So today I want to talk to you all about the lessons that we've learned from testing our new user experience flow on wordpress.com Also known as NUX because it's easier to abbreviate things So I'm not choice. I'm a product designer automatic. So I'm also a repress guest committer Recently I've been working on the 2017 theme which is going to be released with the wordpress 4.7 next week. So keep an eye out super exciting So over the course of the last year or so, there have been a couple teams Focusing on the new user experience flow on wordpress.com So we tend to see that as everything from like when you land on the wordpress.com landing page through sign up And then up through the building of your website So my team gravity has been working on the kind of a theme and set up parts of that So to facilitate these improvements, we've run a number of a b tests hoping to increase conversions Retention and so I'm going to talk to you about some of those tests. So this could be helpful I know there's a lot of hosts here For people who have like for managed hosts who can set up their own NUX flows and actually if you are a host I would Recommend doing that setting up a unique like sign up flow to get people started with wordpress Also anyone who has a theme or a plug-in or any sort of like software as a service I would recommend looking at your, you know, your set of flow and seeing how it is So often during user user testing of sign up we'd hear people say when they get to the theme step I just want a dog site Can this can this theme make a dog site? But since theme screenshots are like really generic you you can't really like see and know what it does But really any theme can be used for any kind of site when it comes down to it if you push it enough So we thought why not ask people what kind of site they want to make and then change the theme screenshot to use related imagery So enter dynamic screenshots Dynamic screenshots props props people to enter a search term during the themes step a sign up And then it switches out the images in the demo to help people Visualize like what their site could look like So this is the first version that we AB tested And user tested so you enter a keyword and the images inside the theme preview update to match what you're entering So our hypothesis was that by allowing people to choose images and like kind of personalize their theme early They'll feel more invested in the process They'll understand oh like any theme here I can use for my site awesome, and then they'll be more likely to complete sign up And it would increase our overall sign-up conversions Yeah, so it didn't work out So we actually realized really quickly that we'd run a buggy test so we had to stop it early so we could fix all the bugs We also user tested it and found some issues that were pretty bad So there's like a noticeable flash of unstyled Content when the user started typing so like looked really bad The images were very slow. So it was just like a really unfortunate sluggy sluggish experience The search bar was easy to miss because the images were so visual that like you looked at the images and ignored the search bar Also, we were using the flicker API to get CC0 photos and they the ones that we were getting back just weren't very good So we fixed the bugs We made design and performance improvements curated the images for some top keywords and then we relaunched a new test Which looked a little bit better But it still didn't do well. Yeah Purchasing inside up and retention post sign up both went down compared to the control So, you know after looking at it, you know, we kind of figured out it's just a hard concept to understand People didn't really know what to enter into the search field. They'd enter like sentences or There was they just would put a lot of stuff Also, the search bar was still easier to miss even though it was larger So it was also hard to implement well with the available image APIs that we had So when we did our initial testing neither unsplash nor pexels, which are both like CC0 image repositories They hadn't released an API yet So it was just a resounding no, you know, we thought that maybe the idea was okay But we could get better results by doing more curation So what do we learn from this test? First off people will write literally anything into an input You might want to consider constraining it a little bit Also curation is king. If you want to guarantee good image results like you had to curate them yourself Also, make sure your tests aren't buggy And if you user test before you do your a b test you can make improvements before you push it out live Around the same time we had another team at automatic working on adding verticals to sign up So when you sign up you select a category of blog or site you're trying to make so like business arts and entertainment fitness, etc So we tested two versions one that just asked about macro categories and then a second one which asked a second question about micro categories So by gathering this data, we hope to learn more about our users and then use that to tailor things further on So our goal was less about like increasing revenue or retention and more making sure that we didn't decrease Revenue or retention while we gathered this information And we did yeah, it was great. We learned a lot about our users It's been really helpful for planning additional Testing to our next flow So we were also able to confirm some suspicions such as folks signing up for business sites or more likely to pay for upgrades Best yet both of these tests actually increased our sign-up conversion We were like well as long as they don't dip too bad, but like they actually improved it So the one page one improved it a little bit and then the two want two page one actually improved it a little bit more So we launched the two-page survey to our default flow and then we've been iterating on it ever since So recently another team at automatic has been trying different layouts and vertical configurations The user tested several different prototypes, which is a great idea by the way user testing your prototypes Before settling on this design to AB test And it actually performed much better than the previous two-step version So both the qualitative and the quantitative data pointed towards this version being just a total success So it was launched into the default sign-up flow So in a subsequent AB test we showed people who put themselves in the business vertical Business-oriented themes. So before we had just had like nine nine top themes and now we were like here's our nine top business themes So we saw a big increase in sign-up conversion And also in purchases during the first week of sign-up But we also unfortunately saw a little bit of a decrease in retention during the first week after sign-up So we weren't really positive why but we had some guesses like maybe once they got through sign-up Setting up a business site was actually really hard So we ran another test expanding this to every single vertical that we offered. So when you pick any vertical You'll see themes that we think are more relevant to you Yeah, so not very good. We saw a slight increase in sign-up conversions, but we still had that drop in retention Um, it wasn't dramatically worse, but it just meant maybe meant that we did a poor job of tailoring themes Since it wasn't that great We haven't launched it to our default flow and we're going to continue to iterate on it and see if there's something Better that we can do So, you know from these from these tests we learned that trying out one version wasn't enough You really have to keep iterating on your ideas and continuously improve them So user testing your prototypes can be a great way to find the best version to then a b test We also didn't really get a lot of answers to why like things have gone up things have gone down. Why? So we need to find better ways of actually asking our users like Why why didn't this work for you? So this year we also tested a new sign-up step that asks users what kind of homepage they want We called it triforce because there are three buckets and where's all the nerds So we identified the three most common homepage patterns in wordpress.com themes So it's a traditional blog with like a column of posts site with a static homepage you like business sites and then a homepage with a grid of Items like a portfolio or a magazine So by filtering new users towards themes that we thought were more relevant to them and having them think about the design of their site Before they got to theme selection. We hope to increase sign-up conversion. So like kind of a continuation of the previous test So, you know, there wasn't a significant improvement at first, but it was enough to tell us to keep doing this So it also came with some additional data insights. We were surprised to see that roughly half of people who signed up We're actually here to make a site rather than a blog And uh better yet This feature is actually more impactful now after another thing that came up So we really learned that all test all testing is valuable when we did this Knowing just how many folks were signing up for sites Which are much harder to set up in wordpress as a whole than blogs actually helped us reprioritize another test we had coming up Which is head start which is by far by far the most important feature that we've launched this year So it's a plugin that automatically sets up a wordpress.com site to look like the the demo that you see like in the theme screenshot and so by We we found that Having people manually like set up their sites to look like the demo is what people want the most and also The biggest pain point and customization for us For both our users and our support folks have told us this time and time again So you can see head start in action in this video. So I select a vertical And then a home page layout then a theme Uh, then I go through some additional steps signing up Cool and so I finally get to my site and it's set up to match the demo I saw during theme selection like magic So it's like there you go it's site So our hypothesis was that it's going to be easier to edit something Than it is to create it from scratch. So by setting up your site for you Including demo content will increase your likelihood of sticking around Yeah, so we uh, it was awesome. We saw a decent increase in the number of people who came back At least once in the first week after setup I'm pretty sure we saw a decrease in happiness like support Requests dealing with setup So it was kind of a no brainer for us. We were like, yeah, we you know, we're launching this So we've since expanded it to cover almost all free themes And we're actually working on expanding it to cover premium themes as well And when we combined try for us with head start We actually saw a huge increase in the number of people who came back at least once in the first week after sign up So after launching it, uh, we kept getting a lot of requests from our support folks To create a way for them to head start a site that had already been edited So I guess a lot of people start their site. Um, they edit it a little bit. They're like, oh my god This is a disaster. I need to start from scratch and they've no way of doing that now So what they would do previously is make a new site and that's just kind of a mess So our happiness engineers were like, can you build us a tool to head start a site? And so we were like, sure and we did So it's been pretty good and we're thinking of maybe expanding it to all users eventually next year, but Maybe I don't know So yeah, we confirmed that editing is way easier than starting from scratch And if you do the the hard parts for people, they're going to come back And actually use their new sites Also, sometimes people get into building sites and they mess them up and they want to start from scratch So it's good to provide people a way to like reset So some of you may actually already be familiar with this project because it's launching in uh four seven next week So direct manipulation is the idea of being able to click something and then edit in place So we wanted to test out a light version of this so not completely direct manipulation, but kind of So since not everything you see in the customizer preview is actually editable yet We started by adding icons to the icons to the items that you could edit So when you click an icon, uh, it brings you into that section of the customizer and you can make edits We launched our first version with buttons that were at edit and then our second iteration We changed it to the button icons that you see here So we hoped that by making it obvious what you you know, what you could edit and then Bring you to where you could edit it. You'd be more likely to actually, um Successfully customize your site and then customizer saves would increase as a result Yeah, so we found quickly in user testing that people did find use and uh Like succeeded to great success. Uh our ab test data backed this up So customizer saves almost doubled. Uh, it was a pretty clear success for us Yeah, um, you know, we kind of knew people were clicking on things in the customizer trying to edit them Because that's kind of what you you would expect this day is like to be able to do that But now there's like actually a way for them to do that. Um, and It just it's made customization way easier. I use it all the time now for site setup Uh, and also when it comes down to it, this wasn't a huge project You know, it took us a couple weeks and and that couple weeks that we built it We almost doubled customizer saves. Uh, so combined with head start, especially it was a huge win Uh, so when it comes down to it This feature is a band-aid on the underlying issue of the lack of true direct manipulation and front end editing Wordpress, uh, and that's okay because it's still an improvement and it's a step in the right direction And it's coming to core. So that's great. So our last test, uh, was a feature designed by um, fellow automatic designer Davide Kassali that my team coded and tested So in trampoline when you sign up for new wordpress.com account and you make a site We tested out a new flow where you'd be dropped onto your home page And then your admin menu would pop out and you'd you'd be like, hey click on this stuff So by dropping users onto their site and then telling them where to go next We hope to increase retention within a user's first week Uh, and it did, you know, people definitely came back a lot more. It was actually one of the more successful tests that we ran So we did a second iteration pointing them to the customizer like hey go customize your site and people went to customize their site And people who did that were more likely to come back after their first week So we've experimented with a bunch of places to drop users in right after sign up their dashboard their stat page the reader on wordpress.com But it seems so far the most effective place is your site itself But if you do that, you shouldn't just abandon them and be like cool. Here's your site. Bye. You should tell them what to do next So amongst all this testing, what did we see consistently? Well, like Sean Andrews says here Uh, straight up asking people what they want Helps us help them set up the sites they like and want to use And then showing them how to make additional edits actually increases their likelihood of coming back So I'd encourage anyone selling products in the wordpress space or services To ab test and user test everything you release So there's a lot you can learn through testing to improve your onboarding and overall user experience Thank you


Nothing I see means anything. I have given everything I see all the meaning it has for me. I do not understand anything I see. These thoughts do not mean anything. I am never upset for the reason I think. I am upset because I see something that is not there. I see only the past. My mind is preoccupied with past thoughts. I see nothing as it is now. My thoughts do not mean anything. My meaningless thoughts are showing me a meaningless world. I am upset because I see a meaningless world. A meaningless world in gender's fear. God did not create a meaningless world. My thoughts are images which I have made. I have no neutral thoughts. I see no neutral things. I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my seeing. I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my thoughts. I am determined to see. I am determined to see things differently. What I see is a form of engines. I can escape from the world I see by giving up attack thoughts. I do not perceive my own best interests. I do not know what anything is for. My attack thoughts are attacking my invulnerability. Above all else I want to see. Above all else I want to see things differently. God is in everything I see. God is in everything I see because God is in my mind. I am not a victim of the world I see. I have invented the world I see. There is another way of looking at the world. I could see peace instead of this. Mind is part of God's. I am very holy. My holiness envelops everything I see. My holiness blesses the world. There is nothing my holiness cannot do. My holiness is my salvation. I am blessed as a son of God. God goes with me wherever I go. God is my strength and vision is his gift. God is my source and I cannot see apart from him. God is the light in which I see. God is the mind with which I think. God is the love in which I forgive. God is the strength in which I trust. There is nothing to fear. God's voice speaks to me all through the day. I am sustained by the love of God. I am the light of the world. Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world. The light of the world brings peace to every mind through my forgiveness. Let me not forget my function. My only function is the one God gave me. My happiness and my function are one. Love created me like itself. Love holds no grievances. My grievances hide the light of the world in me. My salvation comes from me. Only God's plan for salvation will work. Holding grievances is an attack on God's plan for salvation. I will there be light. There is no will but God's. The light has come. I am under no laws but God's. I am entitled to miracles. Let miracles replace all grievances. Let me recognize the problem so it can be solved. Let me recognize my problems have been solved. Miracles are seen in light. Miracles are seen in light and light and strength are one. Light and joy and peace abide in me. I am as God created me. I am oneself, united with my Creator. Salvation comes from my oneself. I am the Spirit. I will accept my part in God's plan for salvation. Salvation is my only function here. My part is essential to God's plan for salvation. God's will for me is perfect happiness. I share God's will for happiness for me. God being love is also happiness. I seek but what belongs to me in truth. God's peace and joy are mine. Let me be still and listen to the truth. Truth will crack the arrows in my mind. To give and to receive are one in truth. I rest in God. I am as God created me. Forgiveness is the key to happiness. Forgiveness offers everything I want. I thank my Father for his gifts to me. Let me remember I am one with God. All that I give is given to myself. There is no love but God's. The world I see has nothing that I want. Beyond this world there is a world I want. It is impossible to see two worlds. No one can fail who asks to reach the truth. I lose the world from all I thought it was. I will not value what is valueless. Let me perceive forgiveness as it is. If I defend myself I am attacked. Sickness is a defense against the truth. When I am healed I am not healed alone. Heaven is a decision I must make. I will accept a turn for myself. Only salvation can be said to cure. All things are echoes of the voice of God. The power of decision is my own. In my defencelessness my safety lies. I am among the ministers of God. I will step back and let him lead the way. I walk with God in perfect holding us. Into his presence will I enter now. Today I learn to give as I receive. I give the miracles I have received. I am at home. Fear is the stranger here. Give me your blessing, Holy Son of God. I am as God created me. How are we one with him who is our source? Let not my mind deny the thought of God. I am entrusted with the gifts of God. There is one life and that I share with God. Your grace has given me, I claim it now. By grace I live, by grace I am released. There is no cruelty in God and none in me. I trust my brothers who are one with me.  I will be still a moment and go home. The name of God is my inheritance. I want the peace of God. Salvation of the world depends on me. I bless the world because I bless myself. The peace of God is shining in me now. I feel the love of God within me now. I choose the joy of God instead of pain. I am the Holy Son of God Himself. I have a function God would have me feel. All things are lessons God would have me learn. I place the future in the hands of God. Love is the way I walk in gratitude. It can be but myself, I crucify. It can be but my gratitude I own. Only my condemnation injures me. I am not a body, I am free. There is no peace except the peace of God. Peace to my mind let all my thoughts be still. God is with me, I live and breathe in Him.  God is my Father and He loves His Son. God is my Father and His Son loves Him. My home awaits me, I will hasten there. This is my holy instant of release. God has condemned me not, no more do I. Love which created me is what I am. Now will I seek and find the peace of God. Father I will but to remember You. Be in my mind my Father through the day. I give my life to God to run today. Father today I am Your Son again. God in His mercy wills that I be saved. I rule my mind which I alone must rule. Now will I be as God created me. On my decision all salvation rests. The glory of my Father is my own. Fear is not justified in any form. This holy instant is salvation come. This day is God's, it is my gift to Him. Today I will judge nothing that occurs. I am in danger nowhere in the world. Your grace is with me Father I am safe. To love my Father is to love His Son. Without forgiveness I will still be blind. Whatever suffers is not part of me. Forgiveness ends all suffering and loss. Let me not see myself as limited. I am in need of nothing but the truth. The Son of God is my identity. Myself is ruler of the universe. At every voice but God's be still in me. This day I choose to spend in perfect peace. God is the only goal I have today. Let me remember what my purpose is. Let me remember that my goal is God. Let me remember that there is no sin. Let me remember God created me. God is my refuge and security. Let me perceive no differences today. My holy vision sees all things as pure. I am surrounded by the love of God. Creation's gentleness is all I see. My holy self abides in you God Son. My heart is beating in the peace of God. Let all things be exactly as they are. My sight goes forth to look upon Christ's face. I will not use the body's eyes today. Christ is the vision I will use today. How can illusion satisfy God Son? The stillness of the peace of God is mine. Today belongs to love, let me not fear. God's healing voice protects all things today. The Word of God is giving me to speak. Let me not bind your Son with the laws I made. If I am bound, my Father is not free. Creation's freedom promises my own. What limits can I lay upon God's Son? I can be hurt by nothing but my thoughts. I will not be afraid of love today. My true identity abides in you. I can elect to change all thoughts that hurt. My holiness shines bright and clear today. The hush of heaven holds my heart today.  Let me forget my brother's past today. The past is over, it can touch me not. My present happiness is all I see. This is a day of stillness and of peace. A happy outcome to all things is sure. All fear is past and only love is here. My body is a wholly neutral thing. The Holy Spirit looks through me today. The Holy Spirit speaks through me today. Forgiveness is the only gift I give. I love you, Father, and I love your Son. Eternal holiness abides in me. Only an instant does this world endure and God himself shall wipe away all tears. Where darkness was, I look upon the light. The Holy Christ is born in me today. Let not my world obscure the sight of Christ. There is a peace that Christ bestows on us. The gift of Christ is all I see today. Conflict in wishes cannot be my will. This instant is the only time there is. I will not fear to look within today. In fearlessness and love I spend today. I judge all things as I would have them be. I see all things as I would have them be. Now that a new perception comes to me, I seek a future different from the past. All gifts my brothers give belong to me. All gifts I give my brothers are my own. I follow in the way appointed me. In me salvation's means an ender one. I came for the salvation of the world. My Father gives all power unto me. Father, my freedom is in you alone. I can give up but what was never real. I gladly make the sacrifice of fear. I merely follow for I would not lead. All things I think I see reflect ideas. I am forever in effect of God. I need but call and you will answer me. I choose the second place to gain the first. I have already chosen what you will. I will not hurt myself again today. There is no conflict for my will is yours. Fear binds the world, forgiveness sets a tree. Forgiveness ends the dream of conflict here. Today I claim the gifts forgiveness gives. I choose to see my brothers sinlessness. Forgiveness lets me know that minds are joined. My sinlessness protects me from all harm. I am affected only by my thoughts. I will receive whatever I request. I can be free of suffering today. I can attack but my own sinlessness and it is only that which keeps me safe. I let forgiveness rest upon all things for thus forgiveness will be given me. I am not asked to make a sacrifice to find the mercy and the peace of God. Today I learned the law of love that what I give my brother is my gift to me. I offer only miracles today for I would have them be returned to me. Today the peace of God envelops me and I forget all things except his love. Anger must come from judgment. Judgment is the weapon I would use against myself to keep all miracles away from me. I have no cause for anger or for fear. For you surround me and in every need that I perceive your grace suffices me. Today I let Christ's vision look upon all things for me and judge them not but give each one a miracle of love instead. Miracles mirror God's eternal love. To offer them is to remember him and through his memory to save the world. My sinless brother is my guide to peace. My sinful brother is my guide to pain and which I choose to see I will behold. Judgment and love are opposites. From one come all the sorrows of the world but from the other comes the peace of God himself. My eyes, my tongue, my hands, my feet today have but one purpose to be given Christ to use to bless the world with miracles. We stand together Christ and I in peace and certainly of purpose and in him is his Creator as he is in me. There is no end to all the peace and joy and all the miracles that I will give when I accept God's word why not today. Sickness is but another name for sin healings but another name for God. The miracle is us a call to him. Truth answers every call we make to God responding first with miracles and then returning unto us to be itself. Call to God can be unheard or left unanswered and of this I can be sure. His answer is the only one I really want. God's answer is some form of peace all pain is healed or misery replaced with joy all prison doors are open and all sin is understood as merely a mistake. Peace be to me the Holy Son of God peace to my brother who is one with me let all the world be blessed with peace through us this holy instant would I give to you be you in charge for I would follow you certain that your direction gives me peace


The study presents preliminary results of two classification exercises using Sentinel-2-S2 data for mapping crop types and tree species. In the first case study, an S2 image was used to map six summer crop species in lower Austria as well as winter crops slash bare soil. In the second case study, seven different deciduous and coniferous tree species were mapped in Germany. The study confirmed that S2 data can produce reliable land cover maps with cross-validated overall accuracies, ranging between 65% tree species and 76% crop types. The red edge and shortwave infrared SWIR bands were found to be important for vegetation mapping while the blue band was also important. The study also compared object-based image analysis, OBIA, with classical pixel-based classification and found that they achieved comparable results, mainly for cropland. However, only single-date acquisitions were available for this study, and the full potential of S2 data could not be assessed. In the future, the two twin S2 satellites will offer global coverage every five days and permit to concurrently exploit unprecedented spectral and temporal information with high spatial resolution. This article was authored by Marcus Emitzer, Francesco Vualo, and Clement Atzberger. We are article.tv, links in the description below.


In this section, I'll explain the economic functions of future market. Future markets, if they are operating in the market, the biggest benefit is that the exposure towards risk that can be reallocated or it can be shifted to other parties who are ready to take up the risk. If there is an investor or consumer who is forcing a high level of risk in certain situations and wants to shift the risk to their exposure, they can do it by participating in the futures market. So, the reallocation of exposure is one of the major benefits of participating in the futures market. Another benefit is that if the futures market are there, the producers, customers, consumers, investors participate in the futures market. They should have sufficient level of information about what is going to happen in the future. Should we keep the stock of this particular thing with us or not? Or should we immediately sell the thing or store it? If they think that the asset or commodity value is going to increase in the future, it is better to store it. Or if they are going to fall in the future, they should take the forward price and sell it. To take all these positions, they need to have sufficient information. The overall economic benefit of the futures market is that the commodities that are being traded, business origin, financial instruments or commodities, all the current and future prices are generating information. Because people are taking interest, information is generated on them. So, this is another advantage of having the futures market that a lot of information is generated because of having a vibrant or a strong effective future market. So, in order to explain the economic advantages of the future market, I will take an example that suppose you participate in a future market and you feel that the next crop will come in the harvest market after a month. And there is one month left to come in the new harvest market. And suppose we are taking an example of a wheat distributor. Suppose he has a ton of wheat. So, now he will have to see whether he has to hold it or sell it to me right now. So, what did he do for that? He knew the market price. Spot price of wheat turned out to be $2 per bushel. And the price of the future, suppose we are assuming that let's call it capital F. The future price is F. So, now he has to decide whether to keep this wheat in the store or sell it right now. Because the value of the future, he will have to decide that if it is higher, then naturally he will have to account for the cost of carry, that is, to store this particular wheat for a month, which I will have to spend extra. So, in the future market, I am getting to see the price after a month. If it is higher than that, which is the spot price right now, then my total expense will come and he will compare it. That I should keep it. He will compare these numbers to decide whether I should store the wheat or sell it immediately. Now, if for this particular reason, what the distributor can do is to hedge his expoier to the fluctuation in the price that can be there and he can have two choices. Number one is that he can sell the wheat in the spot market for $2 per bushel and deliver it immediately. So, immediately he can sell all his stock on that $2. Or he can have another choice. He is selling short or futures contract at the price of F and delivering the wheat a month from now. When the bushel is ready, then he can sell that particular wheat to the stock and participate in the futures contract and take a short position. Now, this second position depends on one more important thing. Now, the F has to be calculated on the basis of which he has to account for the amount of money he will have to spend on the wheat when the distributor is physically storing the wheat. If he will store the wheat with one month, then we call it cost to carry. How much will he have to pay? The price of storage can be given in the case of a warehouse book or a warehouse warehouse book or a warehouse warehouse book. If he has to sell the wheat, then he has to pay a short position which he will have to keep and not take out. If there is no wheat, then he can have a cost of some other maintenance. If he has some problems, then he will have to pack some other things. So, that is your additional expense. Now, the F which you want to invest in the futures contract or the second option is to sell all the wheat for one month then how much will you have to pay to sell it in the future? Now, the price of the future will have to be accounted for along with your cost of carry. So, we are saying that suppose if your cost of carry is 10 cents per bushel then the price of your future will be 2 dollars and the cost of carry is 10 cents. The F will be bigger than that only then the distributor will decide to store the wheat and wait for another one month and get into the short position or take the short position. But suppose the price of your future you feel that the government will intervene and the price will be less than 2 dollars and the cost of carry will not be recovered then you will never get it to this kind of a transaction you will never think of storing the thing and you will not go into your future contract. So, these are the important things this means that when we have to decide that we have to go into the future contract or store the wheat or sell it on the spot price we have to account for the cost of carry So, we need to look at this particular inequality that we have F as the future price S as the spot price so, the difference between future price and minus spot price if your cost of carry is smaller than this difference only then you will go for the future contract otherwise it is not a good idea and another important thing that we need to understand and remember is that the difference between the future price and the spot price is known as the spread so, spread is your cost of carry always should be smaller than your spread only then the distributor will get into a future contract or will take the short position if the cost of carry is bigger than the spread so, in such context he would never go for the future contract so, there are these important things that are to be taken care of and taken into account when you are deciding to get into the future contract or not


Ladies and gentlemen the president of the United States. Thank you very much. Thank you all very much and Thank you very much George You've been a great governor and this fall you've been a terrific quarterback for the Republican team and I'd like to add a special thank you to seven of the best darn high school bands in America who did yourselves proud now Will you promise me you'll all do America proud and just say no to drugs Well now you just did me proud. I have a special hello to Frank visco David Dryard Jerry Lewis John Paul Stark Tom Halleck and a big American hello to a great patriot and a very funny guy Yaakov smirnoff. I see I've even got some fraternity brothers in the cloud TKE yes It's great to be here in California because you know, there's no place like home as my time draws to a close in Washington people in the White House are always asking me mr. President. Why are you humming that old song? Well, I tell him I just can't get the words out of my mind Yes, when January the 20th rolls around I'm going to be asking every one of you to open up that golden gate because California here I come Thank you, but you know you know I'll feel just fine about leaving Washington Because nobody knows better than I do Just how capable are those two hands? I expect will be taking the wheel come the 20th of January. I Can't think of a man alive today was more prepared take a hold of America's gear shift Rev up America's engine and then downshift into America's future than my good friend and valued colleague George Bush I'm here today though to talk to you about the great Republican ticket from the White House to the State House and Make sure everybody who shares our hopes for the future turns out to vote on November 8th we Need people in the Senate who will work for a thriving economy a strong national defense and the Preservation of our family values and that means re-electing one of America's very best senators California's own Pete Wilson We need people in the house who will work for a strong national defense The Democratic congressman from this area is a man who has bragged openly About opposing more military funding than any congressman in history and he's been in Washington for 24 long liberal years I want to ask you all a question. Is that the kind of thing the good people of San Bernardino believe? I didn't think so No, San Bernardino needs a congressman who will do his constituents credit a man who understands that his country Needs to stand tall and fight for freedom well There's only one guy in this race who will do that and if you'll agree with me He's going to be the next congressman from the 36th district John Paul star Now the liberals are saying they are on our side Well, I remember the last time they were set on our time in 1980 and when that happened all of America told them loud and clear get off our back We've been slashing tax rates and liberating the American economy from the confiscation of the malaise years When we came into office Families everywhere were reeling from tax rates that were draining this nation's initiative but we took the money out of the grasping hands of the Washington bureaucrats and Put it back in the wallets of the people from whom they confiscated it in the first place the working men and women of America Since our expansion began We've created more than 18 million new jobs We reduced the unemployment rate to nearly the lowest it's been in 14 years and today a Greater proportion of what is called our potential workforce That means everybody Male and female from the age of 16 and up Including all students and retirees Yes, a greater proportion of that workforce 62.7% is employed today That's ever more than ever before in the history of the United States Now we didn't do all that know my friends You did it you and every hard-working man and woman in this country But George and Pete and John Paul and every Republican understands is that there's no greater force for change No greater engine for progress than the American people. We just turned you loose and got out of your way We we cleared away the wrecks the liberals left behind Waved the green flag fired the starter pistol and watched you go to the races And oh my what a glorious sight it has been We also went to work on our nation's defenses We're once again respected in the world our armed forces are strong and America is at peace we and our NATO allies stood firm in the face of Soviet missiles Pointing at the hearts blood of Europe and Asia and mr. Gorbachev got the message He did business because he knew we meant business and my friends we still mean business None of our triumphs no not one would have happened if our opponents had had their way There would have been no INF treaty or rollback in Afghanistan or democratic revolutions around the globe They oppose rebuilding our military defenses And even today they want to cancel and eliminate two supercarrier task forces from the navy in fact In fact what they've planned for the navy is so bad that by the time they get through Yes, if well Michael may have to row the boat ashore Yes If they did half of what they threatened to do to our defenses, we'd all be in the tank Just just listen to what they said no to They opposed the liberation of granada They opposed the blow we struck against terrorist libya They oppose our policy of helping freedom fighters advance the cause of liberty around the world Well, george bush and i did all these things and i tell you proudly right now We'd both do every single one of them over again Of all the changes we've made The one i may be happiest about is this Our young men and women are once again proud to wear their country's uniform And because of them Over these past eight years Not one inch on this good earth has fallen to the communists Another area where we differ is our understanding of the constitution We've appointed serious minded judges who respect the constitution and know the meaning of the word punishment Their judicial nominees in the state of massachusetts and in the state of california have been you might say for the birds Now those the kinds of judges we want on the united states supreme court Well, this is very important because unlike the state of california The constitution does not give american citizens the opportunity to vote supreme court justices out of office And i don't think america wants our highest court To look the way the california court did before the people of this great state rose up and said no more no way no how california learned that when judges don't do their jobs right Criminals feel like they can run rampant Well violent crime has fallen significantly in this country since 1981 Because we put criminals on notice Make one false move and the next sound you hear is the clang of the jail cell door slamming shut My friends We believe there are no citizens more precious Than the men and women who guard us our state and local police And george bush and i stand united behind them We must protect them from those vicious killers Now the other fellow opposes the death penalty But as for us We believe with all the conviction we have that a crack dealer with a machine gun Who murders a police officer in the line of duty should receive the death sentence now Now our opponents have just said they're in the tradition of f dr. Franklin down on a roosevelt jfk And harry truman But the truth is they're so far out in left field Even kirk gibson couldn't hit a ball that deep Folks george's opponent is no harry truman and he's no f dr Yes, ladies and gentlemen when our liberal friends run from their own agenda They're just acknowledging that where they want to take america america doesn't want to go Cause us as huckle fairy barry finn might have said we bit we've been there already Now i promise i promise you we won't take you back there and i warn you they will All that we've achieved everything can be undone faster than you can say pledge of allegiance if our liberal friends are successful Remember how my successor in here in california Undid so many of our accomplishments before george duke majin wrote him out on a rail We don't want that to happen again this year And remember what happened after the 1980 census when a democratic congressman redesigned california And thwarted the will of the people by gary mandering the state into a map that looked like a piece of shattered glass We actually had more Voting votes for republican congressman than they had but they invented they They elected more democratic congressmen because of the way they have divided up this state in their gary mandering We don't want that to happen again this year And that means voting for a great slate of republican candidates at the state and local levels Like paul woodruff and bill lennard david masters and brian caroll We've got to do all we can to get our message out We must guard against complacency and overconfidence This election isn't over yet not by a long shot And as winston churchill once said we must wage war until victory is won Remember it takes the president and congress working together to move america forward So if we have to ride two horses at once Shouldn't they both be headed in the same direction? Well now let me take a little opinion poll of my own Will you make sure to turn out for the republican ticket on november 8? Will you give our next president the senate he needs by voting for pete wilson on november 8? Will you give the next president the congress he needs? And the congressman you deserve by casting your ballot for john paul stark on november 8? Will you vote to reelect david drier and jerry lewis on november 8? And will you give california a bright future of economic opportunity and family values by voting for bill lennard paul woodruff david masters and brian caroll You just made my day ladies and gentlemen america needs the strength The vision and the true grit of george bush and pete wilson And with your help and god's grace We'll all have caused a cheer just one week from today As we head into the final lap it's time to push the pedal to the metal and shift into overdrive You know some people are saying it's time for a change Well ladies and gentlemen We are the change the change began eight years ago You made my day again so now Now my fellow californians I want to ask you to do me one small favor Will you go out there and Win one for the gipper Thank you all very much and god bless you all I started my career here 30 years ago right here at the orange show stadium mr. President Mr. President I'd like to think of it as you being in a long tough race for the past eight years And it's come time for you to make a pit stop And turn the car over to vice president george bush And george bush will go on to Win the race and the checkered flag And become the next president of the united states And I'd like to give you mr. President Your checkered flag And god bless


they're not able to join tonight. So thank you so much for inviting me to speak with you all tonight. This idea came about when Karen and I were on a little backpack excursion up in Baxter State Park and I was telling her a little bit about this program and she said geez I think maybe that would be a good one for our main master naturalists folks to hear about. So what I'm going to talk about is our forestry for main birds program at Maine Audubon. We started this in about 2013 and it's just been growing exponentially since then and it's really about how to work with landowners, foresters, and and loggers on how to manage your woodlands in a way that benefits not just trees but birds and other wildlife. So I'm not getting it to go forward. Let's see. There we go. Well so why birds? You know we picked birds. I'm sure some of you are birders in the group and others of you may be more interested in other kinds of natural history items but bird we know from surveys that have been done of woodland owners across the country that birds matter to landowners and they are easy you know they're bright, they're colorful, they're cheerful with their songs, they are relatively easy to see and find compared with lots of other wildlife that might be slinking around through the woodlands and in addition to that you know they can be surrogates for other wildlife, efficient wildlife that use the forest. So in addition to you know if you manage your woodland to benefit different kinds of birds then you also benefit all kinds of other wildlife, fish, water quality, and provide opportunities for people to recreate including hunting and fishing if you are interested in that sort of thing. And another reason why we've focused in on birds is because we know based in particular based on some recent studies that have been done that birds are really struggling. So there was an excellent overview on this topic done in 2019 by the National Association of Bird Conservation Initiative in Canada where they put out this State of the Canada's Birds report and then National Audubon also that same year released a study called 389 bird species on the brink which looked specifically at how climate change might be affecting birds. And so in the State of Canada's Birds report this is a great graph that sort of illustrates what they discovered after looking at data over a long period of time since 1970 based on about 13 or 14 different data sets including the breeding bird survey that are done nationally every year. And so you can see that that many species have seen a dramatic decline, are seen a dramatic decline since the 1970s. The only ones that are really doing better are our waterfowl and our raptors. And really that's because in the case of the waterfowl there's been so much emphasis placed on trying to find and protect their breeding habitat. Ducks Unlimited has been really involved in that effort and then for the raptors that increase is largely due to the ban on DDT. But everything else is either somewhat stable or slightly declining or substantially declining. And forest birds are one of those groups that is slowly declining. Another study, similar study, was done released in the Journal of Science last year that also looked at the changes in bird populations and they're able to document that those declines that you just saw in that previous slide amount to a loss of almost three billion birds since 1970. And so what does that that look like? You know we've seen just steady decline across many different species groups, some more so than others.  Our most dramatic declines have been seen in our grassland birds and in shorebirds but we also are seeing significant declines in our boreal forest birds, a number of which nest and breed in northern Maine in addition to much of Canada and then in our eastern forest birds. So anywhere from 17% less or fewer to 53% fewer birds since the 1978. That's a big decline. You know I've talked to some old timers here who started birding when they were young and they tell me over and over again how there just aren't as many birds out there as there used to be. Not as many species, not as many individuals of those species. Here's one example of the Canada Warbler. This is sort of a poster child of a species that has seen this dramatic decline and you can see on the graphic in the upper right the areas that are sort of that brownish color, tannish color are areas where they're decreasing. So they're decreasing across much of their range, not the entire range but across most of the range and that's really concerning. So National Audubon also did this big study where they looked at all this data, habitat data and what kinds of different habitats, different species key into and if the climate is going to warm under different scenarios, what does that look like for our different birds and what they've found for the Atlantic flyway is that under a warming scenario of two degrees Celsius we've got about 18 species that are highly vulnerable, 88 that are moderately vulnerable and 60 that are low vulnerable. And so what does that look like? Well here's one example for the woodthrush. We know that woodthrush, excuse me, are already struggling. Their populations have declined quite a bit but the map on the left here shows what the current range is and the map in the middle is what it might look like with a 1.5 degree increase by the year 2080 which sounds like a really long time away but it's not as long as we think. And so you can see the red areas are where their population are going to be declining. The blue areas are places where they're going to be expanding and by under a even higher warming scenario you'll see that much of the east is lost basically as a viable range for woodthrush. Maine is doing okay, you know there still be here but there may be fewer of them and then they'll be expanding up into the Maritimes and southern Quebec. So let's take a little bit closer look at what those studies have shown for our forest birds. As you saw earlier 17 percent decline and but that decline is across 64 percent of all species. So it's not limited just to a few. The majority of our species are showing significant decline and if you want to think about how many birds we're talking about we're talking about 167 million birds. Under the boreal bird forest birds it gets even worse 33 percent decline overall over 50 percent 50 percent of all species showing decline and a loss of 501 million birds. So another way to think about this is that nearly one in four of all of our eastern forest birds and one in three of all of our boreal forest birds that used to be here in 1970 are no longer with us. So they're not we're not seeing them in our woods anymore. So we came up at well Vermont started a program a number of years ago called Foresters for the Birds and we learned about this project and decided hey we should bring this to Maine and so you know why Maine why Vermont what you're seeing on this slide is a map of the breeding bird survey routes that are run by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. These are the routes that have been run since 1970 and the dark red colors show that we see more forest birds on our routes than almost anywhere else in the country other than the upper Midwest of northern Michigan and Wisconsin and Minnesota. So you know this is where forest birds live and another example of that is here's a map showing that National Audubon put together that shows where are the last remaining blocks of forest habitat and you'll see what jumps right out at you right that that big block of forest in Maine. It's the last best place that we have for these forest birds and these birds travel from far away to come back to Maine every year to breed. It's a long perilous journey they have to fly both ways in any given year. Why do they do that? Because we have over 17 million acres of forest land here it's full of diverse types of forest and different age forests there's lots of trees and places for them to nest. We also have abundant insects and I'm not talking about black flies and mosquitoes although we have put the of those I'm really talking about our caterpillars. The adults will feed their young caterpillars that they're kind of like protein pills and we have really long days which means that they have a lot of hours during the day in which to collect those caterpillars bring them back to their young feed their young to the tune of sometimes they can actually produce two or three clutches in one season. So this area is so important to our eastern forest birds that we have over 90 different species of birds that nest in our forests and it has been designated as a globally important bird area by National Audubon. You can see there really aren't that many places that are that reach that level of significance and it's the largest area in all of the United States that is designated as a globally significant bird important bird area. These are areas where there are either concentrations of a lot of individuals of one or two species or places where there are lots of different species with lots of different individuals of those species which is the case here in our forests. So forestry for main birds is really designed as I mentioned earlier to work with forest land owners and managers to help create great breeding habitat for these birds and it's a collaboration between Main Audubon, the Main Forest Service, the Main Department of Inland Fisheries Wildlife, and the Forest Stewards Guild. And this is kind of the little picture of what the forest means to our birds. As you can see here different species use different types of forest and different parts of the forest. Some like to be in the tops of the trees, some like to be down near the ground, some like to be near water, some need dead snags. And so you can pack if you have lots of different types of forest and lots of different features within that forest then you can pack a lot of different species and a lot of different individuals of each species into the forest. And you can see a schematic over there on the right with different migratory pathways for different species. We have our short distance migrants, yellow that points out for something like a woodcock, our medium distance for something like a scarlet tannager, and then these really long migratory pathways for blackpaw warblers. And one of the most amazing things about blackpaw warblers is that while you can see two different pathways going north, they breed in northern Maine and then they breed mostly up in Canada and up into Alaska. But in the fall they all come back to Maine and then jump off the coast on their way down to South America. It's an 1800 mile flight and sometimes takes them something like 48 hours to not stop to get there. So these are tough birds but they need our help. So what we did is we identified 20 different species that are representative of a whole suite of other species that use different types of habitats and different features within the forest. And this is our little collection here of the 20 different species. And what we've done is we've created a series of guidebooks that talks about the habitat needs of each of these different species and then how you can sort of help create the habitat that they need. So we put together a guide for woodland owners, for loggers, for foresters, and then we have these fun little bird and habitat trading cards that you can put on a key ring and carry carry into the woods with you for quick reference. And this is what a page from the forester's guide looks like. The forester's guide is the most technical guide. The other ones have are sort of derived from that first one. But for each species we've got a picture, identification, the forest conditions they like, and then this nice little schematic that shows the type of habitat that they prefer. On the side of each page it'll tell you which type, which of the four major forest types they like. This is oak pine, northern hardwood, northern mixedwood, or northern softwood, and then whether they like young, intermediate, or old forests, ages the best. And so I'm going to show you just some of the species that we have identified as our priority bird species. Most of these species have risen to the level of being a priority species because either their populations are showing significant decline, a large percentage of their global population breeds here in the northeast, or they are uniquely found in northern Maine, particularly for arboreal bird species, and you just don't see them very many other places in the U.S. So for our northern softwood species we've got things like the bay breasted warbler, which keys in and let's tell you a little fun fact about each of these species. I'm not going to go into great detail, but bay breasted warblers are one of those species that cues into the spruce bud worm. And when you see an elevation in the number of spruce bud worm, like we're seeing up in Quebec lakes right now, then these birds along with Cape Maine warblers and Blackpool warblers and Tennessee warblers, their population just explodes. And last summer I happened to be up in the Gas Bay Peninsula in Quebec and they were everywhere because they are having an outbreak of spruce bud worms. So these birds actually respond to that outbreak and then they help keep that outbreak in control. Our black-throated green warblers, you typically find in some sort of hemlock stand or other softwood stand, midway in the canopy. Blackback woodpeckers are really tied to these older trees with flaky bark on them because they go after the insects underneath that flaky bark. Perula warblers, you often see at the tops of tall softwood trees, but they really you'll only find them where they have the Spanish moss or old man's beard moss hanging down because that's what they used to make their nest with. Boreal chickadees are very much tied in with our softwood stands, typically kind of a middle-aged sort of stand. And then in some of the gap openings you might find all-of-sided fly catchers. And then when we switch to northern mixedwood, so this would be part softwood part hardwood species. Blackburnian warblers love to be way up at the very tops of those trees high, singing high, high up in the tops of the trees. When that sunlight hits that orange breast, man, it just wants to knock you over. And then coming down from the tops of the forest to the middle of the forest or lower, the Magnolia warblers really like dense stands of softwoods. I've seen them most often, honestly, in bogs where you have these stunted growth of hemlock and spruce and fur, and they like to hide right in those, but you also find them in regenerating stands or young stands of softwoods, excuse me, that are coming back up after harvest. And then something like Blackthroatia blue warbler likes to be down near the lower part of the forest in what's called hobble bush in particular. They like to nest and hang out in the hobble bush. And Canada warblers are found in really dense shrubby areas right near water, very low, they nest right on the ground. And then our yellow-bellied sap suckers, of course, are very tied in with dead or decaying trees, where they drill these little holes, sap runs out in those holes, and they will go after either the sap or the insects that are attracted to the sap. And then we are moving to our northern hardwood species.  And the eastern wood peeweed, this is another species that is found in small gap openings in the forest. Veeries, which are one of our many thrushes, along with our hermitthrush and our woodthrush and robins. And veeries are often found in the sort of mid-story area, the middle part of the forest, but they like to hang out on the ground where they are kicking aside leaves, picking up insects from the moist soil, and they are often found near water. And then chestnut-sided warglers are one of those species that really likes young forest that is growing back up after a bunch of other trees have fallen over and opened up a gap within the forest. And then finally, down here in southern Maine, where we have oak pine forest, the dominant type of forest, we see our woodthrush and hermitthrush, but this woodthrush, scarlet tannagers love to be, they love really big, old oak trees. They often are singing from the very tops of those oak trees. Flickers are sort of our common woodpecker in the oak pine forest. And although you often see them in open areas on lawns or cemeteries or something like that, they need forest to nest in because that's our cavity nesters. So they need those decaying standing trees. And then oven birds are really only found where you have a good thick leaf litter layer because they use that to create a nest that looks just like an oven with a side opening on the forest floor. So as you can see, we have different species that are using different types of forest and different places within the forest. So what we try to do with our Forcing for Main Birds program is go out into a stand or on somebody's property and do what we call a quick habitat assessment. All you need for that are six fingers, six or 10. You can use somewhere between. And so this was a workshop that we did where we have a number of different folks that are learning how to do this quick habitat assessment. Well, what are they looking for? And what are we looking for with that assessment? You want to look for canopy trees where you might find a scarlet tanager. Do we have any big tall canopy trees? Looking for some canopy gaps where you might find that eastern wood peewee. We're looking for a dense mid-story where something like the wood thrush would be flying around and calling. We're looking for snags and cavity trees for our yellow-bellied sap-suckers. We're looking for a dense understory. Where's the hobble bush? There really isn't any in this picture here, right, for the black-throated blue-wormler. And then what's on the ground? Do we have some leaves leaf litter on the ground for oven birds? Do we have some dead wood that can be used by roughed grouse and other species that are dependent on that downwood material? So let's take another quick look at this. For the habitat assessment, as I said, we've got 10 fingers that we can use. Each finger sort of represents a different feature within the forest that we're looking for. It's a great way to kind of remember what's important from the bird's perspective and what do you see as you're looking around. So we're looking for the gap openings. Is there an overstory, mid-story, an understory layer? Is there water nearby? Is there any leaf litter? You're not going to get leaf litter in a soft wood stand, but in a hardwood stand or in a mixed hardwood softwood stand, that's important. Is there fine woody material? Like these tree tops here are coarse woody material, which would be these big logs down on the ground. Are there dead stags or decaying trees where our woodpeckers can nest? And then do we have any big, really big, old trees? So it's, and we have a more technical form that you can fill out and we provide that to foresters and others who really want a more quantitative approach towards identifying the habitat values that are present and values that you might want to create over time. But the quick habitat assessment is what we use for most landowners and interested folks like yourselves. So again, the first thing we're looking for is the forest type age and tree size. Oak pine, northern softwood, northern hardwood, mixed wood. And then next we're looking for different vegetation layers. And we have three different layers that we focus in on. The overstory, which is over 30 feet high. The mid-story, which is six to 30 feet high. And then the understory, which is zero to six feet high. And as you can see by this schematic, different species, again, cue into each of those different layers. And some need a lot of vegetation in all three layers, or you just won't find them there, even though they might spend most of their time in either the overstory or the mid-story, for example.  And essentially, the bigger the better and the more the better. So, piliated woodpeckers, for example, need a snag that's at least over 14-inch diameter at breast height. And if you don't have big old snags like that, you're not going to have piliated woodpeckers. Some of our smaller species that are cavity nesters like chickadees don't need quite as big a snag. And then down woody material is really important for a variety of reasons. Rough grouse will drum on those hollow logs. That's how they flap their wings and they create this sound that reverberates through the logs when they're trying to attract their mate. But things like fissure and marten and squirrels all use down woody material to move through the forest as well. And they are hunting often in these areas because they might find small mammals or amphibians and reptiles underneath those logs. And then I don't have a picture but the collection of fine woody material, sort of tree tops, branches that are piled, are also really valuable for many of our forest birds because they'll hide in there from predators or they will be searched in those areas. And then, as I mentioned, the leaf litter can be really important for some species like this oven bird. Isn't that just an amazing little picture there coming on the side that's right down on the ground? And in some cases, in some places mostly outside of Maine, we're starting to see now places where the leaf litter has been completely eaten away by non-native earthworms. Well, all of our earthworms are non-native but they've gotten so abundant they become so abundant that they've stripped the ground cover away. So one of the things that we also encourage people to look for are signs of invasives whether it be on the ground or up in the trees. We have beetles, emerald ash borer beetles. We have hemlock woolly adelgid that's coming into our forest that are potential threats to the livelihood of some of our tree species. This is our little spruce budworm caterpillar that I mentioned earlier that Kate Manywar was queuing on. They are native but they have this boom and bust cycle so they about every 40 years or so they will explode. So the bottom line that we're trying to encourage folks to try to do to help our birds here in Maine is to promote diverse mature forest stands. And these are stands that have lots of vegetation in the overstory, the mid-story, and the understory. They have small gaps that mimic natural disturbance because the natural disturbance in Maine was largely from big old trees that would die and fall over or a windstorm that would come through and knock out a small patch of trees. And so what we suggest is if you're going to create these small gaps, keep them under two acres anywhere from a tenth of an acre to two acres. We're not talking about clear cuts here. There are some species that will use and actually prefer really young forests but there's a lot more young forests in Maine than old forests. So we're trying to promote this these mature forest stands. We know we need dead standing trees and dead down trees in the forest to have a full complement of species and you usually don't get those until you've had an older forest where the trees have been allowed to grow old enough and long enough where they actually have natural are dying naturally and then falling over. And then you know paying special attention to streams and other water bodies and how to protect the forest alongside those water bodies is really important as well. And in some cases we we don't have a lot of really mature forest or late successional stands in Maine but where you do have them it's really important to save these what we're calling legacy trees. In addition to the wildlife habitat value they also are excellence at storing carbon and also when you have a more mature diverse forest with different species, different ages, different types then it is more likely to be resilient in the face of a changing climate. So from a landscape perspective you know different different landowners have more or less ability to really manage and and create the kind of habitat we might like for our birds depending on the size of their property and the what's happening around them but on a larger scale landscape scale goal what we're really trying to encourage is more of this mature older and mature forest on the landscape. Historically that is pre-settlement Maine's landscape was somewhere around 80 to 85 percent in mature forest stand these are stands that would be over really over 150 years old. Today our older and mature forest stands together take up somewhere between two to four percent of the landscape of Maine. So we have very few we have lots we have a lot of this intermediate age particularly in the southern half of the state and then in the far northern part of the state where there's been pretty extensive harvest activity on commercial lands there's a lot of young forest and so we'd like to see a better balance between these different age forests and we'd like to see more older and mature forest because that's where the you're going to find more birds and the other thing we're encouraging is to protect and connect diverse landscapes so we know that the more biogeographically diverse the landscape is the more likely we are to see that persist over time even as the climate is changing so where we have mountains and valleys and lakes rivers wetlands and all of those are connected using what we're calling stream smart connections that are large enough so that the stream can really behave the way it wants to at different water levels and both aquatic fish and other animals can move up and down the stream and some of our semi terrestrial terrestrial animals can also move along the side we know that's really really important for the long-term sustainability of our forests and our forest wildlife birds and other species as well so that's a quick introduction to our forestry for Maine birds program and our forest birds that we're keen into I for more information I would encourage you to go to our website if you're interested we have tons of information we have the three different guidebooks I mentioned we have more graphic illustrations that are on the website we have a virtual folder with a lot more information in it this is emblematic of the folders we give people during workshops out in the field we have additional resources for both landowners and foresters we have them the habitat assessment forms you can use if you want to go out and do your handy assessment we have trading cards that you can print out and cut up and take out with you in the field and we have a whole suite of videos that we've just created this past spring and fall since we couldn't do live workshops we wanted to try to recreate that through a series of videos and we have some webinars that are recorded there too but um so I think that's it and I would be very happy to answer any questions at this time so let me stop sharing my screen awesome Sally that was great tons of good info um I have a quick question have you been um I know you've you've given this talk and kind of gotten smaller landowners and smaller smaller forestry concerns going with this have you been have you reached out to or have you connected with any of the larger forestry some of the industrial you know paper companies and stuff about we have we've actually when we first started doing workshops for this program we targeted for professional foresters both consulting foresters and foresters that were working for the larger landowners and a lot of those folks came and they were really interested in the program but I'll tell you a couple of them said right out front to me well yeah this this looks really great but you know that managing for mature forest characteristics that should probably happen on public lands or other private conservation lands that's that's that's not really our thing so I think that you know that's a big challenge for us because obviously there's a lot of acreage forest acreage that is tied up in those lands however there's there's a lot that I mean a private small private landowners own a lot of forestland in Maine as well and we have gotten good response from a lot of we've been working particularly with smaller landowners in western Maine and then also in the Kennebec region in fact if any of you are woodland owners and you live in either of those areas we we have funding available to help you put together what we're calling bird and wildlife friendly management plans and then get funding to actually implement strategies that can help create these structural features we're we're pushing for and the other great thing is that the I didn't mention this but in our partnership with the the Maine Forest Service all of the district foresters and I think there's about nine of them now seven and nine of them have been through our training and when they go out and talk to wood woodland owners they will bring this information with them they will provide it to landowners they will say hey you know if you're interested in birds or if you're interested in wildlife here's this program that we'd like like you to know about and they have told us that because of this program forestry for Maine birds they're starting to see land owners reach out to them that never ever would have reached out to them before well because of the birds because they see the connection awesome got a question coming in how many acres and how many acres comprised of in private uh sorry how many acres comprised of private woodland yeah so we we work with people who have at least 10 acres and you know the more the better one of the things I didn't mention is that some of our bird species that we're targeting are what are called interior forest nesting birds so they like a forest that's at least 250 acres and woodthrush for example you you find more individuals per acre and you find more uh success when they are not only have that 250 acres of forest but when that forest is in another block of forest land that's around 2,500 acres so one of the things that I that we like to encourage people to think about is what does your woodland look like and what are the surrounding neighbors lands look like as well so for example if you are the only one with young forest around then maybe you want to keep it in young forest so you provide some different habitat in the area but more often than not you know it's the older forest is what's missing and so can you work together with your neighbors we have we have in several situations we have neighbors that know each other that have come together and said hey we'd like to put together a management plan for these areas together and sometimes that can be you know 500 acres between two people and we you know I'm not the forester I'm the wildlife biologist so I would I depend on our forestry partners to help figure out well if there's not very much mid-story what do we do to get that and based on what your forest looks like now and we want to create more mid-story what is it that we would have to do to get that 10 20 30 years from now and it's been fun with some of the foresters when I after we've done work typically we'll do a workshop that is combines a presentation like this followed by two to three four hours out in the field and we'll go to different stands we'll do the habitat assessments we'll take a look at what's here now what would we like to see what's missing what would we like to see how do we get there and I so many times I've had foresters say things like you know I will never look at the forest the same way because they're typically are trained to think about the timber values or the pulp values they're not trained to see the whole forest they're not they they have no idea I've had people say to me geez I had no idea I just thought there were a bunch of warmers out here I know I had no idea there were all these other types of birds out here or I had no idea they use different parts of the forest so it's really eye-opening for people birds are great for that eye-opening yeah yeah what's going on it gets them to think about and look at different parts of the forest yep another question Mary Grace asks is it valuable having foresters visit property that is 15 acres and is not intimately connected to another stand sure because there's still things you can probably do with that 15 acre parcel and the district foresters I encourage anybody who's interested to call up your district forester you can find their names right on the main forest service website and ask them to come out and visit that's what they that's what their job is to go out and visit with people and do a walk and talk and they can help you identify what your goals for the property might be and then how to accomplish those goals it's it's all about what do you want to do with your land and how can I help you get there if you decide you want to do any kind of harvesting then they would steer you towards working with a consulting forester because they don't actually do that they're not the ones that put together the forest management plan or that oversee a harvest working with a logger and that sort of thing but they they're a great first contact person and then can steer you to the next step whatever that might be got a request to repeat the area as you mentioned where funding is available western Maine stretching from about the New Hampshire border lakes country just close to Bridgeston up towards Moosehead Lake and then also the lower Kennebec watershed so most of that Kennebec watershed and there's more information on our website you can go there there's actually maps there that will show which towns are within each of those two areas where we have funding available all right Lynn asks do you recommend planting specific species in specific locations as part of your plans and and in specific numbers of trees Maine is a little bit unusual in that there's not very much tree planting that happens in our forest management profession it's it's more like okay i got a bunch of i got a bunch of spindly trees here and then i have another really nice looking oak here maybe i will cut a few of these spindly trees and leave the good oak so it can grow bigger and and have a larger crown in it so that the scarlet tanagers will come and then it'll also open up some more sunlight to get on the forest floor and that means that naturally seedlings will start growing so there may be more oak trees there there may be some white pine that gets started and so it's it's what we call what the foresters call natural regeneration is there's not so much planting and Maine is it's not like in the southeast where there almost everything down there is planted here foresters depend more on natural regeneration you could still plant you know there are there are places where that is is an option but it's not the typical approach let's see i think questions are over can i ask a question oh yeah i didn't notice um so the the percentage of population decline in the western forests in the boreal forest are a lot larger than the percentage decline in the eastern forest are there specific practices or um or differences between those regions that are leading to that difference uh i don't really know the answer to that question uh do you know what the percentage for for the western forest uh it was something i think the eastern was a 17 percent decline whereas the western was 33 and boreal was maybe even a little more than that i mean i'm i'm gonna take a guess here but i'm first of all they're they don't have nearly as many different species out there as what we have here but also you know a lot of those western forests particularly more recently have been hit hard by things like the bark beetle and and just habitat alteration because there's so much development out there and fewer larger tracks of forests so that's that's a guess on my part but i don't really know thank you yeah um i'd like to ask a question as well sally we seem to have the eruption of the pine siscans and the evening growth speaks and red poles already is there any reason for that that you would tell us about um michael do you want to take a stab at that you were just talking about gross speaks um let's see i think i i didn't do the reading up on this so i don't have an educated an educated guess i'm guessing it's a food resource thing where there's more food south and they're sort of following the food and or there's been a bumper crop of nestlings this year and they're all traveling down but i don't really know if you're gonna help me out with that yeah you know with with the eastern gross speaks they are definitely one of those species that responds to big cone years like if there's a if there's a year when there's been abundant cones and not associated with the cones then they they will their population will expand and then they'll start moving around they're very nomadic so they will move different places to try to figure out where that newest crop is um with pine siscans and red poles it's probably more of a maybe maybe there was a big year maybe it was a good year for them reproductive wise up north and now they're moving south with the weather and they're just looking for food awesome sally can you talk a little bit about um i was actually uh there was a offering from uh someone in kentucky uh looking for white oak acorns this year and i have white oaks and i have red oaks and i offered her my white oak acorns and i have not had a one can you talk about um mast ears and how that affects you you didn't have any white acorns no wow how are your red oak acorns doing oh a gazillion yes um so the crazy thing about yeah mast is super mast like a we like acorns like beach nuts are really important for a wide variety of wildlife species we've had three big years of red oak acorns in a row which is highly unusual and because they but you know you probably heard some of the information that's come out in the last few years about how trees talk to each other a lot more than we ever knew that they talk to each other so they coordinate uh all producing a big crop the same year and with oaks it's often of either a four to six seven year cycle and so it's we've had these unusual back-to-back years where they've been producing a lot this year i heard that i read that it was probably because of the drought so the oaks are feeling very stressed and so they're producing lots of acorns to and dropping their leaves earlier because they want to get ahead they think trouble is coming so they want to get their seeds out there while they can but the reason that they coordinate and they all produce the acorns at the same time or the beach at the same time is so that there are so many out there at least some of them have a good chance of reproducing instead of being eaten by chipmunks and squirrels and jays and whatever and the deer and the turkeys everybody else who loves acorns does that get at your question yeah i'm just so disappointed because i really wanted to help this person who's yeah i don't know why i don't know why the white oaks would be different and uh and another on the same property we have all these beach trees none of which are very big they're all horrible they're all cankered um but this year for the first time in several years they've there's been a great production of beach nuts uh-huh again uh you know maybe it's related to the drought too i don't know anyway but the the beach yeah the beach are so um so many of our beach are diseased it's it's lucky if they get big enough to produce a good crop right well anyway so and and i guess um since no one else is raising their hand i have um this forest that we have um is small maybe 15 acres total and um there are a lot of terrible beach and saplings the biggest trees are the hemlocks really the biggest trees the hemlocks and the oaks um and you sort of addressed this earlier about thinning out the the skinny little trees so that um you know that's a lot of skinny little trees and uh i guess we could go in there with uh a chainsaw and just drop them and you know get them out of do you think that's worth it um i guess maybe the far having the forester come in would be a way to assess that yeah having a district forester come by would be great and yeah i think that um the best thing the best way to think about it is which trees do you want to keep as opposed to which trees do you want to get rid of and the foresters are often thinking about what which ones do i want to take which ones right now have the best economic value do i want to take out and really long term you want to be thinking about which ones do i want to leave so they're going to grow better and be here for a longer period of time so then you then that will determine what you want to do with those saplings and if you just left them and did nothing eventually they would thin out some of them would thin out and die over time but they can be then your nice oaks and hemlocks may not get as big as they might otherwise if you give them a little more space and light and air jane typed in one question i want to bounce off you um the area of main that you identified is important to bird populations is also the area that the n e c e c transmission lines will be bisecting what effect do you think this will have on bird populations well most of the literature says that bird most most of our birds don't see something like a transmission line as a barrier for their movement so they can move from one side to the other but having i mean obviously first and foremost it will destroy habitat secondly you have um you have fragmented the habitat so as i mentioned some unknown quite a few of our forest bird species are what we call forest interior birds so they don't like those openings they and and often those openings are where we see more predators that will access the forest so you tend to get more that more red squirrels more blue jays more of those predators that will come in and either eat the eggs and or the chicks out of the nest so you sometimes see lower productivity even if the birds are there and they're trying to nest they may not be as successful well i think anybody else have any other questions one just came in on the chat michael yeah this this this is a bird question all right all right so yesterday morning we heard squirrels one shrieked shortly thereafter there were three mature eagles flying through a very low understory in our adjacent woodland wow three mature eagles and overhead much higher up there were two soaring are they i didn't think they migrated much and i why are we see them all summer different ages and but why three mature eagles flying through at the same time obviously looking for something and then another two sort of flying north up or soaring i was i've never seen five eagles um eagles do migrate sally's gonna correct me but they do um they're they're local birds and they're migratory birds and they're right now the adults and the young are kind of moving around looking for food resources that maybe they weren't using during the summer before they all end up either at the dump or somewhere else regular yeah where there's a regular uh ice fishing spot or or something um seeing eagles fly through the canopy i have never seen that before yeah it was it was three where they're like down low that's pretty crazy they must have been there must have been either hunting squirrels or there was something in there they were interested in yeah well they've been hanging they hang around all summer they've taken loon chicks and done terrible things in my estimation but um we've seen a lot and but this is the first time i've seen them fly that low in through the forest actually or through the woods it's not a forest so much yeah that is definitely not typical yeah um chuck didsmore just has a has a comment that i'll read another overarching issue the climate crisis needs consideration closed canopy mitigation closed canopy mitigates forest floor warming thinning of the canopy may not be in the best interest of flooding fighting climate warming recent study of multi county research published in science science so this is a comment about climate change yes so we know that older more structurally complex forests store more carbon long term and are better for the soil soil also stores a lot of carbon a lot of carbon is stored underground in addition to this the carbon that's stored above ground so i mean i wasn't suggesting that you go and then cut all these trees down just just trying to to create a more structurally complex and diverse forest over time which may because we're starting in many cases with forests that are not like that sometimes you can help boost them along the trajectory towards an older forest faster by doing a little cutting then by just leaving them alone so much of our forest in Maine is this intermediate age forest which isn't really great for the birds and other wildlife that like young forest and they're really not that great for most of our birds that have evolved in older more structurally complex forests so that's what i was trying trying to get at and we've also heard research recently that riparian areas those areas there's been research recently about those areas along waterways that are also great for carbon storage and those are places where keeping the shade over the stream is really important to protect the water temperature for our native brook trout and where the trees can fall into the stream to create different pools and riffles where the find their food and resting places and so yes all for us they're great keep them going awesome um everybody thank you so much for coming it was great thank you sally you were awesome as usual thanks like great information and it's great to know all things Maine Audubon is doing to keep the bird populations going in our state so we're really happy about that um thank you everybody for coming next um second monday of december which i think is the 14th we'll have Karen Bruder talking about tagging and tracking monarch butterflies and raising them from caterpillars so that'll be pretty cool um and she's here somewhere i don't see her but yeah and and everybody have a great night thank you so much and thank you all for being interested and for your volunteer work yep maybe you've already done or yet to come through the main master natural program i'm a huge fan of this program so i appreciate being able to be a part of it just a little part of it all right good night thank you good night