The Foundation for Sustainable Forests and the Forest Guild are hosting the Loving the Land Through Working Forests Conference on May 17-18 at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pa.

The agenda includes a speakers’ program on the evening of May 17 and in-field forestry session on May 18 covering these topics and more--

-- Pennsylvania's Forests -- Then and Now. An examination of the four general eras of Pennsylvania's forest -- Pre-Columbian, Post-Columbian/Post Epidemic, The Liquidation and Current -- and why we must now think differently about forest management. We believe this is a session that will have fairly broad appeal, reaching landowners, professionals and those with a general interest.

-- Worst First. This is a detailed demonstration of the Foundation's approach to forestry, including selecting trees for harvest and logging with horses. Geared specifically to professionals and forest landowners.

-- The Protector. The role and importance of well managed forest in protecting water resources and providing for wildlife and biodiversity. This session will be developed for the interested general public and include a look at protection of a trout stream, the bird life, wildflowers and other understory species.

Speakers and presenters include: Wendell Berry;, Mike DeBonis, executive director of the Forest Guild; Jason Rutledge, director of the Healing Harvest Forest Foundation;  Troy Firth, president of the Foundation for Sustainable Forests; Cecile Stelter, District Forester, Pennsylvania Bureau of Forests; Suzanne Boyden, Ph.D., assistant professor of ecology, Clarion University of Pennsylvania; Jim Finley, Ibberson Chair in Forest Resource Management, Penn State University; Sarah Sargent, Pennsylvania Audubon, J. Michael Campbell, Ph.D., Mercyhurst University, and several others.

There will also be children’s programming – All ages, all day, provided by Butterflies for Kids I Am A Planet Kid Program.

All programs are free and open to the public. However, pre-registration is requested for the Saturday, in-the-field program. To register, send email to: Info@FoundationForSustainableForests.org, please place “Registration in the subject line and in the body list the names of the people who will be attending, addresses and phone numbers. A registration confirmation reply will be returned with detailed directions to the location for the Saturday program.

4/1/2013