Nov 9-11, 2007
Since 1976, Tom Wessels has been offering a full and original history of New England’s landscape that enables us to see the forest for the trees. To develop intimacy with people it is necessary to understand their history; the same holds true for developing an intimate relationship with place. By coming to a fuller understanding of our home ground, we’re able to regain a real connection to place.
Tom brings alive the intricate, interwoven, and ever-changing story of our region. Tom calls his approach forest forensics, since it’s similar to gleaning evidence from a crime scene. No detail is too small. Through such common features as the shapes of trees, the nature of scars on their trunks, the decay pattern of stumps, the construction of stonewalls, and the general lay of the land, intricate stories of a forest’s history can be discerned. Abandoned pastures grazed by sheep, intense windstorms, logging events, beavers, and the impacts of blights and fire will be explored. During one session we’ll explore a forest holding the tallest trees in the northeast. Learn new observational skills and the kinds of clues to look for.
Tom Wessels literally wrote the book on understanding the stories that are etched into our landscapes. 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. Reading the stories etched into the landscape will help forge an inclusive connection that shows us we’re truly a part of the land, not apart from it. Limited to 18 people.
Tom Wessels is a professor of Ecology at Antioch University New England and author of Reading the Forested Landscape: A Natural History of New England, The Granite Landscape: A Natural History of America’s Mountain Domes, and The Myth of Progress: Toward a Sustainable Future.
“(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