Upcoming Events

Reading the Landscape of the Champlain Valley – with Alicia Daniel

June 3-4, 2023, 9 am – 5 pm

Join me and Alicia Daniel, Executive Director the Vermont Master Naturalist Program, in a Biodiversity University course on Reading the Landscape of the Champlain Valley.  The two-day course will provide you with a framework for integrating the pieces, patterns, and processes that shape the natural world.  I will lead a 3 hour session on June 4 looking at the interactions between the natural and cultural landscape features of the Champlain Valley. Offered through the North Branch Nature Center for $285 (financial support available).  For those interested, this course qualifies for 20 hours of professional development hours and continuing education credits. For more information and to register online, go to: https://northbranchnaturecenter.org/biou-2023-readinglandscape

 

Past Events

Walk and Talk Book Club with the Charlotte, Hinesburg, and Shelburne Libraries

April 29, 2023, 11 am – 12 noon, Charlotte Park and Wildlife Refuge, Greenbush Road

Join me and the librarians from the Charlotte, Hinesburg, and Shelburne Libraries for their next tri-town book walk. I’ll lead a discussion of William Cronon’s book, Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists and the Ecology of New England and help the group understand the local landscape through Cronon’s lens as we walk the trail.  Open to the public.

 

The  Muddy Brook Area’s Cultural Landscape Patterns and Their Connections to the Natural Landscape

April 16, 2023 (open to registered participants only)

Field trip for the Vermont Master Naturalist Program for the Muddy Brook Area in Williston, St. George, South Burlington, Shelburne, and Hinesburg.  See the VMN website for more information: https://vermontmasternaturalist.org/.

Cambridge’s Cultural Landscape Patterns and Their Connections to the Natural Landscape

April 8, 2023 (open to registered participants only)

Field trip for the Vermont Master Naturalist Program in Cambridge. Registration will open soon.  See the VMN website for more information: https://vermontmasternaturalist.org/.

Charlotte’s Cultural Landscape Patterns and Their Connections to the Natural Landscape

April 2, 2023 (open to registered participants only)

Field trip for the Vermont Master Naturalist Program in Charlotte. Registration will open soon.  See the VMN website for more information: https://vermontmasternaturalist.org/.

The Evolution of the Middlebury Area’s Cultural Landscape

March 12, 2023 (open to registered participants only)

Field trip for the Vermont Master Naturalist Program in the Middlebury Area. Registration will open soon.  See the VMN website for more information: https://vermontmasternaturalist.org/.

The Evolution of the Middlebury Area’s Cultural Landscape 

November 13, 2022 (open to registered participants only)

Field trip for the Vermont Master Naturalist Program in the Middlebury Area.  See the VMN website for more information: https://vermontmasternaturalist.org/.

The Poetry of Place

April 3, 2022, 3 pm, Carpenter-Carse Library in Hinesburg (via Zoom)

Join poet Laura Wisnieski and I as we do readings from our recently published works.  Laura’s will read selections from her new book of poetry, Sanctuary, Vermont, coming out in April 2022.  I will read several of my Connect the Dots columns published this past year in the Vermont Community Newspaper Group’s weekly papers in Chittenden County (The Other Paper, The Shelburne News, and The Citizen).  To get the link for the Zoom presentation, go to the Carpenter-Carse Library’s website and register: https://www.carpentercarse.org/all-programs/poetry-of-place-2022.

The Evolution of Burlington’s Cultural Landscape 

April 3, 2022, 10-12 (open to registered participants only)

Field trip for the Vermont Master Naturalist Program in Burlington.  Those eligible will be contacted by the VMN with more information.

Interpreting the Human Landscape Features of the Huntington Community Forest

April 12, 2021 (open to registered participants only)

Field trip with the UVM Field Naturalist graduate students to interpret the human landscape features in the new Huntington Community Forest. 

Little River State Park Landscape History

October 2, 2020 (open to registered participants only)

Field trip for UVM’s Field Naturalist Program’s graduate students to interpret the human features in the forest of Little River State Park.  We looked at cellar holes, barn foundations, old family cemeteries, sugarhouse foundations, and stone walls to understand the nineteenth and early twentieth century farming landscape history.

The Evolution of Burlington’s Cultural Landscape 

April 19, 2020 (open to registered participants only)

Planned as field trips and presentation for the Vermont Master Naturalist Program in Burlington.  But due to the public health crisis, altered to a webinar format with a PowerPoint presentation and a discussion for participants.  Information on doing self-guided walking tours of Burlington’s landscape evolution will be included.   See the VMN website for more information: https://vermontmasternaturalist.org/.

The Evolution of South Burlington’s Cultural Landscape 

March 29, 2020 (open to registered participants only)

Planned as field trips and presentation for the Vermont Master Naturalist Program in South Burlington.  But due to the public health crisis, altered to a webinar format with a PowerPoint presentation and discussion for participants.  See the VMN website for more information: https://vermontmasternaturalist.org/.

The Evolution of Hinesburg’s Cultural Landscape 

March 22, 2020 (open to registered participants only) – Postponed due to the pandemic. Reschedule date TBD.

Field trips and presentation for the Vermont Master Naturalist Program in Hinesburg.  See the VMN website for more information: https://vermontmasternaturalist.org/.

Jonesville’s Landscape History: Where the High Mountains Meet the Low River Valley

February 1, 2020, 10 am-1 pm (open to registered participants only)

Field trip, landscape interpretation, and potluck lunch for the alumni of the Vermont Master Naturalist Program.  Not open to the public.

Burlington Geographic: Humans and the Environment in Burlington Through Time

December 4, 2019, Main Street Landing Film House, 7-9 pm.  Open to the public.

Illustrated evening presentations for Burlington Geographic from Christine Vatovec from UVM on how environmental health and human health intersect, from Jane Dorney on how the Burlington environment has changed through time in relation to human health effects, from Dan Quinlan, the chair of the Vermont Climate and Health Alliance, and Walter Poleman, the founding director of the PLACE Program.  Refreshments will be served at the break.  To see the video of this presentation, go to: ttps://www.retn.org/show/human-health-and-environment-burlington-through-time  or https://vimeo.com/379815234 .

The Evolving Cultural and Natural Landscape of Huntington

October 24, 2019, 7:00 pm, Town Hall in Huntington Center

An illustrated evening presentation for the Huntington Historical and Community Trust’s Annual Meeting.  Open to the public.  A video of this presentation has been uploaded by Mount Mansfield Community Television to the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/huntingtonhistoricaltrustdorney10242019.  Also, see my blog post of November 30.

The Evolution of the Lone Rock Point Cultural Landscape

September 29, 2019 (open to registered participants only)

Guided field trip as part of the introduction to the 2019-20 Vermont Master Naturalist Program in Burlington.  Co-leading with Alicia Daniel, VMN Executive Director, and Laura Yayac.  See the VMN website for more information: https://vermontmasternaturalist.org/.

The Evolution of the Red Rocks Park Landscape in South Burlington

September  8, 2019, 10:00 – 4:00 pm (open to registered participants only – sign up to join the Master Naturalist Program in South Burlington this year to attend)

A field trip and presentation for the Vermont Master Naturalist Program in South Burlington.  See the VMN website for more information:  https://vermontmasternaturalist.org/.

 

Explore the Winooski Gorge with the Vermont Master Naturalists

August 31, 2019, 10:00 am – 12:30 pm, Winooski Gorge Park, South Burlington. Open to the public.

Explore the landscape of the Winooski Gorge area in South Burlington from geology to plants and animals to land use history and beyond.  With Co-Leader Alicia Daniel, Executive Director of the Vermont Master Naturalist Program.  Open to the public.

Champlain Colloquium: Examining the Legacy of Samuel de Champlain

August 1, 2019, 8:30 am – 4:30 pm, Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, Ferrisburgh

I was a panelist on a session called “Examining Champlain’s Maps and Drawings” and gave an illustrated talk about Champlain’s approach to cartography in the early 17th century.  Open to the public with a fee.

The Evolution of South Hero’s Cultural Landscape 

April 27, 2019 (open to registered participants only)

Field trips and presentation for the Vermont Master Naturalist Program in South Hero.

 

The Evolution of the Cultural Landscape in the Bristol 5 Towns Area

March 30, 2019 (open to registered participants only)

Field trips and presentation for the Vermont Master Naturalist Program in the Bristol 5 Towns area.

The Evolution of Burlington’s Cultural Landscape

March 24, 2019 (open to registered participants only)

Field trips and presentation for the Vermont Master Naturalist Program in Burlington.

The Evolution of Richmond’s Cultural Landscape

March 9, 2019 (open to registered participants only)

Field trips and presentation for the Vermont Master Naturalist Program in Richmond.

The Evolution of Richmond’s Cultural Landscape

February 10, 2019, 3 pm at the Richmond Free Library

An illustrated presentation for the Richmond Historical Society’s Annual Meeting and Winter Program.  Open to the public.  For a video of the event, go to the Mount Mansfield Community Television’s archive: https://archive.org/details/mmtvvt-Evolution_of_Richmond_s_Cultural_Landscape_2-10-19

How to Use UVM’s Special Collections Resources for Place-Based Education

Friday, January 11, 2019 at UVM’s Billings Library (open to registered participants only)

A presentation for teachers in the Lake Champlain Basin Program’s Watershed for Every Classroom course.

Using LiDAR to Find and Interpret 19th Century Landscape Features

October  27, 2018 in Woodstock, open to the public

Presentation for the League of Local Historical Societies and Museums Annual Meeting.