The first of our Forestry speaker programs took place on the evening of June 18, 2015, with a solid audience of 30-40 people. The idea grew out of conversations with our foresters and the County Forester about how we could add an educational component to our forest management at the center. We also saw it as a good way to give back to the local community that so graciously shares their land with us during ski season.
With the immense help from Jared Nunery, our Orleans County Forester, we grew the program from a couple speakers into a summer-long series starting in summer 2016, with a theme for each year, and speakers each month from May to October.
Summer 2016: A Sense of Place: Understanding the Black River watershed from the bedrock to the people and everything in between
Summer 2017: The Changing Landscape of the Northern Forest: the past, the present and things to come
Summer 2018: Firewood: a deep dive into the fuel that we all think we know so well.
Summer 2019: Changes in the forests and fields around us – a deep dive into the phenology and ever-changing world of the Black River Watershed.
By the end of summer 2019, we will have held a total of 29 presentations with over 1200 attendees, though we are happy to report that many people come back again and again--so the number of unique participants is smaller.