Join us for a virtual program featuring Tom Wessels, ecologist and author of Reading the Forested Landscape and Forest Forensics.
The forest has many stories to tell. Wessels teaches us to read landscapes the way we might solve a mystery. Why do beech and birch trees have smooth bark when the bark of other northern species is rough? How do you tell the age of a beaver pond or determine if beavers still reside there? Why are pines dominant in one patch of forest, while maples are dominant in another?
Using photos from Cary Institute’s 2,000-acre research campus, and images submitted by participants, Wessels will discuss forest dynamics and history, coevolved interactions among forest species, and unique tree adaptations.
On a walk in the woods have you encountered interesting growth patterns, evidence of disturbance (either natural or human-made), or unique geological features? We welcome images of New York and New England forests; a selection will be included in a slideshow that Wessels will interpret in real-time during the presentation.
Wessels is a terrestrial ecologist and professor emeritus at Antioch University. In addition to Reading the Forested Landscape and Forest Forensics, he is the author of The Granite Landscape, The Myth of Progress, and New England’s Roadside Ecology.
Registration is required. Your registration confirmation will include login details and instructions for submitting photos.
What images to submit
The following subjects are of special interest for use during this program:
- Stone walls/root cellars in the middle of a forest
- A group of trees all downed in the same directionA particularly rocky plot of land next to an area with fewer rocks
- A tree that looks out of place - very old/large in a younger forest
- A stream that might look out of place (or anything that looks out of place!)
- Trees with multiple trunks or scars or odd growth patterns
Deadline to submit: April 17, 2023
