From The Forest

By fromtheforestBusiness Education Non-Profit

From The Forest episodes

August 14, 2025 How to Love a Forest with Ethan Tapper
On this week's show we'll be discussing the role and responsibility of active forest management with Ethan Tapper - an internationally recognized forester, bestselling author, and content creator from Vermont. Join us as we get into his book and all that active land management entails - reimagining what acts of compassion in the woods can look like, choosing imperfect action over the comfort of doing nothing, and so much more.
Ethan started writing How to Love a Forest in 2016, after realizing that there was no book that captured his understanding of what forests are, how they work, and what it means to take care of them. He wrote the book over the following eight years, one hour at time — from 5:00-6:00 AM each day. It was published by Broadleaf Books in September, 2024. Since being published, How to Love a Forest has sold thousands of copies, been named to several bestseller lists, been named a finalist for the Vermont Book Award and has been endorsed by prominent nature writers including Bill McKibben, Doug Tallamy, and Ben Goldfarb.
1 hr
August 14, 2025 Hickory 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 the hickory tree.
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.
Description
1 hr
July 17, 2025 Forestry Check-In
Occasionally, we like to "talk shop" with field staff of Catskill Forest Association on what's going on in the forest. We'll also go into Ryan's recent 3-Day trip in the woods over the 4th of July weekend.
CFA Field Staff
Ryan Trapani, Director of Forest Services
Zane Lawyer, Forest Program Manager
Giovanna D'Angelo, Education Forester
John Unverzagt, Education Arborist
1 hr
July 10, 2025 The American Chestnut Foundation with Vasiliy Lakoba
On this week's show we'll be discussing American chestnut with Vasiliy Lakoba from the national organization--The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF). As many of you know, American chestnut has been made "functionally extinct" from the devastating chestnut blight brought in from Asia in the last century. We'll discuss how TACF plans to bring back the tree as well as their recent parting with SUNY College of Enviornmental Science & Forestry's transgenic chestnut project as well.
Vasiliy Lakoba is Director of Research and Restoration with The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF). TACF's mission of restoring the American chestnut tree has been driving diverse approaches to establishing disease resistant trees throughout the eastern U.S. for over 40 years. Vasiliy's work with TACF spans applied tree improvement and evaluation, species reintroduction, and public engagement. He holds a PhD from Virginia Tech and his prior work includes forest understory restoration, invasion ecology, species distribution modeling, and ecophysiology. Vasiliy serves as Board Vice President of the North American Invasive Species Management Association and is passionate about nonprofit models of long-term environmental conservation.
1 hr
July 03, 2025 Managing Hemlock Woolly Adelgid with Nicholas Dietschler
On this Wednesday's show, we'll be talking to Nick Dietschler at the Hemlock Initiative to see how things are going with combatting the devastating hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA). HWA is an exotic insect that has wreaked havoc on the eastern US's hemlock trees beginning in the mid-1900s.
Nick grew up in the Finger Lakes Region of New York, and moved to Ithaca in 2014. He received an Associates in Natural Resources Conservation from Finger Lakes Community College, Bachelors in Conservation Biology from SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, and a Masters in Natural Resources from Cornell University. Before coming to the Hemlock Initiative at Cornell, he spent a season with the NY Dept. of Environmental Conservation conducting hemlock and balsam woolly adelgid surveys throughout New York. At NYSHI, Nick manages many aspects of the program’s field work, works with statewide collaborators, and coordinates NYSHI’s bio-control release program. Nick’s research focuses on understanding plant-pest interactions and predator community ecology, and their influence on integrated pest management in forest systems.
1 hr
June 25, 2025 Tulip Poplar 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 the yellow poplar tree.

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
June 25, 2025 American Chestnut Restoration with Allen Nichols
On this week's show, we'll be talking to Allen Nichols, President of the recently created American Chestnut Restoration (ACR). Allen was previously the President of the NYS Chapter of The American Chestnut Foundation (NY-TACF).

In December of '23, the national TACF decided to discontinue its support of SUNY College of Enviornmental Science & Forestry's Darling 54/58 transgenic chestnut program; A project heavily supported by NY-TACF. This disagreement ended in the termination of the NY Chapter, going back to 1990 and the creation of the ACR. We'll get Allen's opinion on how this occurred and where the transgenic chestnuts stand.
Allen Nichol's first exposure to American chestnut was growing up in the 1950s above the Pepacton Reservoir when his father and brother returned from hunting with some burs. At that time many believed there would be some survivors of the chestnut blight. Allen saw his first American chestnuts when his father pointed out the remains of dead trees as a boy. He was aware of the resprouts that kept coming up and then dying back from the blight. As a teenager, he witnessed the death of all the great American elms on his farm, which gave him a vision of what must have happened when the chestnut blight killed all the chestnuts 50+ years earlier.

Allen believes the death of the ash today is probably giving the next generation a glimpse of what has happened in the past.
1 hr
June 12, 2025 Bringing Back American chestnut with SilvaBio's Michael Bloom
On this week's show we'll be discussing how one company is seeking to bring back the American chestnut tree. A pathogenic fungus introduced from Asia knocked out the mighty American chestnut early on in the last century and represents one of the greatest losses to North America's forests. We'll see if SilvaBio has a solution.
Michael Bloom is a serial entrepreneur and avid outdoorsman, having successfully developed, led and sold two pioneering ed-tech companies, Great Courses and Learn25. Coming from a family of master gardeners & outdoor enthusiasts, Michael combines a passion for forest restoration with over 25 years of leadership experience. Michael has a B.S. degree from Boston University and an MBA with High Honors from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

SilvaBio's Mission—“To create the disease-tolerant seedlings needed to restore the health & resilience of North America’s forests through science-driven solutions to tree disease.”
1 hr
June 04, 2025 Open Space Institute's New Land Acquisition in the Catskills
On this week's show, we'll be discussing Open Space Institute's (OSI) new land acquisition in the Town of Neversink of 3,100 acres. Known as "Blue Hill", this purchase represents the largest potential addition to the NYS DEC forest preserve in 25 years. OSI plans to turn over this property to the DEC in the future.
"The Open Space Institute protects scenic, natural and historic landscapes to provide public enjoyment, conserve habitat and working lands, and sustain communities."

Tom Gravel is a senior land project manager at the Open Space Institute (OSI) where he manages the conservation of open space and environmentally sensitive lands in the Catskills, Hudson Valley, and northern New Jersey by facilitating complex real estate transactions. After graduating from Middlebury College, Tom began his career in land conservation in 2004 with the Trust for Public Land before joining OSI in 2012.

Abigail Weinberg is Vice President for Science & Conservation Policy for the Open Space Institute (OSI). She develops nature-based solutions to climate change, water quality and land-based inequities. Her work translating science to conservation practice and policies informs the work of foundations, state and federal agencies and land conservation organizations. Her recent work focused on using data and tools to optimize forest carbon mitigation through land protection and quantifying the impact of land protection on water quality. Abby has a Master of Forestry degree from the Yale School of Forestry and Bachelors degree from St. John’s College (the “Great Books School”), Santa Fe.
1 hr
May 29, 2025 Thirsty Trees 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 the amazing process of water uptake by trees.
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

About From The Forest

From the publisher's feed

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].