The UConn Forest is vital for teaching, research, and extension work. It also provides wildlife habitat, watershed protection and popular recreational hiking trails. The Department of Natural Resources and the Environment (NRE) manages the forest. 

Proactive management sustains and enhances the many benefits the forest provides. Thomas Worthley is an Associate Extension Professor with joint appointments in Extension and NRE. He uses the forest for his undergraduate and extension education activities. Worthley also helps facilitate research projects. He and the UConn Forest crew, a group of undergraduate students, attend to day-to-day management tasks. 

Forest crew members are all professionally trained on chainsaw use and safety, as well as with other woods-work equipment. They harvest wood from trees lost to damage and disease. Utilizing wood and creating durable products is a way of storing sequestered carbon from these trees. Active forest management retains the environmental benefits and promotes growth of more trees.