Land Trust annual meeting scheduled

BETHEL — The Mahoosuc Land Trust’s 23rd Annual Meeting will be held on Sunday, October 21 at 7 p.m. in the Ordway Living Room at Gould Academy. Following the business portion of the meeting, Tom Wessels, noted ecologist and author, will be the featured speaker.

His presentation, “Reading the Forested Landscape,” will be based on his well-known book, “Reading the Forested Landscape, A Natural History of New England.”

“It is wonderful to know nature through one-on-one encounters with other organisms, but it is perhaps more empowering to gain a fuller understanding of the patterns that have shaped its landscapes.

"Through some knowledge of history and the broader view of seeing a forest and not just its trees, we begin to see the forces that shape a place. This new way of seeing creates reverence, respect, a sense of inclusion and accountability. Reading the landscape is not just about identifying landscape patterns; more importantly, it is an interactive narrative that involves humans and nature.

"For those interested in enhancing their sense of place, I know of no better way than by becoming intimately acquainted with their local forests and the fascinating stories they tell.” Tom Wessels 1997

In his program, Tom will introduce people to approaches used to interpret a forest’s history while wandering through it. Using evidence such as the shapes of trees, scars on their trunks, the pattern of decay in stumps, the construction of stone walls, and the lay of the land, it is possible to unravel complex stories etched into the forested landscape. This process could easily be called forest forensics, since it is quite similar to interpreting a crime scene.

Thousands of readers have had their experience of being in a forest changed forever by reading Tom Wessels’s "Reading the Forested Landscape." Was this forest once farmland? Was it logged in the past? Was there ever a major catastrophe like a fire or a wind storm that brought trees down?

Tom Wessels is an ecologist and founding director of the master’s degree program in Conservation Biology at Antioch University New England. He is presently Faculty Emeritus. He is the current chair of The Center for Whole Communities that fosters inclusive communities that are strongly rooted in place and where all people – regardless of income, race, or background – have access to and a healthy relationship with land.

He is former chair of the Robert and Patricia Switzer Foundation that fosters environmental leadership through graduate fellowships and organizational grants. He served as an ecological consultant to the Rain Forest Alliance’s SmartWood Green Certification Program.

In that capacity Tom helped draft green certification assessment guidelines for forest operations in the northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. Tom has conducted landscape level workshops throughout the United States for over 30 years. His books include "Reading the Forested Landscape," "The Granite Landscape," "Untamed Vermont," "The Myth of Progress" and "Forest Forensics: A Field Guide to Reading the Forested Landscape."

The Mahoosuc Land Trust Annual Meeting is open to the public. Memberships and membership renewals are available at the meeting. A $5 donation is requested from those attending who are not Land Trust members.