From The Forest

By fromtheforestBusiness Education Non-Profit

From The Forest episodes

March 14, 2024 Forest Management with Birds in Mind with Audubon NY's Claire Mann
On this week's show we'll be interviewing Claire Mann of Audubon New York. Claire is their Forest Program Senior Associate where she engages in education and outreach for both landowners and conservation partners in improving forest habitat for birds.
The Audubon Society's Mission is “To protect birds & the places they need today & tomorrow. Audubon works throughout the Americas using science, advocacy, education, and on-the-ground conservation.”

Claire Mann attended The State University of New York College Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY ESF) where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Biology. Claire has extensive experience in forestry and natural resource management. After many years of working for the US Forest Service Claire has joined Audubon where she focuses on improving forest bird habitat in New York State.
1 hr
March 07, 2024 Omer Stewart's Forgotten Fires
On this week's show we'll discuss Omer Stewart's "Forgotten Fires: Native Americans & the Transient Wilderness." According to Author M. R. O'Connor ("Ignition: Lighting Fires in a Burning World"), "Omer particularly regretted that his own peers—Anthropologists—ignored evidence that Indigenous people were powerful agents who had transformed the physical world.” I feel this book sorely needs to be read in a time when many of us have truly forgotten or misunderstand the importance of fire in the landscape.
Omer Stewart lived from 1908 to 1991. He was a Cultural Anthropologist & Author at the University of Colorado at Boulder where he retired in 1973. Omer Stewart was well-known for defending Native American land claims and advocating for tribal legal use of peyote.
1 hr
February 29, 2024 State Trees of the USA with Gary Mead
Every Third Wednesday we have Wood Artist, Gary Mead on the show to discuss a native tree, or something else forest-related. This month we'll be discussing some of the official state trees of the US.
Gary is the former owner of Fruitful Furnishings Sawmill & current owner of Gary Mead Gallery in Margaretville, Delaware County. He was born & raised on a dairy farm in New Kingston, Town of Middletown, Delaware County.
1 hr
February 22, 2024 Backyard Maple Sugaring
On this Wednesday's show, we'll discuss the ins & outs of Backyard Maple Sugaring. Perhaps you'd like to try your hand at making sugar from trees. The photo shows an abnormally sweet batch of sap from 2013. At 4%, this sap is twice as sweet as most. About 20 gallons of 4% sap will boil down to 1 gallon of syrup. Normally, it's more like 42 to 1.
1 hr
February 15, 2024 Forestry Check-In
Normally, each first Wednesday of the month, Catskill Forest Association's Field Staff 'check-in’ to discuss what they've been up to around and in the forests of the Catskill Mountains.
Catskill Forest Association includes 4 field staff members:
Ryan Trapani -- Director of Forest Services
John MacNaught -- Forest Program Manager
Zane Lawyer -- Education Arborist
Zahra Bellucci -- Education Forester
1 hr
February 08, 2024 Working in the Woods with Tyler Evans
On this week's show, we'll talk to one of CFA's members--Tyler Evans. Tyler offers a perspective from a landowner's point of view and someone who takes a hand's-on approach to managing his forest. Some topics include wildlife, plant propagation for his new nursery, firewood, crop tree release, apple tree pruning, timber harvesting, and timber stand improvement.
Tyler grew up in Otego on 13 acres until 10 years old before moving to Oneonta. He and his brother were always outside playing or small game hunting and fishing. Tyler enlisted in the Marine Corps in 2008 and served 4 years active duty. In 2013, he moved to NYC to finish his education and start a career until 2020. In 2021, he bought 162 acres in Walton, where he really jumped into managing the forest and working on the property.
1 hr
February 01, 2024 Wood Heating with Whole Systems Design's Ben Falk
On this week's show, we'll talk to Ben Falk from Whole Systems Design in Vermont about burning fuelwood. Ben will discuss his trial and error with his 4th generation wood heating system, providing an integrated and complete home heating solution meeting cooking, baking, and most crucially--hot water needs. Ben will also discuss why he burns in 2024, air quality issues, heat conservation, dealing with the stove pipe & ventilation, maintenance, burning tips, and wood preparation.

Ben developed Whole Systems Design, LLC as a land-based response to biological and cultural extinction and the increasing separation between people and elemental things. Life as a designer, builder, ecologist, tree-tender, and backcountry traveler continually informs Ben’s integrative approach to developing landscapes and buildings. His home landscape and the WSD studio site in Vermont's Mad River Valley serve as a proving ground for the regenerative land developments featured in the projects of Whole Systems Design.

Ben studied architecture and landscape architecture at the graduate level and holds a master’s degree in land-use planning and design. He has conducted more than 650 site development and land inspection consultations across the US and abroad, and has facilitated dozens of courses on property selection, permaculture design, and resilient systems. He has given keynote addresses and presented dozens of workshops at venues ranging from Bioneers to the Omega Institute. Ben is the author of the award-winning book The Resilient Farm and Homestead (Chelsea Green, 2013) and serves as an Advisory Council for the international regeneration group Ecosystem Restoration Camps.
1 hr
January 25, 2024 Birch with Gary Mead
Every Third Wednesday we have Wood Artist, Gary Mead on the show to discuss a native tree, or something else forest-related. This month we'll be discussing birch trees (i.e. yellow, black, paper, gray, & mountain paper).
Gary is the former owner of Fruitful Furnishings Sawmill & current owner of Gary Mead Gallery in Margaretville, Delaware County. He was born & raised on a dairy farm in New Kingston, Town of Middletown, Delaware County.
1 hr
January 18, 2024 Early Black Bear Hunting Post-Kill with Nate Loda
In November we had Nate Loda on the show to discuss his early black bear hunting trip in the Catskills back in September. In that show, we made it to the point where Nate killed his bear. In this show, we'll discuss everything that occurred once the bear was down--from packing out to eating and more.
Nathan Loda is an American realist oil painter. Loda received an MFA degree from George Mason University in 2015 and a BFA in painting from Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, WV in 2011.
Loda lives and works in a little town called Homer, in central New York. He paints full time in his home studio. His wife and three little girls are his constant muses and their dog Blaze is his closest friend.
1 hr
January 11, 2024 Ignition with Author M.R. O’Connor
On this week's show we'll talk to M.R. O'Connor who authored the book--"Ignition: Lighting Fires in a Burning World." In order to write this book, Maura took a "hands-on" approach for sure when she became a wildlife firefighter to gain more experience surrounding fire. Her book details both historical fire culture in America as well as how fire is suppressed, prescribed to restore habitats, and perceived by the general public today. Her experience with fire in the forest seems to bring to light or question our role as humans in the environment today. Should be interesting.
About M.R. O'Connor: M. R. O’Connor is a journalist who writes about the politics and ethics of science, technology and conservation. Her work has appeared online in The Atavist, Slate, Foreign Policy, The New Yorker, Nautilus, UnDark and Harper’s. Her first book, Resurrection Science: Conservation, De-Extinction and the Precarious Future of Wild Things (St. Martin’s Press, 2015) and was one of Library Journal and Amazon’s Best Books of The Year. Her second book, Wayfinding: The Science and Mystery of How Humans Navigate the World (St. Martin’s Press, 2019) is an exploration of navigation traditions, neuroscience, and the diversity of human relationships to space, time and memory. Its writing was supported by the Alfred P. Sloan’s Program for the Public Understanding of Science, Technology, & Economics. She recently wrote a book called Ignition (September 2023, Bold Type Books) on fire ecology and prescribed burning, for which she became certified as a wildland firefighter.
In 2008/2009, O’Connor was a reporter for The Sunday Times, an English-language newspaper in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Her investigative reporting on topics like disappearances in Sri Lanka’s civil war, global agriculture trade in Haiti, and American development enterprises in Afghanistan have been funded by institutions such as the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, The Phillips Foundation, and The Nation Institute’s Investigative Fund. For a long time, she made her bread and butter as a stringer covering crime, courts, and breaking news in New York City for publications such as The Wall Street Journal and New York Post, and covered the criminal justice beat for the online investigative site The New York World. She is a graduate of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and was a 2016/17 Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT. She lives in Brooklyn, NY with her partner, the screenwriter Bryan Parker, and their two sons.
1 hr

About From The Forest

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Talking all-things-forestry, every Wednesday, for 10 years and counting. New guest speakers every week. Listen to the archives at catskillforest.org/radio. Contact us at [email protected].