Special Event: Merging Conservation and Agriculture in New England

On Friday, April 11, Harvard Forest hosted a special public event on conservation and agriculture in New England.

• Browse event photos by Will Szal.

Schedule

10:00am: New England Food Vision
Brian Donahue (Brandeis University)
Find out more about the New England Food Vision, which is, in part, an extension of the Wildlands and Woodlands vision for New England.

11:00am: Exploring the Interactions between Nature and Farming
Conrad Vispo, Claudia Knab-Vispo, Anna Duho, Kyle Bradford (Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program)
The speakers will outline the rationale and draft methods for an upcoming pilot project in the Hudson Valley to explore and solicit feedback on: 1) what nature can provide to farming (in terms of animal-mediated ecological 'services'), 2) what farming can provide to nature (in terms of habitats for native plants and animals), and 3), what information is most useful for farmers and land trusts working with agricultural lands.

12:00pm: Lunch and Discussion. Please bring your own lunch.

1:00 p.m. Walk Exploring Agriculture & Conservation Management
David Foster (Director, Harvard Forest)
This walk will meet in the Harvard Forest Common Room and carpool to the former Petersham Country Club and Bryant Farm, which have been purchased by the Harvard Forest and are one-half mile from Shaler Hall. Joined by ecologists Glenn Motzkin, Professor Martha Hoopes from Mount Holyoke College, the day's speakers, Harvard Forest staff including John Wisnewski and Audrey Barker Plotkin, and others, we will walk the landscape to discuss Harvard Forest plans to graze the land with an objective of developing a series of conservation grasslands while studying and documenting the process. 

• Interested in attending more Harvard Forest events? Check out our weekly seminars, in person and online.