Reading the Forested Landscape

Since 1976, Tom Wessels has offered a full and original portrait of the history of New England’s forests. He’s been teaching an approach to natural history that enables us to see the forest for the trees. By coming to a fuller understanding of our home ground, we’re able to regain a real sense of place.

Tom brings alive the intricate, interwoven, and ever-changing story of our region, offering a course comparable to tracking not animals, but forested landscapes. “This is a story of home, often fascinating, sometimes familiar, occasionally surprising, the place we know so well but know so little about.” (Ann Zwinger)

Unraveling forest mysteries can often be a perplexing challenge. Tom calls his process forest forensics, because it’s similar to gleaning evidence from a crime scene to figure out what happened in the past. He uses many kinds of evidence to unravel complex forest histories involving the abandonment of agricultural land, the impact of hurricanes and other types of windstorms, past logging activity, and the impacts of blights and fire. This process demands only some new observational skills and the knowledge about the kinds of clues to look for.

Tom Wessels literally wrote the book on understanding the stories that are etched into our landscapes. His expertise is widely respected. He notes changes in the forest and then looks for clues to explain these changes. No detail is too small.

As good as Tom’s book is, the experience of exploring a forest with him is much better. Once you spend a weekend in the woods with Tom, you won’t look at a forest – any forest – the same way. A passionate and gifted explainer, he can make you feel as though you’re discovering the secrets of the universe alongside him. That’s what we are offering on this retreat, which is limited to 18 people.

Tom Wessels is a professor of Ecology at Antioch New England Graduate School and author of Reading the Forested Landscape: A Natural History of New England and The Granite Landscape: A Natural History of America’s Mountain Domes, From Acadia to Yosemite. He chairs the Robert and Patricia Switzer Foundation, which fosters environmental leadership through graduate fellowships and organizational grants. His book The Myth of Progress and the Laws of Sustainability will be out in September.

Tom Wessels “is equal parts Sherlock Holmes and Aldo Leopold and will help many thousands of New Englanders answer the questions that come to mind as they wander this landscape of stone walls, stunted apple trees, and towering hemlocks. Forget John Le Carre – it’s Tom Wessels you want on your nightstand.”
– Bill McKibben