Reading the Forested Landscape

with Tom Wessels

May 8th, 6 PM

Greenfield Community College Dining Commons

Free and open to all.

The fascinating history of the forests of western Massachusetts is on display for all to see if you know where to look. If you want to learn how to look a little closer, join Tom Wessels for a talk about how to decipher the evidence etched into our forested landscape to unravel its complex stories on Thursday, May 8^th, at Greenfield Community College.  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, Tom will teach you how to piece together the stories and history of our local forests. This program is based on Tom’s book, “Reading the Forested Landscape, A Natural History of New England”, which teaches us to read a landscape the way we might solve a mystery.

This special opportunity is sponsored by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation Forest Stewardship Program and the Massachusetts Woodlands Institute to help people learn more about the land use history of their woods.

Tom Wessels is an ecologist and founding director of the master’s degree program in Conservation Biology at Antioch University New England. Presently, he is Faculty Emeritus. Tom has conducted landscape ecology and sustainability 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.

No walk in the woods will be the same after listening to Tom Wessels’ Reading the Forested Landscape talk.

For more information or directions, contact Wendy Ferris at 413.625.9151 or wferris@franklinlandtrust.org.