In How to Love a Forest, forester and author Ethan Tapper helps us reimagine what forests are and what it means to care for them. This evening will feature readings, presentation, and an interview with NBNC staff.

As we ask more and more of our woods, the field of ecological forestry has emerged to put forest ecosystem health first—without losing sight of other economic and resource goals. Consulting Forester Alex Barrett of Long View Forest will provide a practitioner’s perspective on how ecological forestry works, and how it is changing how we think about managing forests—from landowner perceptions, to economics, to our society’s reliance on the products and services that forests provide.

Northern forests face a number of new threats, from severe weather patterns driven by climate change, to invasive insects and pathogens. But novel forest management techniques can prepare forests to be more resilient in the face of an uncertain future.

What happens when your management objective is to protect the autonomy of nature?  Passive management, also called passive rewilding, is the practice of standing back and letting nature direct the ebb and flow of life. Learn about the value of passive rewilding through both human and non-human lenses, grapple with the incongruity of human and forest timelines, and consider the merits of building future old forests, even if we might not live to see them ourselves.

How can we help birds find the habitat conditions they need to nest successfully? Learn about Audubon Vermont’s efforts to promote forest stewardship that meets the needs of birds and people. We’ll explore the types of forest conditions that support high bird diversity, while keeping in mind all of the other important values we hold for our forests.

The combined threats of fragmentation, habitat loss, climate change, and biodiversity collapse require us to rethink how we conserve Vermont’s forests. How do we choose which lands to conserve, and then how do we steward them responsibly?