Complimentary refreshments will be served in the morning.

Dr. Lee E. Frelich. Center for Hardwood Ecology. University of Minnesota.
“Global Change and the Prairie-Forest Border”

Dr. Frelich is one of the foremost forest ecologists studying eastern forest ecosystems. He is cited more often than any other forest ecologist in his area of expertise. He specializes in the forests of the central and upper Midwest, but is also highly knowledgeable about the forests of the Northeast. In addition to his usual areas of research that have concentrated on forest disturbance patterns and systems, he studies the effects of climate change on the forests of the upper Midwest and spearheads research into the impacts of European and Asian earthworms on the forest. Dr. Frelich is also the Vice President of ENTS and on the Board of Directors of Friends of Mohawk Trail State Forest. In this capacity, he has visited Massachusetts many times and can be quoted as an expert areas of old growth in central and western Massachusetts.

Lunch Break

Afternoon Session (1:00 - 4:30pm)
1:00 Vice President Win Lavallee
1:05 Dr. Xin Ran Duan, Dean of SEM
1:10 Prof Gary A. Beluzo, Environmental Science Department

John Davis. Conservation Director. The Adirondack Council.
“Preserving Vital Forested Corridors in Adirondacks of New York”

Among naturalists and environmentalists, John Davis needs no introduction. John has long been a protector of wild lands. John Davis is currently the Conservation Director of the Adirondack Council. He is former editor of Wild Earth Publication and is an indefatigable force in the important and visionary Wildlands Project. John brings a wealth of experience to the arduous challenge of stitching together pieces of the landscape to create wildlife corridors and plant refuges in some of most important, but threatened eastern forests.

Will Blozan. President of ENTS
“Tsuga Search- Location Mapping and Modeling the Greatest Eastern Hemlocks Known”

Will is the cofounder and President of the Eastern Native Tree Society. He a former science technician with the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and currently is president of Appalachian Arborists. Will is one of the principal forest researchers of ENTS 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 to 1,600 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. 

Prof. Gary Beluzo. Department of Environmental Science, HCC.
“Liriodendron: Mapping its Range Limits and Determining its Growth Performance”

Gary Beluzo is a professor of Environmental Science at Holyoke Community College. He was previously the Chair of the Department for 14 years. Gary is the principle resident architect of the HCC Forest Summit Lecture Series. He combines his background in limnology, forest ecology, and global ecology to study natural systems. His concept of the "autopoietic forest" is new to forest ecology and seeks to define forests in terms of their degree of naturalness and ecocomplexity. He is the science advisor to Friends of Mohawk Trail State Forest and a key researcher for the Eastern Native Tree Society. Along with Bob Leverett and David Orwig, Gary is one of the three principal researchers of old growth forests in Massachusetts. Through an NSF Grant in 1996, Professor Beluzo created an Environmental GIS laboratory at HCC and is now developing an extensive geo-database of old growth and exemplary second growth forests for Massachusetts . Beluzo is currently studying the natural history of the tulip tree and mapping its distribution in Massachusetts with colleague Bob Leverett.

Dinner Break


Evening Session (6:30-9:30pm)
6:30 Win Lavallee. Vice President of Academic Affairs, HCC.
6:35 Dr. Xin Ran Duan, Dean of SEM, HCC.
6:40 Prof Gary A. Beluzo, Environmental Science Department, HCC.

Bob Leverett. Executive Director of ENTS
“Forest Health- A Scientific Concept or a Political Issue”

Robert Leverett is a man with many backgrounds. He is a retired Air Force officer Bob Leverett is a man with many backgrounds. He is a retired Air Force officer, the former president of a management consulting firm, a former adjunct professor of computer science at Holyoke Community College and has been an adjunct instructor at other area colleges. He recently retired from a position with Sisters of Providence Health systems where he was a database developer and systems analyst. But Bob is best known for his work in eastern forests. He has been called by Wild Earth Publication the “East’s Leading Old Growth Evangelist” and he has gained a national reputation for his old growth discoveries and research, his documentation of exemplary forest sites, and his organization of the Ancient Eastern Forest Conference Series. He is a cofounder and executive director of the Eastern Native Tree society and Friends of Mohawk Trail State Forest. Bob has co-authored a book entitled “Sierra Club Guide to Ancient Forests of the Northeast. He is one of several ENTS who is developing the discipline of Dendromorphometry – the art and science of measuring trees in the field. Close friends know him as “low-pressure Leverett” a reference to the fact that Bob’s field trips are legendary in terms of scrambling through mountain laurel during the height of black fly season on the most miserable rainy day imaginable….and yet.. he has a staunch following of supporters that appreciate his vision if not his choice of terrain. 

Special Local Focus: Green Certification in Massachusetts. 
Green Certification has become highly contested in some areas of Massachusetts and one of the testing grounds is Robinson State Park in Agawam, MA. Although a park with high biodiversity, rare species, and perhaps the best natural regeneration of tulip trees in the State, the MASS DCR Bureau of Forestry has tried to implement a timber harvest plan for this urban park on a National Wild and Scenic River . Friends of the Robinson State Park seek to preserve this unique forest. 

Should it be designated for Timber Harvesting or a Reserve?

Jim DiMaio. Chief Forester. MASS DCR, Bureau of Forestry
“Why Green Certification is Good for Massachusetts”

In 2003, he began serving as Massachusetts Chief Forester for the Department of Conservation and Recreation. Jim holds a Massachusetts Forester License and is a Society of American Forester Certified Forester. He belongs to the Massachusetts Association of Professional Foresters, Society of American Foresters, Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Association, National Association of State Foresters, and Northeast Area Association of State Foresters. 

Jim has been meeting with the Friends of Robinson State Park group to create a management plan for the Park. Should commerical timber harvesting begin or should the park become a Forest Preserve?


Ehrhard Frost. Forest Stewards Guild.
“Taking a Closer Look at Green Certification: Does it Really Deliver?”

Ehrhard Frost is a graduate of Paul Smith College and a private consulting forester of some 30 years. He is a member of the Forest Stewards Guild. Ehrhard is in every sense of the term an eco-forester who puts ecosystem health above short term profit.

ENTS Rendezvous      Saturday, October 21, 2007

9 am  Meet at Mohawk Trail State Forest Headquarters for tree dedication ceremony.

10 am  Meet at Zoar Gap.

Walk to the Elders Grove, where Will Blozan will climb the Saheda Pine.

2 -5 pm Gary Beluzo will lead a walk in the old growth.  Leave from the Elders Grove.

5:30 pm Meet at the Charlemont Inn for a buffet dinner (reservations for ENTS members have been made.  Others can reserve by calling 413-339-5796 - $23)

7:30 pm  An Evening of Music and Poetry at the Charlemont Inn (donations encouraged to support the Charlemont Inn’s newly acquired piano)

Saturday's agenda will begin at 9:30AM with a dedication to Native Americans who have visited and contributed to Mohawk Trail State Forest. Then Will Blozan will climb and model the Saheda Pine in MTSF. That event will occur from 10:30-1:30PM. At 2:00PM, weather and my toe cooperating, we will take a hike up to the original Indian Trail on the Todd-Clark Ridge. This will be mostly an off trail jaunt. The total altitude gain is about 1,100 feet. After the interpretive hike, we'll gather at the Charlemont Inn for a buffet and concert. The cost will be $23.00 per person. Friends of Mohawk Trail State Forest may be able to help defray costs for those who want to attend, but whose budgets are stretched too thin. No promises. We'll do the best we can. The concert is being organized by Monica as I write this.
Bob