FOREST SUMMIT LECTURE SERIES

4th in the Holyoke Community College Forest Summit Lecture Series and the Annual Rendezvous of Eastern Native Tree Society

 

  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:

  1. 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.
  1. 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. 
  1. 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.
  1. 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.