These
events are sponsored by :
Holyoke Community College,
Eastern Native Tree Society (ENTS),
Friends of Mohawk Trail State Forest (FMTSF)
October
27, 2006
4th Forest Summit Lecture Series at Holyoke Community College
Agenda:
1:00PM – 1:15PM
“Welcome and announcements:”
President of Holyoke Community College and
Professor Gary Beluzo
1:15PM - 2:15PM
“Mapping
in Progress: First Growth Forest in the Catskills and
Adirondacks".
Dr.
Michael Kudish, Professor Emeritus, Paul Smith College
2:1PM – 3:00PM
“400
years of fire and wind in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness,
Minnesota”
Dr.
Lee Frelich, Director of the Center For Hardwood Ecology, University
of Minnesota
3:00PM
– 3:15PM
Break
3:15PM
–4:00PM
“Old-growth
Ecosystems in Western New York and What They Are Teaching Us”
Dr. Thomas Diggins, Associate Professor of Ecology,
Youngstown State University, Ohio
4:00PM-4:30PM
"The
Structure and Dynamics of Old-Growth Forests in Western
Massachusetts."
Tony
D’Amato, Ph.D. candidate, University of Massachusets
4:30PM
– 6:30PM
Dinner
period
6:30PM
– 7:00PM
“Tsuga
Search Project – Saving the Best of the Eastern Hemlock”
Will Blozan, President, Eastern Native Tree Society
7:00PM-7:30PM
'Western
Pennsylvania Big & Tall Tree Reserve Update: Cook Forest,
Anders Run, Lake Erie Gorges'
Dale
Luthringer, Naturalist
and Educational Director, Cook Forest State Park, Pennsylvania
and
Eastern Native Tree Society
7:30PM-7:45PM
Break
7:45PM – 9:00PM
Robinson State Park: Management or Preservation?
"The DCR Management Plan"
Department of Conservation and Recreation
MASS DCR representative (TBA)
"Robinson State Park, Threatened Island of Biological Diversity "
Matt Largess
Arborist/Activist
"Framing The Issues on the Robinson State Park Timber Sale Controversy"
Robert T. Leverett
Excecutive Director, ENTS
9:00PM – 9:30PM
“Wither Goest the Eastern Native Tree Society?”
Edward Frank
Geologist, Webmaster - Eastern Native Tree Society
October
28, 2006
Eastern
Native Tree Society Annual Rendezvous Charlemont, MA
Agenda:
10:00AM – 1:30PM (non-ENTS members must
register)
Tree
Climb and Tree Measuring Workshop
Mohawk
Trail State Forest, Charlemont,
MA
1:30PM – 4:00PM (non-ENTS members must
register)
Walk on the original
Mohawk Trail
4:30PM – 5:15PM (non-ENTS members must
register)
Restoring the Short Leaf Pine Old Growth
Ecosystem
Charlemont Inn, Charlemont, MA
Dr. Don Bragg, Research Forester, U.S.D.A
Forest Service
Southern Research Station, Monticello, AR
5:15PM-7:00PM (non-ENTS members must register)
Dinner, Charlemont Inn
7:00PM-8:00PM (Free and Open to public)
Big Trees of Borneo: A Tropical Experience
Federated Church of Charlemont, Charlemont, MA
Dr. Roman Dial
Professor of Biology, Director, Masters of
Science in Environmental Science Program
8:00PM-9:15PM (Free and Open to public)
Evening of Music, Poetry, and Prose in
Celebration of the Trees
Federated Church of Charlemont, MA
Peter
W. Shea, tenor; Monica Jakuc Leverett, piano.
Music
to include a first performance of a new work by Greenfield composer
Kaeza
Fearn commissioned
especially for the occasion.
Poetry and Prose readings
from
John Muir, Thomas Berry, William Cullen Bryant,
and others.
Readers
include Ed Frank, John Knuerr, and Ellice Gonzalez
General
Notes:
- The
lectures on Oct 27th at Holyoke Community College are
free to the public as a public service of Holyoke Community
College. There is no pre-registration requirement to attend.
- There
is no charge for the Eastern Native Tree Society
Tree-measuring workshop at Mohawk Trail State Forest on Oct
28th, however, there is limited space at the site and the
Charlemont Inn. Non-ENTS members must pre-register to attend
this event. Contact Robert T. Leverett at dbhguru.
This event is appropriate for those who want to learn how to
measure trees using high-tech equipment and trigonometry.
- The
Evening of Music, Poetry, and Prose sponsored by the Eastern
Native Tree Society is free to the public. There is no
pre-registration requirement. The HCC website and the Eastern
Native Tree Society website (www.nativetreesociety.org)
will list the agenda.
- Outside
of key ENTS members, the dinner at the Charlemont Inn is on a
space available basis and requires pre-registration for non-ENTS
members. All attendees will pay for their meal (approximately
$20 per person), which will be a buffet. The menu will be posted
on the websites.
Notes
on Speakers:
Lectures at Holyoke Community College
The line up of speakers for this year’s
combined events of the Forest Summit Lecture Series and ENTS
rendezvous emphasizes our interest in forest ecology, old growth
forest research and preservation, and the search for, and the
documentation and preservation of champion trees and exemplary
forest sites. We believe these topics are of considerable interest
to the public. Our agenda has been established to satisfy the
interest as the following comments explain.
Dr. Michael Kudish is the foremost authority on
old growth in New York’s Catskills. He is the author of a book on
the history of the Catskill forests, “The Catskill Forests – A
History”. Mike is also the author of “Adirondack Upland Flora”
and is one of the top authorities on the old-growth forests of New
York’s Adirondacks. The two Parks have a combined area of
“first-growth forest” approaching or exceeding 600,000 acres.
The only larger area of first-growth forest in the eastern forest
type is Minnesota. Mike’s
presentation will provide those interested in old growth in the
Catskills and Adirondacks with the most current and accurate
assessment of how much there is and where it is. Mike will explain
how the first-growth forests in the two regions differ.
Dr. Lee Frelich is one of the most
distinguished forest ecologists in the United States and the
foremost expert on natural forest disturbance regimes in the forests
of the upper Mid-west. His list of credits is extensive. He is the
author if “Forest Dynamics and Disturbance Regimes”.
Lee is also the Vice President of the Eastern Native Tree Society and on
the board of Friends of Mohawk Trail State Forest. Lee is
often called as an expert witness on subjects that span the spectrum
of forest issues from the potential impact of climate change on
forest composition to what constitutes an old growth ecosystem. In
his latest presentation, Lee will discuss how nature has
“managed” the forests of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness over the past 400 years.
Dr.
Thomas Diggins has gained a reputation as one of the most
knowledgeable forest ecologist on the old-growth forests of western
New York. Over the past
several years, he has been studying a unique old growth ecosystem
within the scenic Zoar Valley and has become the undisputed
authority on the Zoar Valley ecosystem. This old growth gem was
about to slip through the cracks under the not so watch-full eye of
New York’s DEC, which was focused on forest products. Learn from
Tom what we now know about the dynamic forest ecosystem of Zoar
Valley and how it differs from other areas of northeastern old
growth.
Tony D'Amato as the focus of his PhD work has gathered more data on the old-growth forests of
Massachusetts than any previous researcher and continues his studies
of the surviving pockets of old growth. Learn from Tony what we now
know about these first forests of Massachusetts, to include how they
differ from the surrounding re-growth woodlands. Learn from Tony
what he sees as the value of old-growth ecosystems in a small state
like Massachusetts which at one time was between 70 and 80% cleared
of its forest cover.
Will Blozan is the President of the Eastern Native
Tree Society and he is a man with a mission. Tsuga Canadensis, or
the Eastern hemlock, is considered to be a tree of the Northeastern
and upper Mid-western United States. The epicenter of hemlock
development is usually considered to be the six-million Allegheny
Plateau of Pennsylvania, which was once covered by so much hemlock
that the region was called the black forest. However, unknown to all
but a few, the greatest of all the Eastern Hemlocks grow in the
southern Appalachians. Trees over 160 feet tall and 17 feet in girth
grow in temperate rainforest luxuriance. Trunk volumes reach 1,500
cubic feet. However, these greatest of hemlocks are in danger of
being extirpated by the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid. Will Blozan and
associates have been fighting a battle against the clock to both
document the largest, tallest, and oldest of the species and to
treat as many as possible. In cooperation with the Great Smoky
Mountains National Park, he has launched the Tsuga Search Project.
Learn what The Park and the Eastern Native Tree Society (ENTS) are
doing to save the greatest of the Eastern Hemlocks.
Dale Luthringer is the naturalist and
educational director at Cook Forest State Park, PA. For many people,
Cook Forest is the old-growth icon of the Northeast. Dale is also a
key member of ENTS. In his ENTS capacity, he roams the most rugged
parts of the Keystone State hunting, measuring, comparing, and
documenting the most impressive trees in Pennsylvania, using the
most accurate tree-measuring techniques as developed by himself and
his fellow and lady ENTS. Join Dale as he brings us up to date on
his latest Pennsylvania big tree-tall tree discoveries and his
continued documentation of the Northeast’s most charismatic stand
of old growth white pines – the white pines of Cook Forest. Learn
how Dale carefully monitors the growth
of the Northeast’s tallest trees, including the single
tallest tree, the Longfellow Pine at 182.5 feet in height.
Robert T. Leverett is one of the two principal
conceptualizers of the Eastern Native Tree Society. The other is
Will Blozan. Will is the President and Bob is the Executive
Director. Will and Bob were joined by three others, Dr. David Stahle,
the late Michael Perlman, and Dr. Mathew Therrell to co-found ENTS.
ENTS has come a long way since its inception and is now the East’s
premier tree-measuring organization. How did ENTS achieve this
status and why the focus on measuring trees? Where will ENTS go from
here? Who are the present movers and shapers of ENTS? Join Bob as he
discusses ENTS, its mission, its past, and its future. Learn about
some of ENTS’s stellar accomplishments in the evening’s final
presentation.
Lecture
at Charlemont Inn:
Dr. Donald Bragg is a research forester with
the U.S. Forest Service, Southern Research Station, Monticello
Arkansas. He is the
principal editor of the Bulletin of the Eastern Native Tree Society.
Don brings a wealth of experience to the Eastern Native Tree Society
as both forester and forest ecologist. His presentation will cover
the Forest Service’s restoration of the short-leaf pine ecosystem
in western Arkansas and a close look at what works and what
doesn’t.
Lecture at Federated Church of Charlemont, MA
Dr. Roman Dial is a Professor of Biology at
Alaska Pacific University. He holds four degrees,
two in mathematics and two in biology. He is also a noted
rainforest researcher and has spent a lot of time in the canopy of
the tallest of the rainforest giants in Borneo. Roman brings the
unique perspective of a
scientist and daredevil provide views of the rainforest that few
humans will ever get to directly
experience.
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