Forestry for Naturalists

RGV BioU Mark

Instructors: Ethan Tapper & Sean Beckett
May 24 - 25, 2025 | $250
Course size: 20 students
Financial support available (contact us)

H

ow can cutting down a tree be a radical act of compassion? This course explores the complex, nuanced, and sometimes contradictory world of ecological forestry. We’ll explore when and how active management techniques like logging can be used to enhance biodiversity, improve forest health, and heal landscapes impacted by centuries of exploitation. And we’ll see when it’s appropriate to let a resilient forest manage itself .

We’ll spend the weekend visiting several sites in the Green Mountains and Champlain Valley managed by Ethan Tapper, and see examples of successful treatments and key concepts in the ecological forester’s toolbox: forest management for habitat diversity, restoring highgraded forests, mimicking old growth conditions, watershed restoration and erosion control, resilient trail and road design, aggressive management of invasive species from deer to beech to barberry, sugarbush management, cultivating the “necrosphere,” and more. Along the way, we’ll examine the ecological dynamics unfolding at each site, from bedrock to botany to birds.

Course Objectives:

  • Visit two field sites post-silvicultural treatment to compare and contrast how different forestry techniques have yielded different ecological outcomes.
  • Examine the most common practices employed by ecological foresters to achieve biodiversity and ecological resilience goals.
  • Discuss how foresters make decisions to account for various opportunities and threats to forest health.
  • Spend quality time immersed in beautiful and diverse landscapes.

Course Goals:

  • Learn to recognize and interpret treatments conducted in actively managed forests, especially those managed for ecological resilience.
  • Understand how wildlife and plant communities respond to different forestry practices in the long term and short term.
  • Become acquainted with the tools and techniques used by ecological foresters.
  • Be able to better understand and evaluate the nuanced goals and tradeoffs involved in forest management.

About the Instructors

Ethan Tapper is a forester, birder, naturalist and digital creator, and the bestselling author of How to Love a Forest. He has been recognized as a thought-leader and a disruptor in the forestry and conservation community of the northeastern United States and beyond, winning multiple regional and national awards for his work. Ethan runs a consulting forestry business – Bear Island Forestry – is a regular contributor to Northern Woodlands magazine and a variety of other publications, and is a digital creator with tens of thousands of followers on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and Facebook. In his personal life, Ethan works, writes, hunts and birds at Bear Island – his 175-acre working forest, homestead, orchard and sugarbush.

Sean Beckett is the Program Director at North Branch Nature Center, where he develops and instructs programs ranging from weekend botany classes to birdwatching trips across the globe. He designed the Winooski Headwaters chapter of the Vermont Master Naturalist Program and teaches nature-based educator institutes. For years, Sean was based in Wyoming as a field ornithologist and wildlife guide in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. He earned his masters degree from UVM's Field Naturalist Program. Follow him on Instagram.

Physical Requirements

Participants must be able to walk 2-3 miles over the course of each day on steep and uneven terrain, often off trail. Participants should be comfortable outside in potentially hot, muggy, wet, and/or buggy conditions for long periods of time. Please reach out to us if you have any questions about mobility and/or other accessibility needs.

Recommended Reading

Meals

Participants should bring their own lunches and snacks. Coffee, tea, and snacks provided on Saturday morning.

Timing

Course begins 9 AM on Saturday at North Branch Nature Center and concludes by 5 in Bolton, Vermont. Course begins on Sunday at a time and location of the instructors' choosing and concludes by 5 PM on Sunday.

Academic Credit / Professional Development

This course may qualify for 1 graduate-level credit for an additional $200 course fee. All BioU courses may be accredited by Castleton University. Participants interested in receiving credit must contact us at one month in advance so we have time to arrange course accreditation.

It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that home institutions will accept the credit. Participants pursuing academic credit will be required to complete an additional assignment above and beyond the course hours, including literature review, reflective writing, or a field-based project.

This course qualifies for 20 hours of professional development hours and continuing education units. Certificates of completion are provided at the conclusion of the course.

Cancellation Policy

While we realize that unexpected circumstances arise that are out of our control, North Branch Nature Center cannot guarantee refunds for registrations cancelled within 30 days of the course.  If a cancellation occurs within this window, NBNC will attempt to fill the space from our wait list and provide a full refund. If the course needs to be cancelled by NBNC, we will provide a full refund.

North Branch Nature Center

713 Elm Street
Montpelier, Vermont 05602
(802) 229-6206

Hours: Center Open Monday-Friday 9-4
Trails Open 24/7