki culture, brown (aka black) ash (Fraxinus nigra) appears in the creation story and provides an important basket-making material.

Daigle and his research team collaborate with Wabanaki tribal partners, the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance, Brown Ash Task Force, private landowners, and others in order to manage and protect brown ash from destruction by the emerald ash borer. This project exemplifies Daigle’s ongoing efforts to facilitate conversations among individuals who bring unique ways of knowing to a common ecological question.

Dr. Daigle will deliver a talk following his acceptance of the award. Please join us to celebrate Dr. Daigle and learn more about his research to protect brown ash. The event takes place November 16 at 3:30 in the Commonwealth Salon Community Room, Boston Public Library Main Branch, Boylston Street, Boston. Free, but registration required at https://www.nativeplanttrust.org/events/regional-impact-award-presentation-and-talk/

Friday, March 1, 7:00 pm Eastern – Building a Community of Interest and Response to an Invasive Species, Live and Online

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On Friday, March 1, the New England Botanical Society will hold its monthly meeting at 7 pm at Harvard University’s Haller Lecture Hall and also live via Zoom. Dr. John Daigle, Professor of Forest Recreation Management, School of Forest Resources, University of Maine in Orono, will speak on Building a Community of Interest and Response to an Invasive Species Threatening Maine’s Ash Trees and Wabanaki Cultural Lifeways. Free. Non-members may register for the meeting access link here.

For the past 15 years, Dr. John J. Daigle, a citizen member of the Penobscot Nation, has been working on a project mobilizing diverse interests to address potential threats from invasive species in Maine – the case of the Emerald Ash Borer. The research seeks to study and facilitate the ways that Wabanaki, basket-makers, tribes, state and federal foresters, university researchers, landowners and others come together to prevent, detect, and respond to the threat of Emerald Ash Borer. He has published research with co-authors on outreach and education, management, and policy. In 2023, the Ash Protection Collaboration Across Wabanakik or APCAW was created, offering informative webinars and in-person trainings, as well as a dedicated APCAW website for recorded sessions and other program information.