– medicinal, bizarre, or just plain lovely

Saturday, Aug 26, 10:00-noon
Hogback Mountain Conservation Area, Marlboro, VT.

Vermont’s meadows and forest edges are always lovely – picture the waves of greenery dotted with flowers swaying gently in the breeze.  How often do you stop and look closely at that mass of plant life?  Doing so with Allison Turner will open your eyes to things that have been right before your eyes for years.  Allison is a Doctor of Pharmacognosy (the study of drugs obtained from plants and other natural sources) who is on a first name basis with Vermont’s plant communities, and will share their stories with you on this walk.  

We can expect to see native and non-native plants, invasives and possibly even some uncommon species.  Allison will explain the medicinal uses for several local plants, both according to folklore and to modern science.  This will be an easy walk, since we’ll be stopping every few feet to look at a new plant.

Meet at the Tower Trail kiosk, behind and to the right of the Vermont Distillers building at 7755 VT Route 9.  There is plenty of parking across Route 9 in the large parking lot.  Registration is required as participation is limited to 20 people.  Sign up by email to .  This event is co-sponsored by the Windham Regional Woodlands Association (WRWA) and the Hogback Mountain Conservation Association (HMCA) and is free and open to the public. 

Saturday June 1st -10:00 am – Vernon

Whether you are interested in doing pre-commercial thinning yourself or simply want to better understand what your forester is recommending for your young forest, this workshop will help you see your trees in a new light.  Landowner Munson Hicks will host Forester George Weir and County Forester Sam Schneski on a walk through the woods to discuss the concepts of Timber Stand Improvement (TSI).  The goals of a TSI project are to identify crop trees with excellent sawtimber characteristics and to reduce competition from neighboring trees by removing unhealthy trees and lower economically valued trees.  Picking the trees to release, proper spacing, thinning tools and thinning methods will be reviewed.  The group will look at an area that has already been thinned, then take a look at an unthinned area and identify appropriate crop trees and spacing.  The focus will be primarily on white pine, but thinning of hardwoods will also be covered.

Meet at the Hicks woodland at 870 Tyler Hill Road in Vernon at 10:00 on Saturday, June 1.  Questions?  Email us at WRWA: .

Sunday, June 2, 7:30 am, Halifax

Do wildlife patch cuts really work?  Ten years after a six-acre patch was cleared to the ground using a brontosaurus-type forest mulcher with assistance from an EQIP grant, we’ll be looking for the birds that are supposed to be attracted to the fresh young growth that has sprung up.  WRWA toured this site in 2014, when the big mulching machine was still on-site, and again three years later to see the intense burst of fresh growth.  If you joined either of those tours, you will be amazed at the state of the young forest now.

We’re joining with the Southeastern Vermont Audubon Society (SVAS) bright and early (7:30 am) since that’s when the birds we’re looking for are active.  You don’t need to be an experienced birder for this program.  SVAS will have a few pairs of binoculars to lend out, and their experts will help us identify the birds that we see and hear.  A representative from NRCS will also be there, to describe the EQIP co-funding program and other potential funding sources for people who are interested in creating a patch cut on their own land.  The program will last about two hours.

The size of the group will be capped, so please sign up in advance by clicking here.  (If the link doesn’t work, go to this web site: https://forms.gle/yxrxZ2ZfvtUNhoED6)  Meet at the Todds, 273 Hatch School Road, Halifax at 7:30 on Sunday, June 2.  Questions?  Send us an email here (or type in the address: ).

Saturday June 8, 10:00 am to noon – Retreat Farm Brattleboro

Allison Turner (PhD, Pharmacognosy) will be leading a plant walk from 10:00-noon on Saturday, June 8 at the Retreat Farm in Brattleboro.  Together, we’ll be identifying the lower-growing plants at the edges of forest and in nearby fields. We will see native and non-native plants, invasives and possibly rare specimens. Allison will explain the medicinal uses for several local plants, both according to folklore and modern science.  This will be an easy walk, as we will be stopping every few feet to look at a new plant.  Contact Allison at  to register.  Participation is free and open to all, but limited to 20 people, so sign up in advance!  No dogs, please.
 
WRWA is grateful to the Retreat Farm for co-hosting this walk on their site with many different environments – forest, field, wetland, cultivated land.  Meet in the Retreat Farm parking lot by 9:45 for a 10:00 start.  We’ll wrap up by noon.  The official address, for use in GPS systems, is 45 Farmhouse Square, Brattleboro, but you may be more familiar with the site as being on Route 30 about a quarter-mile north of the Brattleboro Retreat.  Pull in the driveway and turn into the parking lot on the right.  We’ll plan to meet there.  Questions?  Contact WRWA at .

Monday June 10th, noon to 1:00 pm – Webinar

On Monday, June 10, from noon to 1:00 pm, join Savannah Ferreira, forest health specialist with VT Forests, Parks and Recreation (FPR)  and Andrew Hirsch, protection forester with VT FPR to learn about the invasive pest beech leaf disease. Beech leaf disease is a novel invasive pest that was first detected in Vermont in 2023, and has the ability to greatly affect our Vermont forests. This webinar will discuss its history and biology in the U.S. and in VT. This webinar is hosted by Vermont Woodlands Association and Windham Regional Woodland Owners Association.
 
Click HERE to Register for this Zoom webinar.  Questions?  Contact WRWA at .

Sunday, June 16, 9:00-1:00

Mushrooms are an amazing member of the forest community, not quite plant and not quite animal, but a key player in decomposing woody material and providing essential nutrients to trees.  Some are edible or medicinal, and others can be deadly.  WRWA member Matt Stinchfield can help you learn to grow edible mushrooms in your woods using the inoculated log technique.  At the end of the four-hour workshop, everyone will go home with their own inoculated log.  Pre-registration is required, at $30 for WRWA members and $50 for non-members.  This covers the cost of the materials (and for non-members, includes a one-year membership in WRWA).  Class size is limited to 12 people, ages 12 and up.  Click here to register, or go to pinehillvoices.love/workshops.html and click through to June on the calendar.  Questions?  Email Matt at  or call/text 802-258-8748.Mushrooms are an amazing member of the forest community, not quite plant and not quite animal, but a key player in decomposing woody material and providing essential nutrients to trees.  Some are edible or medicinal, and others can be deadly.  WRWA member Matt Stinchfield can help you learn to grow edible mushrooms in your woods using the inoculated log technique.  At the end of the four-hour workshop, everyone will go home with their own inoculated log.  Pre-registration is required, at $30 for WRWA members and $50 for non-members.  This covers the cost of the materials (and for non-members, includes a one-year membership in WRWA).  Class size is limited to 12 people, ages 12 and up.  Click here to register, or go to pinehillvoices.love/workshops.html and click through to June on the calendar.  Questions?  Email Matt at  or call/text 802-258-8748.

Saturday, June 29, 10:00-2:00

Discovering that your property has invasive plant species can feel overwhelming, but having a plan can turn an intimidating problem into something that feels more manageable. Assessing the situation, putting together a map of the property, and performing some triage will help set goals and priorities.  During this outdoor, hands-on program led by forester (and WRWA President) Andrew Morrison we’ll explore methods for property mapping, from paper maps to phone-based apps.  We’ll discuss Integrated Pest Management and identify what tools should be part of your arsenal.  No pre-registration is required, but please email Andrew at  and use the subject line “WRWA event”.  Bring a bag lunch.

Saturday July 15th, 9:00 am -Vernon

The Windham Regional Woodlands Association will host a tour of a seldom seen area in the
Roaring Brook Wildlife Management Area in Vernon, Vt . This area is notable for many different wildlife habitats including a dry oak forest with many different varieties of oak, including Red, Black, White, Chestnut and Scarlet Oak, as well as Dogwood, and Sassafras. The walk will be led by Martin Langeveld, joined by Bob Zaino. Natural Community Ecologist with the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department.

We will leave from his home at 131 Woodland Road in Vernon which abuts the area we will visit. Parking is available at his home (4-5 cars), others can park along Woodland Road.

We recommend people wear sturdy shoes, bring water, bring hiking poles if they like those,
and be prepared for some light uphills and downhills, with a few hundred feet of elevation
change altogether.
For more information about the area, please visit Norma Manning’s blogspot,
https://vernonvtnaturefinds.blogspot.com/2023/05/rbwma-on-fox-hill.html and the Vermont’s Forest & Park’s website https://fpr.vermont.gov/roaring-brook-wildlife-management-area.

for Forest Landowners with Dr. Alexandra Kosiba

Are you wondering what to do about forest carbon, carbon markets and making your forest more resilient to the effects of climate change on your woods in the northeast? Join Dr. Alexandra Kosiba, the University of Vermont’s Extension Forester on Wednesday April 12, 2023 from noon to 1:30 PM.  In this webinar, Dr. Kosiba will cover forests role in sequestering and storing carbon, what you can do to increase sequestration and storage in your forests and what your options are if you want to sell forest carbon in the carbon markets.  She will also cover steps landowners and their managers can take to increase forest resilience to climate change by encouraging management actions that adapt forests to the effects of our changing climate.  This webinar is designed specifically for forest landowners and sponsored by Securing Northeast Forest Carbon Program.

Register in advance for this webinar (required):
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_VHJuPo4kQJaWCE_w7Xly6w
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Alexandra (Ali) Kosiba, PhD, is a forest ecophysiologist and Extension Assistant Professor of Forestry at the University of Vermont. As the Extension Forester, she creates resources and conducts applied research to help woodland owners, foresters, and decision-makers better understand the impacts of climate change and other stressors on Vermont’s forests and management techniques to improve forest resilience. She is Vermont’s representative to the Securing Northeast Forest Carbon Program.  A licensed forester, Ali serves as a regional educator on forest carbon science and management and is the state lead on the Vermont Forest Carbon Inventory. She also works on various forest health topics, like planning and management for at-risk tree species, land planning for maintaining critical forest services, and forest monitoring. Before coming to UVM, she was the Climate Forester for the State of Vermont, Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation – and the first climate forester in the nation.

Wednesday, February 1st @ 6:00 p.m. – Dummerston Community Center; 166 West St.; West Dummerston

The event is being presented by The Dummerston Conservation Commission and the Windham Regional Woodland Association. 

Sam Schneski, Windham County Forester, will explore the specifics of this new option  in the Use Value Appraisal (Current Use) program. This event is especially important for folks enrolled in the Current Use program or who are considering enrolling in the program, which requires a minimum of 27 acres. There are currently 200,000 acres of land in Windham County enrolled in the Current Use Program. Property owners in the program receive a reduction in property taxes for agreeing to manage the forests according to an approved forestry plan. Prior to the new option, there were only a few available exceptions to managing the forestland for timber production. The new rules now recognize the value of  old growth forests in maintaining biodiversity. The goal of the new option is to accelerate the development of “old growth forest” conditions, which are estimated to be less than 1% of Vermont’s forestland. Sam will explain the recently released guidelines from Vermont Dept. of Forests, Parks and Recreation covering the criteria for eligibility to use the new option. 

Attendees are required to wear masks for the protection of everyone’s health.