From the Ground Up: Conservation in New England

An essay written and read by David Marvin. David Marvin is a sugarmaker and forester. He is founder of Butternut Mountain Farm , a family enterprise focused on production, processing, and marketing maple products from its own farm and hundreds of others. David currently serves as a board member of Shelburne Farms, Vermont Housing and Conservation Board, and the Vermont Economic Development Authori...

An essay written and read by Carolyn Ziegra. Carolyn Ziegra is a Forest Manager with the Appalachian Mountain Club and joined the organization in 2022. She is a graduate of the School of Forest Resources at the University of Maine, where she contributed to research related to late-successional forest species in Maine’s Acadian forest type. Carolyn both oversees daily operations on the Maine Woods...

An essay written and read by Robert Perschel. Robert (Bob) Perschel joined the New England Forestry Foundation in April 2012 and retired just this past year, in 2024, though he remains actively involved. In his 40 years as an environmental professional, he has worked on forestry, large landscape conservation, and wilderness issues. Bob worked for the forest industry before establishing his own for...

An essay by Rick Morrill. Read by David Foster. Rick Morrill works as a consulting forester in Northern Vermont, together with his wife, an ecologist, and father-in-law, a practicing forester with over 50 years in the woods. Rick holds a Master of Forestry degree from the University of Maine and previously served as the Baxter State Park Resource Manager. He is a licensed forester in Maine and Ver...

An essay by Guy Dunkle and Annie Socci Maloney. Read by Guy Dunkle. Guy Dunkle has spent the last 20 years practicing conservation-minded forestry in the same region of western Pennsylvania where he grew up. Guy partners with industrial, NGO, and public and private forest landowners to create vibrant, uneven-aged forests using a unique silvicultural system of low-intensity, high-frequency thinning...

An essay written and read by Sam Brown. Sam Brown came to Maine in 1972 as a back-to-the-lander whose interest in logging eventually led to a Maine forester’s license and a deep concern about how all the pieces of a rural community fit together. He currently serves on the Piscataquis County Soil and Water Conservation District board, and, when the weather is nice, still logs on family land in Park...

An essay written and read by David Foster. David Foster is an ecologist, Director Emeritus of the Harvard Forest, and President Emeritus of the Highstead Foundation. He co-founded the Wildlands and Woodlands Initiative in 2005 and was lead writer of Wildlands in New England: Past, Present, and Future in 2023. -- This piece is part of our series exploring ecological forestry featured in the Spring...

An essay written and read by Tony D'Amato. Tony D’Amato is a Professor of Silviculture and Applied Forest Ecology and Director of the Forestry Program and Research Forests at the University of Vermont. His research focuses on long-term forest dynamics, disturbance effects on ecosystem structure and function, and ecological and adaptive silvicultural strategies for conferring adaptation potential w...

An essay written and read by Brian Donahue. Brian Donahue is Professor Emeritus of American Environmental Studies at Brandeis University, and a farm and forest policy consultant. He co-founded and for 12 years directed Land’s Sake, a nonprofit community farm in Weston, Massachusetts, and now co-owns and manages a farm in western Massachusetts. He sits on the boards of the Massachusetts Woodland In...

A poem written and read by Robert T. Perschel. In his 40 years as an environmental professional, Robert (Bob) Perschel has worked on forestry, large landscape conservation, and wilderness issues. He joined the New England Forestry Foundation in April 2012, was previously the Eastern region director for the Forest Stewards Guild, founded the Land Ethic Institute, worked for The Wilderness Society,...

An essay written and read by Judy Dow. Judy Dow is of French Canadian and Abenaki descent, and is an environmentalist, consultant, author, and basketmaker conducting classes and workshops for students of all ages. She is Gedakina’s Executive Director and has an education career spanning more than three decades with degrees in Native Studies, Read the full essay and discover additional content in t...

A poem written and read by Robert T. Perschel. In his 40 years as an environmental professional, Robert (Bob) Perschel has worked on forestry, large landscape conservation, and wilderness issues. He joined the New England Forestry Foundation in April 2012, was previously the Eastern region director for the Forest Stewards Guild, founded the Land Ethic Institute, worked for The Wilderness Society,...

An article written and read by Cathy Stanton. Cathy Stanton is a Distinguished Senior Lecturer in Anthropology and Environmental Studies at Tufts University. She authored the award-winning book The Lowell Experiment: Public History in a Postindustrial City , and more recently, her efforts to save a small food co-op near her home are chronicled in Food Margins: Lessons from an Unlikely Grocer . Rea...

An interview with Bryan Pfeiffer, conducted by Liz Thompson. Liz Thompson is an ecologist, botanist, conservation scientist, and Managing Editor of From the Ground Up . When not outside or writing, Bryan Pfeiffer has been—or still is—a bread baker; a pot washer; an air-pollution chemist; a firefighter; a mercenary writer; a print journalist; a professional photographer; and a consulting field biol...

An essay written and read by Richard Farrell. For the past five decades, Richard Farrell has lived on Monhegan Island year-round as a carpenter/innkeeper/photographer/writer. He has served on the Monhegan Island Sustainable Community Association (the affordable housing land trust), Monhegan Associates (the land trust for preserving the island’s wildlands), and currently serves on the Associates’ E...

An article written by Tinsley Hunsdorfer and Marissa Latshaw. Read by Marissa Latshaw. Tinsley Hunsdorfer specializes in nonprofit environmental communications and currently works as Communications Manager for New England Forestry Foundation, where she heads NEFF’s public-facing communications efforts and serves as lead writer for NEFF’s major publications. Marissa Latshaw serves as co-coordinator...

An essay and poem written and read by Joseph Bruchac. Joseph Bruchac was born and raised in the Adirondack foothills where he still makes his home in the Greenfield Center, New York house where his grandparents raised him. An enrolled member of the Nulhegan Abenaki Nation, he’s an award-winning author of over 180 books, a poet, traditional storyteller, and musician who often performs with his two...

A poem written and read by Bill Drislane. Bill Drislane, a member of Sundog Poetry, lives in Jericho, Vermont. When he’s not digging in the garden or tapping trees, he writes and recites poetry, sings, and plays the fiddle. Read the full poem and discover additional content in the Winter 2024 Issue of From the Ground Up.

A poem by Mary Katherine Creel. Mary Katherine Creel is the author of several poetry collections, including her most recent book, Every Note, a Lantern ; and she also writes the Substack publication, a small spectacle , featuring nature-inspired poems and short essays about finding gratitude, healing, and connection. Connect with her on LinkedIn here . Read the full poem and discover additional co...

A personal account of the 2024 Sowing Seeds Conference in Vermont, written by Liz Thompson. Liz Thompson is the Managing Editor of From the Ground Up . She serves on the board of Northeast Wilderness Trust and is the Coordinator of the Northeastern Old Growth Conference 2025, Wildlands and Old Growth Forests: A Vision for the Future, and posts frequently on Instagram . This piece is part of a seri...

A personal account of the 2024 LTA Rally, written by Liz Thompson. Liz Thompson is the Managing Editor of From the Ground Up . She serves on the board of Northeast Wilderness Trust and is the Coordinator of the Northeastern Old Growth Conference 2025, Wildlands and Old Growth Forests: A Vision for the Future, and posts frequently on Instagram . This piece is part of a series discussing several ins...

A report written and read by Walter Poleman. Walter Poleman is the director of the Field Naturalist Graduate Program at the University of Vermont, where he serves on the steering committee for the Champlain-Adirondack Biosphere Network, and is Co-Coordinator for the Greater Burlington Sustainability Education Network. You can connect with him on LinkedIn here . This piece is part of a series discu...

An essay written and read by Colby Galliher. Colby Galliher is a writer, focusing mainly on conservation, wildlife, and environmental policy, in the form of book chapters, scholarly reports, and articles for local, regional, and national publications. He is the Editorial Communications Specialist at Northeast Wilderness Trust, and you can read more about him on his website . Read the full piece an...

A report written and read by Nadine Canter. Nadine Canter is a disrupter, threshold walker, and bridge builder located in Vermont, where she serves as an advisor, a tai chi chuan and daoism student, and a lecturer at Middlebury College. You can find her on bluesky . Read the written piece and discover additional content in the Winter 2025 Issue of From the Ground Up.

An interview with Amy Sheldon, conducted and edited by Liz Thompson. Amy Sheldon of Middlebury, Addison County, Vermont, holds a BA in economics from Middlebury College and an MS in Natural Resource Planning from the University of Vermont. She represents the Addison 1 District in the Vermont House of Representatives and currently serves as Chair of the House Committee on Environment and Energy. Li...