A series of lectures entitled Merging Conservation and Agriculture in New England will take place in the Harvard Forest Seminar Room, Harvard Forest, 324 N. Main Street, Petersham, on Friday, April 11 from 10 – 2:30. The day’s schedule is as follows:
10:00 a.m. New England Food Vision with Brian Donahue of Brandeis University
Find out more about the New England Food Vision: http://foodsolutionsne.org/new-england-food-vision. This vision is, in part, an extension of the Wildlands and Woodlands vision for New England: http://www.wildlandsandwoodlands.org/home.
11:00 a.m. Exploring the Interactions between Nature and Farming
Conrad Vispo, Claudia Knab-Vispo, Anna Duho, Kyle Bradford – Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program http://farmscapeecology.org/
Looking for feedback we will outline our rationale and draft methods for an upcoming pilot project in the Hudson Valley to explore: 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. See http://hawthornevalleyfarm.org/fep/
12:00 p.m. Lunch and Discussion. Please bring your own lunch
1:00 p.m. Walk Exploring Agriculture & Conservation Management with 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 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.
For additional information call David R. Foster, 978-724-3302.
