Ed. Note: Mel Schupack sent me the following notice of an intersting program and hike on Saturday morning, October 22.
READING THE FORESTED LANDSCAPE
A morning with Tom Wessels, author of Reading the Forested Landscape.
Saturday, October 22, 2005
Sponsored by the
Walpole Conservation Commission
8:30 to about 10:00 AM
Presentation and Slides
By Tom Wessels
Location: Fire Station on Main Street, Walpole (opposite R.N. Johnson’s.)
Tom Wessels is the author of Reading the Forested Landscape: A Natural History of New England
&
The Granite Landscape: A Natural History of American Domes from Acadia to Yosemite
Tom is Professor of Ecology and founding director of the Masters Degree Program in Conservation Biology in the Department of Environmental Studies at Antioch New England Graduate School in Keene, NH.
There will be a roughly 1 1/2 to 2 hour field trip following the presentation. This will have to be limited to the first 24 who sign up for the hike (“moderately easy”, half up hill) in the nearby forest around Mill Pond.
Please sign up by contacting Mel Schupack at 603-756-9389 or preferably email<melschupack@aya.yale.edu>
No charge but donations to the Walpole Conservation Commission appreciated.
As Tom wrote: “It is wonderful to know nature through one-on-one encounters with other organisms, but it is perhaps more empowering to gain a fuller understanding of the patterns that have shaped its landscapes. Through some knowledge of history and the broader view of seeing a forest and not just its trees, the pattern of decay in stumps, the construction of stone walls, and the lay of the land, it is possible to unravel complex stories etched into our forested landscape. This process could easily be called forest forensics, since it is quite similar to interpreting a crime scene.”
Tom’s most recently published writing in Untamed Vermont (Thistle Hill Publications) is a collaborative work with photographer Blake Gardner. Tom provides the commentary, which accompanies Gardner’s photographs. Together they explore the extraordinary natural diversity the Green Mountain State offers.
Tom is former Chair and continuing board member of the Robert and Patricia Switzer Foundation, which fosters environmental leadership through graduate fellowships and organizational grants. He has conducted workshops on the natural history of landscapes throughout the United States for more than 25 years. When not traveling or teaching, Tom spends his time with his family in Westminster, Vermont exploring the woods around his home.
