From The Forest

On this week's show, we'll be talking to Learn Your Land's Founder--Adam Haritan. Learn Your Land is an educational resource designed to bring humans & wild places together. Adam Haritan is a nature enthusiast, observer, documenter, and faithful adherent to the land in western Pennsylvania. He leads various classes and workshops on ecology, plant and mushroom identification, wild food harvesting, nutritional and medicinal components of wild foods, and the benefits of nature connection. Over the years, Adam has created over 200 instructional videos that can be accessed on the Learn Your Land YouTube channel. For additional learning, you can visit Learn Your Land on Instagram and Facebook pages, which feature his latest ecological endeavors.

On this week's show we'll be talking to Scott Trager & his son Sammy from Northeast Off-Road Adventures (NORA) & Specialized Outdoor Adaptive Recreation (SOAR). They provide education and training for off-road vehicle use in the Catskill Mountains as well as outdoor activities to people with limited mobility. Northeast Off-Road Adventures, Inc (NORA- established 2011) offers 4WD & Overland training, driving tours, team outings and adventure programs serving commercial, government and private sector clients. NORA’s unique SOAR program helps guests and groups with mobility disabilities enjoy adaptive outdoor recreation. Venues include our private 75-acre mountain top facility in Ellenville, NY and Hunter Mountain Ski Resort. Our certified instructors and professional guides provide a highly structured learning experience with focus on safety. Located just 90 minutes from New York City, NORA is "Learning, Adventure and Fun." Scott Trager, MS, PMP, is a certified I4WDTA Off-Road Driving Instructor and founder of Northeast Off-Road Adventures (NORA), a premier off-road training and touring company operating in the Catskills for over a decade. He is also passionate about increasing outdoor accessibility for people with limited mobility through his work as Executive Director with SOAR Experiences. Scott's background is in software engineering and project management, including significant experience developing sophisticated real-time financial systems while working with and leading global teams.

On this week's show, we'll be talking to Restoration Ecologist--Dan Marshalla--about his research in Illinois regarding fire, oak regeneration, and invasive grasses like Japanese stiltgrass. Dan got his bachelor's degree in Environmental Science from the University of Notre Dame, where he was also the research assistant on a study of northern Alaskan black spruce. He has been a restoration ecologist for several organizations throughout the Midwest. The research discussed today on fire, invasive grass, and oaks is from one of the studies in his master's thesis from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the other study in the thesis was on how the understory plant community responds to varying fire regimes. He currently works at the Chicago Botanic Garden as the Plants of Concern program assistant, which is a community science rare and endangered plant monitoring program.

Every 3rd Wednesday we have Wood Artist, Gary Mead on the show to discuss a native tree, or something else forest-related. This month we'll be discussing the most abundant spruce trees in the Catskills--Norway & Red. Gary is the former owner of Fruitful Furnishings Sawmill & current owner of Gary Mead Gallery in Margaretville, Delaware County. He was born & raised on a dairy farm in New Kingston, Town of Middletown, Delaware County.

On this week's show, we'll be talking to Cornell University Associate Professor of Natural Resources Bernd Blossey about his 10-year study. Bernd and his team found that neither fertility control nor recreational hunting was effective at reducing whitetail deer populations or the pressure they place on native vegetation. Bernd was born and raised in northern Germany. In 1992, he moved to Cornell University, where he is a Professor directing the Ecology and Management of Invasive Plants Program. He also is the PI for the New York Invasive Species Research Institute.  A major part of Bernd's work is the development and implementation biological weed control programs using specialized insect herbivores.  Among his target plants are purple loosestrife, garlic mustard, water chestnut, Japanese knotweeds and invasive Phragmites. An ever-increasing focus of his team are investigations into impacts of multiple “stressors” including invasive plants, non-native earthworms, and deer on a wide range of native organisms.  He is intimately involved in different approaches to deer management at Cornell and in the surrounding municipalities, and he is the chair of the Cornell Deer Management Committee.  Bernd has developed a network or deer exclosures to study impact of deer on many species and processes, and is developing bioindicators to assess effects of different stressors, including deer.  The ultimate aim of this work is to increase the conservation values of all lands through development of best management practices.