Master of Science Degree

Charles Bettigole.
B.A.   2005  Environmental Studies -- Middlebury College.
Thesis:  Normative Standards for Land Use in Vermont:  The Effects of Social Norms on Wildlife Occupancy.

Corinne Brauer. 
B.A.  2008  Biology -- Drew University.
Thesis:  A Comparison of Acoustic Monitoring Methods for Common Anurans of the Northeastern United States.

Michelle Brown. 
B.S.  2001  Environmental Science -- Binghamton University.
Thesis:  Predicting Impacts of Future Human Population Growth and Development on Occupancy Rates and Landscape Carrying Capacity of Forest-Dependent Birds.

Elizabeth Calabrese. 
B.S.  1987  Architecture -- Louisiana State University.
Thesis:  The Architecture of Healing.

Kimberly Coleman. 
B.S. 2008  Environmental Studies -- The University of Vermont.
Thesis:  The Role of Service-Learning Partnerships in Building Social Capital for Natural Resource Management:  A Case Study of the Harwood Union Forest Project.

Eric Davis. 
B.S.  2007  Environmental Science -- The University of Vermont.
Thesis:  Seasonal Changes in Mercury Stocks and Methylation Ratios in Vernal Pools in the Northeastern United States.

Amanda Egan. 
B.A.  2005  International Relations and Russian Studies -- Colgate University.
Thesis:  Forest Carbon Projects in the Carpathian Mountains:  an Assessment of Potential Community Impacts and Roles.

Ruth Holli Howard. 
B.S. 1991 Park Management and Tourism -- University of New Hampshire.
Thesis:  Methods for Mapping Zones in the Urban-Rural Gradient to Strengthen Ecological Vulnerability Planning.

Grahm Leitner. 
B.A.  2001.  Geography/ Conservation Biology -- University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Project:  The Harwood Forest Project:  Community-Based Forestry in Vermont Public Schools.

Michael McDonald. 
B.S.  2004.  Environmental Science -- The University of Vermont.
Thesis:  Multitrophic Interactions:  Moose Herbivory Effects Nest Site Selection.

Ryan Morra. 
B.S.   2008.  Biology -- Warren Wilson College.
Project:  Adjuntas: Paisaje Naturaly Social: Developing a Place-Based Landscape Analysis and Community Engagement (PLACE) Program with the Community of Adjuntas, Puerto Rico.

Alison Nihart. 
B.A.  2007 Studio Art -- Skidmore College.
Thesis:  Identifying a Cohesive Urban Agriculture Policy for Burlington, Vermont.

Claire Polfus. 
B.A.  2008.  Environmental Studies -- Middlebury College.
Project:  Perspectives on Land Management in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont.

Emily Russell-Roy. 
B.A.  2006 Biology and Environmental Studies -- Williams College.
Thesis:  Rehabilitation Forestry and Carbon Market Access on Overharvested Former Industrial Northern Hardwood Forests.

Veronica Sosa-Gonzalez. 
B.S.  2010 Environmental Sciences -- University of Puerto Rico
Thesis:  Determining Long-Term Erosion Rates in Panama: An Application of ¹⁰Be.

Connor Stedman. 
B.S. 2009 Eco-Social Design -- Gaia University.
Project:  Agroforestry in the Working Landscape: Systems and Applications in the Northeast.

Aiko Weverka.
B.A. 2009 Biology and Environmental Studies -- Middlebury College.
Thesis:  Remote Sensing of Productivity in Northeastern Forests.

Katharine White. 
B.S. 2010 Natural Resources -- The University of Vermont.
Thesis:  Remote Sensing of Spring Phenology:  An Assessment of Methods, Indices and Field Metrics in Northern Forests.

Sara Williams. 
B.S. 2007 Anthropology and Biology -- Vanderbilt University.
Thesis:  Effects of Forest Fragment Characteristics on Mesocarnivore Occurrence in the Champlain Valley, Vermont.

Aaron Witham. 
B.A. 2005 Creative Writing -- University of Maine.
Thesis:  Inter-organizational Issue Networks Concerned with Sustainable Transportation Policy:  An Examination of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont.

Helen Yurchenco. 
B.S.  2009 Biology and Environmental Studies -- Warren Wilson College.
Thesis:  Impacts of Soil Freezing and Understory Vegetation Removal on the Biodiversity of Ground-Dwelling Insects and Snails.

Doctor of Philosophy Degree

Todd Comen.  
M.P.S.  1989  Hotel Administration -- Cornell University;
B.S. 1981 Economics -- Lewis and Clark College.
Dissertation:  Multifunctionality and the Evolving American Landscape:    A Case Study of the Intervale Landscape.

Anjanette DeCarlo.
M.A.    1999 Geography -- Hunter College;
B.A. 1993 Environmental Science -- SUNY Purchase.
Dissertation:  Sustainable Strategies for Implementing Development Assistance:  Enterprise, Women's Empowerment and NGO's in Africa and the Diaspora.

Joshua Halman. 
M.S. 2007 Natural Resources -- The University of Vermont;
B.S. 2001 Botany -- The University of Vermont.
Dissertation:  Influence of Calcium and Aluminum Availability on the Growth, Carbon Relations and Stress Response of Northern Forest Trees.

Anna Mika. 
M.S.. 2008 Environmental Biology -- University of Guelph;
B.S. 2006 Biological Science -- University of Guelph.
Dissertation:  Impacts of Land-Use Change and Wood Bioenergy Harvesting on Carbon Storage and Net Emissions in the Northeastern United States.

Peter Pettengill.
M.S.E.L.  2006 Environmental Law - Vermont Law School;
B.S. 2003 Environmental Economics -- University of New Hampshire.
Dissertation:  Managing Transportation in Parks and Outdoor  Recreation.

Michele Romolini.
M.E.S. 2006 Urban Environments -- University of Pennsylvania;
B.A. 2000 Biology -- University of Pennsylvania.
Dissertation:  Adaptive Governance for 21st Century Sustainable Cities: Comparing Stewardship Networks in Baltimore and Seattle.

Helena Voinov Vladich. 
M.S.  1983 Applied Mathematics -- Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.
Dissertation:  Participatory Spatial Analysis, High Resolution Remote Sensing Data and Ecosystem Services Valuation as a Tool for Environmental Consensus Building.

On behalf of the Rubenstein Community, we would like to congratulate the following faculty on their recent promotions:

Adrian Ivakhiv and Austin Troy to Full Professor; Kimberly Wallin to Research Associate Professor; and Matt Kolan to Senior Lecturer.

We would also like to announce the successful re-appointments of Jed Murdoch, Jen Pontius, and Terri Donovan.

Tree canopy’s density indicates wealth of D.C. neighborhoods

There’s a surprisingly telling barometer of income disparity in the Washington region that rarely arises in conversations about the haves and have-nots….trees.  Data on D.C.’s tree canopy was compiled by the University of Vermont’s Spatial Analysis Laboratory (directed by Jarlath O’Neil-Dunne) and analyzed by The Washington Post.  Read the story here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/environmentalists-face-challenges-trying-to-plant-in-less-green-neighborhoods/2013/04/25/21294968-ad27-11e2-a198-99893f10d6dd_story.html

Student Lounge Photo Contest

With 112 votes submitted, there was a lot of enthusiasm around the first ever Aiken Student Lounge Photo Contest.  Because of a tie for fifth place, SIX photos will be enlarged on canvas and hung in the lounge. 

 Congratulations to . . . .

1. George Faison and his underwater photo with a giant grouper, taken at Kampachi Farms in Hawaii where he interned last summer

2. Clare Erhart and her stunning shot of two humpback whales from her Australian summer course

3. Michael Lawlor and his mountaintop picture from his study abroad experience in Patagonia

4. Katie Walker and her sunset shot of fellow RSENR bird-watching folk at Goose Island State Park while on Allan Strong's Texas Wildlife Field Trip

5. Robyn Bath and her Amazon tree shot that reminded her that "the only constant is change", a lesson she has carried with her since NR 001

6. Beth Gagnon and her action shot on the Kennebec River from her internship with Riverdrivers Whitewater Rafting Company in Maine

Land Stewardship (LANDS) Interns Ready to Work for Community Partners this Summer.

The 2013 LANDS conservation crew, through a partnership program with the Student Conservation Association (SCA), is ready to serve local community partners this summer by conducting natural resource inventories, GIS/GPS mapping projects, land conservation monitoring and assessment, managements plans, and more.  These upper class college students, selected from well over 50 applicants, will be providing consulting services to conservation non-profits, towns, and state and federal agencies for the 7th year, and this year will be helping to manage the UVM Natural Areas.  UVM Majors in FOR, ENSC, ENVS, and NR, Sylvia Kinosian, Rachel Markey, Kristian Moore, Samantha Smith, Michael Storace, Martine Wong will be joined by students from SUNY ESF, Central Michigan University, and Brazil (through the Institute for International Education and the Brazil Science without Borders Program). They will be operating out of their "consulting office" in Aiken 308G, so stop by to say hi if you are wondering what they are up to!

BOOKS

Ivahiv, Adrian J. Ecologies of the Moving Image: Cinema, Affect, Nature. May 2013. Wilfrid Laurier University Press, Ontario, Canada, 435 pp.

Renfrew, R. B., editor. 2013. The Second Atlas of Breeding Birds of Vermont. University Press of New England, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA. Including contributions from: Associate Dean Allan Strong, Lecturer Ernie Buford, and Alumni Rosalind Renfrew and Scott Schwenk.  Read more...

PUBLICATIONS

Murdoch, J., H. Davie, M. Galbadrah, T. Donovan, and R. P. Reading.  2013.  Do Siberian marmots influence toad-headed agama occupancy?  Examining the influence of marmot colonies and three steppe habitats in Mongolia.  Journal of Arid Environments 92:76-80.

Lochet, A., J. E. Marsden, B. J. Fryer and S. A. Ludsin. 2013. Instability of statolith elemental signatures revealed in newly-metamorphosed sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus).  Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 00:00-00 (in press).

Howe, E. A., A. Lochet, C. P. Hand, J. E. Marsden, S. A. Ludsin, and B. J. Fryer.  2013.  Tributary contributions to the parasitic and spawning adult population of sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) in Lake Champlain using elemental signatures. J. Great Lakes Res. 00:00-00 (in press).

Richardson A.D.; Carbone, M.S.; Keenan, T.; Czimczik, C.I.; Hollinger, D.Y; Murakami, P.F.; Schaberg, P.G.; Xu, X. 2013. Seasonal dynamics and age of the stemwood nonstructural carbohydrates in temperate forest trees. New Phytologist 197:850-861.

Pardo, L.H.; Semaoune, P.; Schaberg, P.G.; Eagar, C.; Sebilo, M. 2013. Patterns in δ¹⁵N in roots, stems, and leaves of sugar maple and beech seedlings, saplings, and mature trees. Biogeochemistry 112:275-291.

Green, M.B.; Bailey, A.S.; Bailey, S.W.; Battles, J.J.; Campbell, J.L.; Driscoll, C.T., Fahey, T.J.; Lepine, L.C.; Likens, G.E.; Ollinger, S.V.; Schaberg, P.G. 2013. Decreased water flowing from a forest amended with calcium silicate. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 110:5999-6003.

Prospects for land-use sustainability on the agricultural frontier of the Brazilian Amazon 
G. L. Galford, B. Soares-Filho & C. E. P. Cerri published in: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B
Ecology, economy, and management of an agroindustrial frontier landscape in the southeast Amazon (http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/site/2013/Amazon.xhtml) Link to article: http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/lookup/doi/10.1098/rstb.2012.0171

Abstract: Reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the Amazon are contingent upon improved land-use management, driven by the public policies, economic incentives, and social responsibility. Continued low rates of deforestation must be met through increased agricultural production, including ranching intensification, crop diversification, double cropping and rotation, and integrated soil fertility management. However, intensified agricultural production may also increase greenhouse gas emissions, which should be monitored to consider the trade-offs between production and emissions. Incentives to landowners are critical to ensure that negative environmental impacts are reduced through best management practices for increasing agricultural production. Communication between stakeholders will be essential to meet the principles of low-carbon rural development.

PRESENTATIONS

The RSENR Park Studies Laboratory has presented at the 2013 George Wright Society Conference on Parks, Protected Areas, and Cultural Sites; the 25^th Annual Northeastern Recreation Research (NERR) Symposium; and the UVM Transportation Research Center (TRC) Expo. Here is the full list of presentation topics.

AWARDS

Evelyn Boardman, a senior in ENSC Water Resources received an undergraduate travel award from the Society for Freshwater Science’s Graduate Resource Committee and Endowment Committee for attending the Society for Freshwater Science annual meeting in Jacksonville, Florida this May 2013.  She is presenting her thesis/summer REU research on invertebrates in intermittent streams of the Talladega National Forest in Childersburg, Alabama.

Beth Rutila, a senior in RSENR, won the best student poster award at the recent EPSCoR Research on Adaptation to Climate Change Student Symposium held in Burlington. The title of the poster was "Seasonal changes in the phosphorus composition of Missisquoi Bay sediments". Courtney Giles, a post-doc with the RACC project, has been her mentor and Jason Stockwell has been her faculty sponsor.

Postdoc Courtney Giles (left) and Elizabeth Rutila (right) present their research poster entitled "Seasonal Changes in the Phosphorus Composition of Missisquoi Bay Sediments".

 RSENR Alum, Austin Humphries (WFB '06) (as a student of Dr. David Hirth), won the "People's Choice Award" at the Beneath the Waves Film Festival in Savannah, Georgia in March. His short documentary, entitled "Mikono ya Wavuvi (In Fishermen's Hands)" is about marine conservation in Kenya and the struggle between fishermen saving the ocean or saving their livelihood. Austin is currently working on his PhD through Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa, and living in Mombasa, Kenya, doing field work. His research involves studying the ecology of how humans alter coastal ecosystems and what this means for biodiversity and ecological processes, using oyster reefs in estuaries and tropical coral reefs as study sites. You can see Austin's award-winning short documentary on his website, or on vimeo.

COURSE NEWS

Biomass to Biofuels Course Student service learning project on Cost Analysis of Oilseed Crop Production for Biodiesel. The writeup by the student:

My name is Chuck Custeau. I am a Loan Officer for Yankee Farm Credit in St. Albans, VT. Yankee Farm Credit is very interested in the biomass fuel industry in Vermont. Yankee works with many area farmers and landowners and recognize this as a way to increase farm profits. I took the Biomass to Bio Fuels course in 2012. For my project I did an analysis to see if a dairy farmer could realize an economic benefit from dedicating 20% of their acreage to growing an oil seed for bio fuel conversion. In my analysis the dairy had an adequate land base, using acres that would have rotated in to corn or hay and raised an oil seed crop for one year. The analysis compared sunflowers, canola, and soybeans. The value of the by-product meal was analyzed as well for its value as a substitute for purchased grain. The results of the analysis were favorable to biofuel production. James MacLeish who is taking the course in 2013 is continuing the project developing a variable price framework comparing fuel cost and meal values so that farmers can use current prices to make a planting decision.

Biomass to Biofuels Course Student develops a business plan to produce local wood pellets in Vermont.  The story by the student, Tom Tailer, Executive Director of Vermont Sustainable Heating Initiative (VSHI):

I had the profound pleasure of taking the Biomass to Biofuels course in 2011. As part of the course, I developed a business plan to produce local wood pellets in Vermont. At the same time VSHI was working on a related feasibility study with the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission and Biomass Energy Resource Center (BERC). Part of my work for the course was a survey of what Vermonters wanted as a biomass Utility. Most wanted it locally owned, locally run, and to work with the state on low income heating and environmental issues. Biomass derived energy has great potential for both economic and environmental benefit to Vermont. It also has great potential for harm if not thought out with care. Can we affordably heat our homes and businesses with biofuels? Yes. The Vermont Sustainable Heating Initiative has placed 22 pellet stoves in low income homes to both save money for our neighbors in need and the state program. VSHI has developed a Comprehensive Biomass Energy plan for Vermont. We need to use our biomass resources wisely to both provide for our needs today and also protect the interest of those who will live here after us. If done well we will save $200,000,000 a year while keeping $200,000,000 in the local economy. If done well it will be sustainable and provide jobs and ecosystem stewardship all across Vermont. VSHI?s work on the Vermont Comprehensive Biomass Plan evolved directly out of the Biomass to Biofuels course.

Contact the course Lead Instructor Anju Dahiya (adahiya@uvm.edu ) for details about the Biomass to Biofuels course and other service learning projects in progress. The course website is: http://go.uvm.edu/7y1rr

Lecturer Liz Calabrese's Restorative Environmental Design Studio course has been working on a plan for the Moran Plant for Burlington's Request for Concepts.  As the city reviews other proposals, they hope to raise awareness and generate as much excitement around the project as possible. A team of students submitted their designs to the Mayor's office.

Attached are the concept graphics, and their work can also be followed on Facebook and twitter:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Moran-Ecological/543608248995537?ref=tn_tnmn


Twitter: @MoranEcological
Email: info@room9redevelopment.com

Project Synopsis:

We envision a mixed-use, resource efficient and energy self-sufficient Moran building, housing a collaboration of for- and non-profit businesses. We have three central goals:

Rebuild a model for energy innovation, recognizing the working history of the site while reducing waste and generating clean power. Proven systems for anaerobic digestion and combined heat and power (CHP) will process organic waste – food scraps & spent brewing grains – to produce renewable energy on-site. This system will exceed the energy requirements of the building, offering heating and cooling at reduced rates to resident businesses and distributing excess power to the Burlington electric grid.

Produce and serve local food and beverages year-round while providing urban agriculture education and training. The Farmhouse Group will develop and operate casual farm-to-table eateries and a banquet kitchen with an emphasis on showcasing quality Vermont products at affordable prices. The banquet kitchen and Farmhouse Group Catering will service event needs for the building. An on-site greenhouse will produce year-round organic vegetables and fish, meeting market demand, while providing education in cutting edge urban agriculture. Designed to eliminate waste and fuel renewable energy for the site, Zero Gravity Craft Brewery will act as a keystone organization, creating synergistic business opportunities through value added products from the waste stream, while producing world-class beer. Fruit and grain crops from the Intervale and area farms will serve as raw materials for the beer, and spent grains will be used to produce gourmet mushrooms, fish feed and feedstock for renewable energy.

Foster community recreation and education by partnering with existing Burlington organizations to increase access and connection to the lake and waterfront. Offer education programs and recreation resources which are both valued by and valuable to the surrounding community, making the Moran Plant more then a destination, but a relevant fixture of the community.  PDF

FOR 228 Ecosystems Ecology Course Blogs

Research Assistant Professor, Gillian Galford’s FOR 228 Ecosystems Ecology course would like to share their blogs from the spring semester. Topics range from undergraduate perspectives on Envisioning Environment to the Millennium Ecosystems Assessment, soils and their impacts on poverty and politics, to reflection on ecological concepts in the context of their own lives and experiences. For their reflections on climate, students wrote about places they've lived, traveled, will travel to or daydream about and how each place's climate is uniquely developed.

You can view the whole collection on the Storify page (http://storify.com/ecosystems/ecosystems) or from the provided links to the specific blogs below.

List of Authors and Blogs. Some are anonymous.

Nate Baker, Senior

http://natebakerecology.blogspot.com/

Ruth Shafer, Junior ENSC and Art

http://ecosystecology.wordpress.com/

Aviva Gottesman, Senior

http://vivecology.blogspot.com/

Eduardo Rodriguez, RSENR PhD student

http://ecosystecology.wordpress.com/

Raechel Surprenant, Senior

http://rsurpren.wordpress.com/

Josh Petter, Senior ENVS

http://grantstcommune.blogspot.com/

Anonymous

http://anotherstudent13.wordpress.com/

Stephanie Bilodeau, Senior

http://sbilodeaueco228.blogspot.com/

Amy Falcao, Senior

http://alfalcao.blogspot.com/

Sarah Ford, RSENR Masters Student

http://saraheford.wordpress.com/

Desiree Mack, Junior

http://storify.com/Desimack#stories

Anonymous

http://narwhils.blogspot.com/

Elizabeth (Bess) Perry

I will be joining the Rubenstein School this fall as a Natural Resources doctoral student with Dr. Bob Manning. I am enthusiastic about exploring parks, how they are created, and how people interact with them. While with the Rubenstein School, I am looking forward to pursuing research interests related to these concepts, such as science communication, community engagement, and park relevancy strategies as we steward our protected area systems into a second century.

I am originally from Connecticut. I moved west for college and earned my B.S. in Natural Resources Ecology – Conservation Biology at the University of Idaho. Afterward, I worked with the National Park Service’s Klamath Inventory and Monitoring Network for several years before delving into my master’s degree at Oregon State University. I recently completed an internship at Grand Teton National Park and currently am in the final term of my Forest Ecosystems and Society M.S. and Marine Resource Management graduate certificate studies. My thesis project focuses on Oregon coastal residents’ perceptions of newly established state marine reserves. My other interests include creating art, running trails, and practicing Nepali.

The Rubenstein PhD Fellowship that I received will be a tremendous help as I pursue my doctoral degree. This fellowship will definitely support my education and research endeavors as I work towards better comprehending people’s relationship with natural resources and specifically gaining a richer understanding of the social dimensions of parks. I am looking forward to the move back east this summer and joining the Rubenstein School community at UVM.

Stephanie Juice

I am originally from Pittsford, New York.  In May 2004, I received my B.S. from the Department of Natural Resources in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University.  I conducted my undergraduate thesis research on the effects of acid deposition on the health and mycorrhizal infection rate of sugar maple seedlings in Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest.

After finishing my degree, I worked as a research technician in various places including Toolik Lake, Alaska; Guanare, Venezuela; Harvard Forest, Massachusetts; and Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, New Hampshire.  I also volunteered in the Peace Corps in Bolivia through the natural resources management program.  There, I conducted environmental education programs with rural farmers and mothers' groups and also collaborated with teachers to open a library where we ran a variety of enrichment programs for children.

Since fall 2009, I have been working in the Boston University Biology Department as a research technician.  In this position, I conduct laboratory and field research to examine the effects of climate change and atmospheric deposition on plant-microbial interactions and nutrient cycling in temperate forests.

Under the mentorship of Dr. Carol Adair, I plan to study the biogeochemical consequences of climate change in northeastern forests.  I am specifically interested in how climate change affects the retention and loss of carbon, water, and nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorous from northeastern forests.  These biogeochemical cycles are relevant to the future ecology of the northeast region and are critical to ecosystem services, such as soil fertility and water quality that affect human health and the economy.  By conducting this research, I hope to make valuable contributions to this field to help inform sound environmental policies.

The Rubenstein Fellowship will afford me the resources and opportunities to fully pursue my research and educational interests and, as such, greatly aid my formation as a scientist and educator.  It will allow me to dedicate my time to learning how to conduct the research that I find both intellectually stimulating and of great importance considering current rates of anthropogenically-induced environmental change.  As a Rubenstein fellow, I hope to make valuable contributions to my field of ecosystem ecology, as well as engage with students and the public to share research findings. 

A Rubenstein School reception will take place immediately BEFORE the ceremony in the Aiken Center and in a tent on the lawn between the Aiken, Stafford, and Hills Buildings from 11:00am to 12:30pm.  Food and beverages will be served.

More information on the Rubenstein School ceremony

More information on the complete UVM ceremony

Everyday I think about my frustration with certain aspects of our civilization, how bad the news can be, and how I want to make things better.  I’d like you to take a minute to read the earnest RSENR mission and acknowledge how far we are from achieving it in the wider world.  Because maintaining the integrity of natural systems and achieving a sustainable human community is my mission as well trying to disseminate my knowledge and skills to help everyone become environmentally responsible and accountable people.

Everyday each of us makes about 3000 decisions.  Most of these decisions are virtually inconsequential, some are of moderate importance, but from time to time they can impact the entire course of our own or others’ lives.  Imagine if there was a practical, common sense process for making important decisions that results in transparent, well-reasoned decisions.  Now imagine if the world used this process and applied it to addressing our ecological challenges.

The process for making better decisions is called structured decision making (SDM).  If you are at all familiar with this approach, you may think of it as a complex process, but the beauty of SDM is that it is a scalable, common sense method that can be tailored to any problem.

While I’ve seen SDM used for challenging environmental problems, at its core, it consists of five components:  1) identify the problem, 2) clarify the objectives, 3) name the alternatives, 4) predict the consequences, and 5) evaluate the trade-offs and decide.  It can be quite simple, for example: 1) It might rain tomorrow, 2) I want to stay dry but unencumbered, 3) I could take an umbrella, or not, and 4) the weather forecast says 20% chance of rain. 5) I will stay dry with the umbrella, but the umbrella is heavy and there is little chance of rain, so I leave it at home.

That quick process allowed me to identify the important trade-off of being dry vs. being unencumbered and select the option (no umbrella) that best meets those objectives given the low chance of rain.

Some of the more difficult decisions my efforts have contributed to include sea-level rise adaptation strategies in San Francisco Bay salt marshes, cormorant management plans, adaptive management of New England cottontails, and improved quota allocation for Fraser River sockeye salmon.  While each step for these decisions required more detail, the process remained the same.

Because there are too many problems for myself and other SDM practitioners to address ourselves, I’ve collaborated closely with several leaders in the field while taking and assisting courses at the National Conservation Training Center (NCTC).  I also developed and taught an intro SDM course for students here in RSENR last fall.

Student feedback included comments such as, “After coming into this class with little to no knowledge of how to make an informed decision in a structured way, besides using a pros and cons list, I now feel as though I have some really useful resources at my disposal.” and “I’m surprised there hasn’t been something like this course before! Seems like learning how to make management decisions is pretty important for aspiring natural resources professionals!” This enforces my belief that SDM is a crucial skill for natural resource management.

In the near future, I will have articles on a technique for estimating the value of mapping information and evaluating the ability of many techniques to estimate harvested populations.  I will also be sharing my skills both locally through consultation for an environmental decision making course at Champlain College and nationally back at NCTC in June for a SDM workshop focused on Gulf of Maine Atlantic salmon management. 

If you are interested in more about my work or anything SDM related, don’t hesitate to contact me at jwcummin@uvm.edu or check out either the UVM overview of SDM website (http://www.uvm.edu/rsenr/vtcfwru/spreadsheets/?Page=sdm/sdm.htm) or the NCTC SDM website (http://nctc.fws.gov/courses/SDM/about.html).

Every graduating class hears how they are entering into a brave new world. A world unlike their parents, filled with new challenges and opportunities. This May's class is no different, with one major exception. On May 9th, the planet officially crossed the milestone of 400 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The last time the earth hit this mark was in the Pliocene, over 3 million years ago, when as National Geographic notes, “horses and camels lived in the high Arctic [and] seas were at least 30 feet higher.”

The Class of 2013 graduates into the Anthropocene, the unofficial geological epoch marked by the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and measured by the ticking of the parts per million clock.  At 280 ppm, the Class of 1813 graduated into a young country still warring with colonial powers and rapidly expanding westward.  At 300 ppm, the Class of 1913 entered a society on the brink of the first of two World Wars and a globalizing economy.  At 400 ppm, this year's graduates step beyond human-made boundaries of country and economy and into an uncertain future of surpassing planetary thresholds.

At current rates of emissions, we'll be at 450 in two decades, a level with a 50/50 chance of stabilizing global temperature increases to 2 degrees C, a climate thought to be within our abilities to adapt. If we blow past 450, all bets are off.

How are we preparing our students for this future? As passive observers or active change agents? As 19th century foot soldiers, 20th century factory workers, or 21st century consumers? Or will the Class of 400 write a new, post-industrial narrative? A narrative that leads to an age of action that bends the curve and redefines progress. A story that moves away from exploitation and externalization, to one rooted in restoration and resilience.

The famed science fiction writer Ursula Le Guin wrote, “There are no right answers to wrong questions.” We have the responsibility to ask the right questions, even if they lead to answers that no one wants to hear. Our University's land grant mission demands an education with social purpose. Our School's environmental ethos compels us to practice what we preach. Graduating the Class of 2013 is a milestone in our evolution, not an endpoint in our advances in education, research, and service to society.

I hope to see many of you this weekend to celebrate our May milestones together, and I look forward to right questions, brave answers, and new milestones in the school year ahead.

Jon D. Erickson
Interim Dean

In a packed Aiken green conference room, David Mears, who is this year’s Rubenstein School Commencement speaker, described for faculty, staff, and students his visions for stronger collaboration: a student internship program with the State, teaching by state personnel, brown bag lunches, researcher collaborations, and better avenues of communicating faculty research results for state practitioners.  RSENR attendees eagerly offered more suggestions and ways to make David’s visions reality.

Michael Snyder’s visit to the Aiken Center also filled the room with enthusiastic RSENR members.  As a former student, research staff member, and lecturer in the School, Mike has witnessed changes, particularly in the forestry program, that he feels should be addressed. At the same time, to expand capacity in his department and strengthen a partnership with the School, Michael proposed creating a Vermont forest health institute to re-build shared needs in forestry and recreation in the Rubenstein School and the State of Vermont.

Commissioner Pat Berry of the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife, Secretary Deb Markowitz (UVM '83) of the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, and Secretary Lawrence Miller of the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development have been invited for Fall meetings.

To remind you, the RGSA was born out of the former RSENR Graduate Student Advisory Board (GSAB). In order to have a stronger voice in the community and a more inclusive and organized structure, the RGSA was organized with tremendous leadership from Ph.D. student Rebecca Gorney and many others and was voted into existence by Rubenstein graduate students in the spring of 2012 and formally recognized by the UVM Graduate Student Senate thereafter.

Faculty and staff have recently mentioned to us how great it is to see the graduate students organized into a new structure, and we see this as another crucial step towards a stronger shared governance system within RSENR. All RSENR graduate students are members of the association – so when you say “RGSA,” you are always referring to the hundred-odd (or should we say the one-hundred, odd) master’s and Ph.D students.

The organization’s officers, known as the RGSA Executive Committee, were recently elected for next year, and we are pleased to announce the following positions: Sarah Pears as President; Christine Peterson as Aiken Chair (Vice-President); Sam Parker as Treasurer; Jeff O’Donnell as Communications Chair; and Clare Crosby as Social Chair.

Many thanks to Nathan Reigner, Becca Pincus, Kate Ostroot, Ryan Morra, and Ellen Rovelstad for serving in these roles during RGSA’s first year.

Particular accomplishments of the RGSA in 2012-2013 must be highlighted. These include a very successfully undergraduate mentoring program headed by Becca Pincus, a Fall Seminar Speaker series organized by Monika Derrien and Chenin Limback, mini-grants awarded to graduate students for their research and travel to conferences, a well-attended open forum with Interim Dean Jon Erickson, and a slew of social events throughout the year.

Thank you to all the students, staff and faculty who came to those RGSA-sponsored community events like the Chili Cook-Off, Com-PIE-tition, and the monthly socials at various Burlington establishments. The final event of the year was the RGSA Graduation Picnic at Oakledge Park on Friday, May 10.

Rubenstein graduate students: keep your voices heard through the RGSA! This organization of graduate students and for graduate students is your chance to be involved in what is happening at RSENR. Don’t take it for granted – your thoughts, ideas, and opinions matter and we want to hear from you!

If you’d like to lend a hand with helping out for the new graduate student orientation, contact Christine (christine.peterson@uvm.edu). If you would like to help organize the Fall Speaker Series, contact Monika (monika.derrien@uvm.edu). As always, if you want to weigh in about the future of your graduate student experience, RGSA Executive Committee meetings are always open to all members – drop in next year or send an e-mail to rgsa@uvm.edu. Thanks for a great year!

A renewed Greening of Aiken group, calling themselves GoRSENR (Greening of RSENR) and led by Research Associate Gary Hawley (FOR ’78, MS-FOR ’82), is working to re-energize greening projects in Aiken such as educational features, art, and landscaping; push for installing 30 more solar panels at the Forest Service property on Spear Street to attain Net-Zero energy for Aiken; and promote energy efficiency renovations in other buildings affiliated with the Rubenstein School. Contact Gary if you would like to join in the efforts.

Participating in the UVM Office of Sustainability’s 5% Challenge, Interim Dean Jon Erickson is challenging the RSENR community to reduce energy use by 5% in all Rubenstein School buildings.  Facilities include Aiken, Bittersweet, Johnson House, the Rubenstein Lab and Forest Service Lab, and eventually the Jericho Research Forest.  Gary and the energy usage student intern team have participated in discussions with Burlington Electric Department and UVM about building changes to help in energy efficiency.

Students in Associate Professor Deane Wang’s service learning class, Ecology for Sustainability, in conjunction with the UVM Honors College, built a prototype green wall now displayed in the Aiken solarium.  They have proposed installing a full-scale green wall in Aiken to enhance aesthetics and improve air quality and acoustics.

On May 1^st, Greening of Aiken class interns presented posters, YouTube videos, and slide presentations to the School community describing the outcomes of their semester-long greening projects.  Projects involved work with School mentors on the green roof, the Eco-Machine, Aiken energy usage, and much more.  Project reports were included in the March 2013 RSENR Enewsletter.  Read more about the class on their Greening of Aiken Wiki.

Gary reports that the Aiken green roof is fully functional. He and Greening of Aiken student interns are measuring roof run-off water volume and analyzing run-off water quality and chemistry from each of the eight watersheds on the roof.  This summer they will start to identify watershed treatment differences in water volume and quality to determine what is happening to unwanted atmospheric, rain, and snowmelt nutrients that normally flow to Lake Champlain. RSENR Honors College student Liz Bennett (ENSC ‘14) is conducting her Honors College thesis work on the green roof this summer and fall.

As part of the Greening of Aiken Interns class, part-time Lecturer David Raphael and his student intern group have had their landscaping plan approved by UVM.  A portion of the plantings were installed prior to UVM Commencement and further plantings are planned for the fall.

The Eco-Machine group, led by Research Assistant Professor Anthony McInnis (PhD-NR ’11) and Research Technician Matt Beam (NR ’06, MS-FOR ’10), has been hard at work this semester and has seen some well-deserved progress. They designed and oversaw installation of an entire lab to service the eco-machine and green roof needs.

During this period, Matt supervised over 11 student interns performing water quality testing to ensure the eco-machine and lab meet permitting requirements. They were a great group that got to experience first-hand the troubleshooting that goes along with ramping up a wastewater treatment system and starting a new laboratory. They experienced more in-depth learning about lab and wastewater protocols than if the lab and eco-machine had been fully established; they got to see mistakes first-hand and the iterative process by which protocols are established.

Matt and the interns discovered that reactive phosphorus levels were sky-high in the eco-machine. They put on their Sherlock Holmes hats and traced the source to an eco-friendly floor cleaning product. This product replaced harmful floor chemicals with a phosphoric-acid based detergent, which UVM custodial services immediately pulled from general use.

The team has also seen a few events where the eco-machine has been temporarily “poisoned” and final water quality is affected. They haven't traced the source of the toxicity but have a “suspect” and remain vigilant. Luckily, the eco-machines are inherently resilient in face of toxic events and have bounced back each time. In fact, pulsed disturbances and infrequent toxicity events can help to build more diverse and resilient communities in the system long-term.

Experimenting with integrated pest management (IPM) in the eco-machine greenhouse, the team released lady beetles, lace-wings, predatory wasps, and mites to combat plant infestations of aphids and spider mites. They have had great success in that the lady beetles are actually reproducing, and their offspring have been emerging over the past two weeks! This is highly unusual, as lady beetles rarely lay eggs in a greenhouse environment.

It seems the ecosystem has provided a comfortable habitat with the correct niches for these allies of ours to flourish. This provides another piece of anecdotal evidence that the whole-systems approach to seeding eco-machines with all kingdoms of life and from various ecosystem types ensures there is enough genetic information present for a complete set of relationships to emerge.

Matt and Anthony plan on setting up formal internships/work-study positions for the fall and hope to get the first student research projects rolling!

This Spring, 18 service-learning courses were taught by RSENR faculty; 48 different service-learning projects were reported, allowing students to engage with a variety of community partner organizations and agencies.  Additionally, 21 students participated in credit bearing internship and/or research experiences during the spring semester.  While many summer internships and research experiences are still being determined, at least 25 students will be participating in credit bearing internships through out Vermont, the U.S., and the world!

Summer 2013 will be the second summer of the Rubenstein School Perennial Internship Program.  These internship opportunities are cost-shared between the Rubenstein School and six great organizations and companies in Vermont, New York City, and Maryland.  Liz Bennett, Sam Wallace, Charlotte Adams, Thomas Nieuwenhuis, Cleo Doley, and Myles Cox, the six outstanding RSENR students selected to participate in these internships, will have summers full of learning, skill development, and fun!  Thanks to VHB, Winooski Natural Resources Conservation District, Avatar Energy, Williston Conservation Commission, Waterkeeper Alliance and La Prima for collaborating with the Rubenstein School.

The OEL coordinated an Experiential Learning Photo Contest this spring in an effort to redecorate the Aiken student lounge with photographs and reflections that represent the variety of research, service-learning, internship, travel course, and study abroad experiences in which RSENR students participate.  There were 17 submissions from students and 112 ballots cast by RSENR community members to choose the 6 winning photographs/reflections that will be enlarged on canvas and hung on the student lounge walls.

The OEL also hosted the first ever Community Partner Reception on May 1.  A mix of community partners, students, staff, and faculty gathered in the Aiken solarium to recognize the great partnerships and collaborative efforts that have been forged this year through research, internships, and service-learning projects. 

• Welcoming 5 new USDA Multicultural Scholars in Fall 2012;
• Organizing a bus trip to see Environmental Justice activist Majora Carter speak at SUNY Plattsburgh, hosted by a RSENR alum;
• Hosting a well-attended screening of One Day on Earth , a film shot by the global citizenry on 10/10/10 in every country on the planet;
• Preparing breakfast at the ALANA Student Center in partnership with Shelburne Farms (bacon!)
• Coordinating visits to the RACE exhibit at ECHO and following up with a community conversation facilitated by RSENR graduate students, Eliese Dykstra and Christine Peterson;
• Anna Smiles-Becker and Kirsten Brewer representing the Rubenstein School at the ALANA Coalition Multicultural Symposium; and  
• Hosting 18 students and 3 teachers from the High School for Environmental Studies in New York City.

A highlight for me last fall was attending the Vermont Natural Resources Council’s 50th anniversary celebration to hear local, state, and national luminaries speak, including a keynote address from Van Jones. RSENR sponsored a bus for our multicultural scholars to attend this event, and there were many others in attendance from our extended Rubenstein community. One of our own students Flore Costume (ENSC '16), asked Van a question about what young people can do to be involved with the environmental movement. Hear his inspirational response.

This spring, we dedicated two of our monthly meetings to community conversations on diversity. In March, we were joined by Dot Brauer the Director of UVM's LGBTQA Center. We discussed some of the resources available on campus for community members as well as some of the unique challenges and opportunities in the field of natural resources for LGBTQ identified people. We were inspired by outgoing EPA Director Lisa Jackson's contribution to the “It Gets Better” campaign.

Just this past April the Rubenstein Stewards helped to organize our annual multicultural dinner. The evening was a great success, we shared a delicious meal with various dishes representing the cultural heritage of community members and host countries where many of us have lived or studied. It was a great chance to share stories with one another and learn a little bit more about people's backgrounds and experiences.

In addition to community events, DTF is also working behind the scenes to promote the diversity of perspectives and ideas in our school and disciplines. Every year members of DTF meet with various candidates for Rubenstein School positions and provide feedback for the search committees as well as discussing strategic changes to the curriculum or student services.

We have a lot to look forward to in 2013-2014. The incoming class is shaping up to include 5 USDA Multicultural Scholars, 3 High School for Environmental Studies alumni, and 22 ALANA students over all (14% of the incoming class). The DTF is planning to be engaged with the RSENR Dean search, conduct assessments of our diversity curriculum, and implement new professional development and support for all members of our community. More information about the diversity plan.

All of this work is only possible through the incredible collaboration and engagement demonstrated by students, staff, and faculty.  I am particularly proud this year of the hard work put in by dedicated DTF members and the initiatives of many of our co-collaborators within our school and outside. We couldn't have successfully organized these events without the support of many, many different people. So thank you all for your continued support!

-Kirsten Brewer

One of our greatest achievements this year was forming a tree planting partnership with Mississquoi National Wildlife Refuge in Vermont. A grant was procured by the US Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) to repair a riparian buffer along a busy stretch of road that cuts through the refuge. This buffer will prevent road contaminants from leaching into soils and will also prevent erosion from the Mississquoi River on the opposite side of the road. The grant will fund a multi-year partnership between the Wildlife and Fisheries Society and the USFWS, and planting will take place each fall and spring for the next three years.

In celebration of Earth Day 2013, we held our first planting session on April 20, and a large crowd was on site to help with the planting efforts. Local Boy Scout chapters and Friends of Mississquoi members assisted with the planting, and we were able to help the refuge to reach their planting goal for the day! Hopefully this and all of our other events will help students to gain more experience in their field of study outside of the classroom, while also helping to form good relationships with the greater Vermont community.

Back in October, the Society hosted its third annual Bio-blitz, a day-long species inventory in Centennial Woods. We tallied species of mammals, birds, trees, fungi, and fish within the forest and reached a total of close to 270 total species.

In October and November, the Society partnered with the USFWS to assist game wardens throughout Vermont at deer check stations. Towards the end of the fall semester, we hosted an internship and resume building workshop where faculty members Jed Murdoch, Ellen Marsden, Jason Stockwell, and Career Services Coordinator Anna Smiles-Becker spoke about what makes a great resume and where to find opportunities for summer work.

The University of Vermont manages grants that fall under Theme One of the NSRC, which includes projects focused on finding sustainable solutions to the integrated social, economic, and ecological challenges of communities in the Northern Forest.  The University of New Hampshire, the University of Maine, and the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) in Syracuse oversee the other research themes for NSRC. Five projects were funded through Theme One this year.

René Germain (FOR ’83) of SUNY-ESF was supported to work on determining the implementation costs of best management practices for family forests and Diane Kuehn, also from SUNY-ESF, will be assessing maple producer’s adaptability to climate change. At the University of Vermont, Jed Murdoch will be investigating how information about wildlife may affect the public accessibility of development projects. Jon Erickson will work to advance the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) as a tool for shaping forestry policy, and Bill Keeton will conduct an evaluation of carbon, methane, and habitat responses over time after silvicultural treatments.

In addition to the full projects above, the NSRC awarded small grants to fund 14 graduate students at the University of Maine, University of New Hampshire, SUNY-ESF, and the University of Vermont following a Graduate Student Research Competitive Grant process that brought in 48 proposals. Two RSENR students, Christopher Hansen and Christine Peterson, received support for their work with Allan Strong on using LiDAR for assessing structure of forest canopies and about powerline rights-of-way affecting early successional bird species, respectively.

Beyond funding research projects, NSRC Theme One has been working to publicly promote completed research through a series of webinars over the last two years. These began as in-person seminars several years ago but moved to a webinar format in order to reach a wider audience.

This past year, five webinars on a variety of research topics were hosted with over 130 participants. Topics included: effects of exurban development on wildlife in the Adirondacks; impacts of climate change on the composition of the Northern Forest; ecological value and conservation priorities for high-elevation spruce-fir forests; use of historic data for modeling and management implications on northern conifer forests; and Native American plant knowledge and conservation of culturally and economically important species. The webinar series will continue next year, and one of the first presentations will be given by Abby van den Berg of UVM’s Proctor Maple Research Center on birch syrup production as a means to increase economic sustainability of the maple syrup industry.

The NSRC is happy to announce that Robin Orr will be joining the NSRC Theme One team as the graduate research assistant for 2013-14. Robin is a Master’s student working in Professor Bill Keeton’s Carbon Dynamics Lab, investigating the effects of medium-scale windthrow events on forest stand dynamics. Look for e-mails from Robin soon enough about next year’s webinar series.

Be aware that the Request for Proposals for the 2014 grant cycle will be here before you know it! It is anticipated that the RFP will be issued at the end of August or early September 2013. The NSRC looks forward to reviewing proposals that will aid in understanding and addressing the social, economic, and environmental potential of the Northern Forest region.

As the 2013-2014 academic year comes to a close, NSRC Theme One Director Breck Bowden and Manager Kate Baldwin want to thank Ryan Morra, the NSRC Theme One graduate research assistant for 2012-13.  Ryan organized and often single-handedly ran the five webinars hosted by NSRC. He prepared webinar videos for the NSRC website, so others could learn about NSRC research.  We are indebted to Ryan for his additional and multiple contributions to increasing NSRC outreach by writing graduate student profiles for the website, serving as a point person for Theme One NSRC, improving the data system, and maintaining the bibliography of project outputs.

Ryan has left his mark on the NSRC program, and we are grateful for his professionalism and outstanding work.

Welcome to the end of the school year! We hope that everyone is getting a chance to enjoy this beautiful Vermont weather as exams and final projects wind down!

As our semester comes to a close, we wanted to reflect on some of the exciting work that we’ve accomplished! This semester, we held many community events to help bring the RSENR community together in our home base of Aiken, including the multicultural dinner, community lunches, and the Centennial Woods work day. In addition, we helped with professional development by holding many resume and cover letter workshops and assisting with the Student Advisory Board and Natural History and Field Ecology TA interviews. Lastly, we gave countless tours to visiting high schools, community partners, prospective/admitted students, and their families. Overall, we’ve had a super productive year, and we’re looking forward to developing and holding many more exciting events next semester!

Finally, we wanted to send a quick shout out to our graduating senior stewards and extend a welcome to the new members of our family. Natasha Lekach, John Butler, Teresa DiTore, and Brad Koontz, thank you for all of your hard work, dedication, and leadership this past year. You will be greatly missed, but we know you have exciting adventures ahead of you in life! Bonnie Ricord, Laura Kim, Jackie Cardoza, Katie Stoner, and Grant Troester, we are so excited to officially meet you and hear all of your exciting ideas next year! Welcome to the Rubenstein Steward family!

We hope you all have a great end of the semester! Enjoy the sunshine, and have a great summer!

Love,

The Rubenstein Stewards

SAB Chair George Faison ( NR ’13) and Vice Chair Jay Snowdon (FOR ’13) will be graduating this month and were each recognized for their leadership roles at the Rubenstein School Community Celebration on Friday, May 3, 2013. George earned the Natural Resource Program Award for Excellence in Scholarly Accomplishment and Contributions to Quality Student Experience. Jay earned numerous awards including the Luther E. Zai Memorial Award, Holcomb Natural Resource Prize, and the Stantec Consulting Scholarship. George and Jay will be greatly missed, and many thanks go out to them for the hard work they did to get the RSENR Student Advisory Board back on its feet.

Have a great summer everyone! We look forward to continuing to serve the Rubenstein School Community in the coming semesters.

Sincerely,

The RSENR Student Advisory Board

Documenting changes in breeding bird distributions since the 1985 Atlas, this second generation Atlas guides our understanding and management of bird species across the state for decades to come.  In addition to accounts of the status of each species breeding in the state, the 576-page Atlas includes a guide to the biogeography of Vermont and essays on changes in habitats, climate, land use, and their impact on Vermont’s bird communities over the past quarter century.

Our own Ernie Buford (MS-WFB ’96), research specialist in the RSENR Spatial Analysis Lab, authored the biogeography chapter.  Other Rubenstein School community members contributing as authors are Professor Emeritus David Capen, Associate Professor Allan Strong (WFB ’83), Scott Schwenk (PhD-NR ’07), Noah Perlut (PhD-NR ’07), Cedric Alexander (WFB ’78), Mark LaBarr (WFB ’86), Steve Parren (MS-NRP ’82), Christopher Rimmer WFB ’78), among many others.

In addition, 350 trained, volunteer citizen scientists provided 57,000 field observations of bird species to create the atlas.  The Atlas is available online at http://www.vtecostudies.org/vbba/.

At the time, Don was a recent UVM Plant and Soil Science graduate with almost enough forestry courses under his belt to be a forestry major, who was working as a research technician for former forest pathology Professor Dale Bergdahl while finishing his master’s research in forest entomology with Professor Bruce Parker of Plant and Soil Science.  Already Don had a lot on his plate and decided to pile on more.

For 24 years, he and his family called the Thompson House, the original farmhouse on the Forest, home.  Don maintained the house, out-buildings, vehicles, and grounds and provided security for the Forest, keeping the 365 (which grew to 500 in 1995) acres safe from vandals, ATVs, partiers, garbage-dumpers, and other assorted ne'er-do-wells.

He made sure the Forest was available and prepped for School functions and classes, often teaching some of the field labs himself, as well as for occasional community and local school events.  Don opened the Forest gate off Tarbox Road each morning and then locked it again each night.

“We couldn’t afford a house ourselves,” Don explains, “so it was great that the School allowed us to live there for minimal rent.  I took care of it as though it were my own.”

He and his young family moved into the insulation-less Thompson House in the dead of winter.  The kitchen was a white porcelain sink and little else—no counters or cupboards and a floor of linoleum tacked down with roofing nails. It was do or die. 

Don immediately added 12 inches of insulation to the attic, installed kitchen cabinets and countertops, added a kitchen subfloor and new linoleum, re-plastered falling ceilings, added wallboard to barren closets, and painted walls. Home Sweet Home. Don and his wife raised a large vegetable garden, chickens, and four home-schooled (through 8th grade) children.

The School had little funds to put into the house, so revenue came from timber harvested off the Forest.  Late forestry Lecturer Terry Turner (MS-FOR ’64), always a great source of help, knowledge, and encouragement, assisted Don in marking woodlots on the forest.  Art and Richard Levine, long-time Jericho Research Forest loggers, conscientiously harvested logs to sell, and profits went back into improvement projects at the Forest. In later years, red maple milled from the Forest became a new kitchen floor.

Although the house was equipped with a less-than-trustworthy back-up oil furnace, the main source of heat were two wood stoves that Don kept busy feeding all winter long.

“We’d burn 10 to 12 cords of wood each year,” recalls Don, “and I figured that if I handled each piece of firewood about 10 times from felling the tree, bucking the log, hauling the bolts, splitting them, stacking them in the woodshed, carting them to the front porch, lugging them into the house, then finally tossing them into the woodstove, that’s really 120 cords of wood I handled each year.”

Don laughs as he reports that the furnace very recently called it quits, and UVM replaced it with a brand new one after almost 25 years of struggling to keep the old one going when needed.

Each year, Don chose one major home improvement project to tackle during the winter holidays.  One year, it was abruptly decided for him. In the days leading up to the Christmas holiday, a busy time for Don, a wreath maker, he was enjoying some moments of solitude in the only bathroom in the house, when the toilet crashed through the floor beneath him.

Sure enough, the holiday break found Don toiling away in the bathroom where he discovered not one, NOT two, but FOUR layers of flooring beneath the toilet.  The Skil saw wouldn’t cut it.  He trooped out to the Forest’s shop and headed back to the bathroom with the true modern day woodsman’s tool, the chainsaw.  It did the trick, and days later, the bathroom, with a new plywood subfloor strengthened by sturdy 2x4s, was almost complete.

Don, clad in his brand new wool Christmas vest, spread glue on the floor for the new linoleum. Satisfied with his work, he realized he was trapped in the middle of the bathroom and stepped gingerly toward the exit.  Before he knew it, he was on his back, his new vest stuck to the goo on the floor.  He looked up to see his kids peering in at Dad’s latest caretaking catastrophe, yet no one uttered a word.

In the early days, there was no water well on the Forest.  Water came from a spring that fed a cistern located up the hill across the driveway from the house.  Don’s very first winter on the Forest, the waterline from the cistern to the house froze.  He and Terry constructed a temporary pipeline running from the cistern through a hole into the cellar of the house.  They wrapped the one-inch-diameter pipe with thick insulation and black plastic, and Don dubbed it the “Jericho pipeline.”

From bad to worse, the waterline from the spring to the cistern then froze. Don and Terry cleaned out and “Cloroxed” the fire reservoir and had a water hauling company fill it. In late March or early April, Don saw the water level in the reservoir getting dangerously low.  They needed more water.  He simultaneously heard on the news that the building owned by the water hauler had burned to the ground, trucks and all! What else could go wrong?

Stepping out onto the front porch to a morning tinged with the first thaws of spring, he pondered his next move.  Suddenly, he heard water trickling.  Spring had arrived in the nick of time—the line from the spring to the cistern had thawed! One month later, Larry approved the drilling of the first well on the Forest, paid for with a timber harvest.

Don regrets none of it.  “My kids grew up with an appreciation for the outdoors, living sustainably off the land, and learning you can fix stuff when it breaks,” he acknowledges. His son Jake became a skillful carpenter and an amazing outdoorsman, and his son Harrison Tobi (WFB ’13) worked with Professor Ellen Marsden at the Rubenstein Ecosystem Science Lab and recently presented a research paper at UVM’s Student Research Conference.

In February 2013, Don moved out of the Thompson House and off of the Forest. Before leaving, he and Ralph Tursini (FOR ‘99), coordinator of the Green Forestry Education Initiative at the Forest, tore the back porch off the house and supervised work done in the basement to stabilize the house in readiness for planned renovation work.

Don continues his long-time job as a research technician in Bruce Parker’s UVM entomology lab on Spear Street and his wood procurement forester position at Burlington Electric Department, as well as several consulting forestry jobs each year. He now lives in Underhill, Vermont on ten acres where he plans to garden, raise chickens, maple sugar, and grow fruit and Christmas trees.  He also owns 32 acres in Enosburg, Vermont that, as an avid hunter and fisherman, he manages for wildlife. He still cuts firewood, he laughs, but in his new home he only burns 3 to 4 cords per year! 

Each year, distinguished UVM faculty, two from basic and applied sciences and two from social sciences and humanities, are named as University Scholars in recognition of their sustained excellence in research and scholarly activities. They are selected by a panel of faculty scholars based upon nomination by UVM faculty.

In his letter of nomination, Rubenstein School Professor Bob Manning wrote that “I am honored to nominate Curt for the University Scholar Award because I believe he embodies the objectives of this award. He has conducted a long-term program of research and scholarship that has attained national and international recognition.  He has worked hard across multiple academic units to advance the study of public administration and policy at UVM.  And his impact on undergraduate and graduate students has been substantial.”

In the 1980s and ’90s Curt directed UVM’s Master of Public Administration program and served on the faculty of UVM’s Political Science department. In 2003, former Dean Don DeHayes of the Rubenstein School recognized a need for public policy expertise in the School and brought Curt on as a full-time faculty member to fill the gap in the School where he already held a secondary appointment.

Because of his interest in graduate level education, Curt developed and still instructs NR 354 Environmental Policy and Management.  He also teaches the graduate level Public Policy and Participation (NR 385), and Environmental Governance (NR 385), as well as PA 306 Policy Systems (through UVM’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences).  In addition, he offers undergraduates NR153 Introduction to Environmental Policy, NR 254 Advanced Natural Resources Policy, and NR 285 Environmental Policy.

Curt has advised numerous graduate students in the School and across campus and has served on graduate committees of countless others.  He plays an especially important role in advising many of Bob Manning’s graduate students who study policy and management of national parks in the Rubenstein School. He has been recognized with a UVM Class Council Certificate “For Having Such an Extraordinary Impact on the Lives of UVM Students.”

“Curt Ventriss is an exceptional professor, mentor, colleague, and scholar,” says Tina Nabatchi (UVM-MPA ’99), now assistant professor in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.  “He ignited my love of public administration and inspired me to pursue a PhD in the field. It's been more than a decade since I was in his classroom, yet I still recall his lessons and continue to learn from him and his work. His scholarship is thoughtful and meaningful and has made important and lasting contributions to the field of public administration and policy. He is very deserving of the University Scholar Award.”

A longtime visiting professor at Oxford University in the United Kingdom and Johns Hopkins University of Baltimore, Maryland, Curt maintains a close relationship with Johns Hopkins.  He intends to conduct some of his research at the Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health during a sabbatical leave for the 2013-14 academic year.  He served on the Board of Directors of the Jeffords Center for Policy Research at UVM and served for many years with the Vermont World Trade Center to which he was appointed for his international trade expertise by former Governor Howard Dean.

Curt has published two books and over 100 book chapters, academic journal articles, and research papers, which have resulted in a number of awards. One of his articles received the Brownell Award as the best research essay in public affairs by the journal Public Administration Review, and two of his articles, selected as classics in public affairs (civic engagement), were published in a Classics Volume sponsored by the American Society for Public Administration.

He was also selected as one of five “distinguished scholars” at the Minnowbrook III Conference sponsored every twenty years by the Maxwell School which brings together the top emerging and established scholars in public affairs. He has been invited as a keynote speaker at a number of national and international policy conferences and held editorial positions with many of the premier journals in public affairs, including appointment as associate editor of Pubic Administration Review, the leading journal in the field.

Curt and his wife Lisa Ventriss, president of the Vermont Business Roundtable and member of the UVM Board of Trustees, live in South Burlington with their 14-year-old son, Alex.  Curt has two stepsons: Finn, who lives in Boston, and Ian (UVM ’10), who lives in Lake Tahoe. Curt jogs 2-3 miles a day, hikes, and spends summers at their cabin on Lake Dunmore in Middlebury, Vermont.

After Mark Biedron, chair of the Board of Advisers, welcomed everyone to the community gathering, Associate Professor Deane Wang introduced three students who participated in the service learning class, Ecology for Sustainability. The class brought together RSENR students with classmates from the UVM Honors College. Students Krystina Katterman, Meraz Mostafa, and Joe O'Brien described how the class designed and created a prototype of a green wall, currently located in the Aiken solarium. The students hope the prototype will serve as a model for a full-scale green wall in the Aiken Center to help provide environmental benefits such as enhanced aesthetics, improved air quality, and reduced noise.

My role at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore was working with both the interpretation and natural resources divisions. I worked as a kind of liaison between the two divisions, focusing on wildlife education. The National Lakeshore received a large grant this year from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, and some of that money paid for my position. I led a weekly evening program on black bears at one of the lakeshore’s campgrounds, and I also roved the campgrounds to educate campers on the importance of food storage. One of my other jobs was to hold informal piping plover education programs in various areas of the park. Along with the rest of the interpretation team, I was in charge of SLBE’s social media posts on Facebook and Twitter.

One question that many visitors to the national lakeshore asked me was, “How did you get to be a ranger?” People are very curious about the job application process for the National Park Service, and I guess that makes sense because it’s a wonderful place to work! I took a somewhat untraditional route to working for the NPS. Most people that want to work at a national park apply using USAJobs.gov, which is a searchable database of federal jobs. Individual sites within the National Park Service advertise seasonal and full-time positions on this site.

I started my involvement with SLBE in 2007, as a beach clean-up volunteer. In high school, I was also a Girl Scout and I completed my Gold Award by creating a nature activity club for families at SLBE. During the summer of 2010, I worked at Eastern National, a nonprofit organization that runs the bookstores within the National Lakeshore.

In the summer of 2011, I was lucky enough to work directly with the National Park Service as a Youth-in-Parks (YIP) intern. As a YIP intern, I was able to experience all of the different jobs within the National Lakeshore: interpretation (leading programs), law enforcement (writing parking citations, checking for park passes, etc.), and natural resources (testing water for E. coli). I feel very fortunate that I had this experience because it gave me a unique perspective and appreciation for each person’s role at the National Lakeshore and how each individual employee contributes to the overall mission of the National Park Service.

My 2012 summer job experience culminated at the Port Oneida Fair, an annual, two-day event held at the National Lakeshore. I have been attending the Port Oneida Fair (either as a visitor or an employee) for about seven years. This event is held in the Port Oneida Rural Historic District, which has many old farmsteads, barns, and even a one-room schoolhouse. This year, I worked at several different stations, doing historical arts and crafts, teaching knot tying, and generally assisting visitors.

One of the best parts of working at a national park is meeting people from all different walks of life. I have met people from across the world, families on vacation, and retirees who were visiting every national park in the country. My job at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore this summer gave me the opportunity to communicate with different types of people and learn about how the National Park Service preserves and protects natural and cultural resources. In the future, I look forward to working at the National Lakeshore and possibly other units within the National Park Service as well.

I am also very excited for my internship opportunity this upcoming summer. I will be serving as a wilderness ranger intern for the Selway-Bitterroot Frank Church Foundation. This foundation is a nonprofit organization that is the primary partner of the US Forest Service in working with the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness and the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness (in Montana and Idaho). There are eleven Ranger Interns for this summer, all of whom are college students. We will be backpacking through these wilderness areas doing trail maintenance and interacting with visitors to the wilderness areas. I am looking forward to learning about wilderness management in a different part of the country and interacting with members of the US Forest Service and the Selway-Bitterroot Frank Church Foundation.

She took accounting classes at UVM in the late 1980s and considered a degree in business. But a love of chemistry she had discovered in high school still simmered. After attending a Lake Champlain Water Quality workshop, she realized natural resources would become her life focus. Maggie's journey to becoming a full-time student developed into a cover story for UVM Continuing Education's Focus catalog, and life-sized posters popped up all over town.

Maggie recalls then SNR Professor Don DeHayes running up and down the aisles in the Aiken lecture hall teaching NR 1, the School’s core, entry-level ecology class. “He made all of it sound magical, logical, exciting, and accessible, which was the perfect way to set a foundation for inspiring all the work that would follow,” she states. “My advisor [former] Professor Mary Watzin taught me things I still use daily.  Although I’m now more of a bureaucrat than a scientist these days, the rigorous science practices she exposed us to pays off every time I read a scientific journal article.”

She credits Ned Farquhar, a former lecturer in the Environmental Studies Program, for advice on career paths which led her to seek an internship with the land use organization 1000 Friends of Oregon after graduation.  She’s been discovering new opportunities ever since.

When asked what made her gravitate to water resources, Maggie points to the high school chemistry teacher who inspired a curiosity and awe of chemical bonds and the amazing properties of water.  “Water has a deep spiritual element to it that I’m drawn to,” she explains.  “It’s an intangible part of my attraction—maybe just that water really is the elixir of life.”

In 1996, she started working with the City of Portland where she leads a team working to improve the health of Johnson Creek Watershed that spans the boundaries of Portland and several other jurisdictions upstream.  Johnson Creek is one of the few urban streams in the Portland metro area that supports recovering populations of native salmon that swim back and forth to the Pacific Ocean, by way of the creek, its small tributaries, and the Willamette and Columbia Rivers.

Maggie and her team have focused on several floodplain restoration projects along Johnson Creek, and inspired a citizens’ group to adopt Crystal Springs, a key tributary for salmon recovery.  Almost three miles long, Crystal Springs is fed by underground aquifers but suffering from many years of urban misuse.  Together, Maggie and her colleagues at the City of Portland, Portland State University, Reed College, and numerous community volunteers pulled invasive plants and replanted native species, cleaned up dumping grounds, removed concrete barriers and improved culverts at road crossings, and installed wood debris and other enhancements to the channel to restore habitat for salmon rearing and passage.

“I really believe that if we just plant a few seeds, there is such a rich environment here for folks to latch onto the work being done and run with it,” maintains Maggie.  “It’s just a little, trickling, lovely, babbling brook, and it literally has regional significance and could be a national model both for how the scientists deal with water and natural resources and for how communities get behind amazing efforts like this and make it a reality.”

Maggie and the City just completed a two-year project that reconstructed and restored a floodplain and created the Foster Floodplain Natural Area. The project improves the health of the Johnson Creek, provides access and an interpretative trail system for the public, and prevents community damage from floods that occur about every ten years.

The team is now shifting their attention to a comprehensive sub-basin restoration program. They are looking at how to help manage storm water through restoration and conservation starting at the headwaters of Johnson Creek.

Maggie’s responsibilities include supporting her staff to shepherd projects from planning through design and implementation.  “I’ve become somewhat of a generalist, and I’m usually the one pulling loose ends together and negotiating sticky issues between city departments, agencies, or jurisdictions,” she describes.

She is also working with colleagues to develop a system for valuing Green Assets with an Asset Management Framework.  This is a budgeting tool being used internationally by public utilities to help continue funding conservation and restoration of natural systems.

In 2008, Maggie enrolled in Portland State University’s Executive Master's in Public Administration program.  “I felt I needed a different set of tools to help implement the change that science is leading us toward.  Public service is such important work, but we are in very difficult times with more and more distrust of government and lack of understanding about government systems,” she states.  “I wanted to be a more effective agent for change and improve my leadership skills.”  She finished with an executive master’s in public administration in 2011.

Starting May 18,  Lake Champlain experts and scientists from LCI and UVM will take out groups of interested people on UVM’s Melosira research vessel.

Read more in the North Country Gazette.

For the second year in a row, Scott Hutchins (RM ’84), senior director of Jabil Circuit, Inc., a global electronics manufacturing solutions firm, visited two of Lecturer Dave Kaufman’s classes. In Entrepreneurship in Recreation and Tourism, he discussed business models that he uses to grow his own business. He told students that they need to have a passion about all they do and to always keep moving forward.

In Dave’s Ski Area Management class, Scott talked about enhancing the clients' experience which leads to enhanced profit margins.  He challenged students to answer the question “will enhancing the customer experience lead to a greater bottom line?”

Peter Mertz, parent of current UVM student Carla Mertz and CEO of Global Forest Partners, LP, guest-lectured in Professor Bill Keeton’s Sustainable Management of Forest Ecosystems, taught by part-time lecturer Bryan Foster this year.  Although Bill is currently on sabbatical at the Austrian University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, he was able to be in Vermont to host Peter on campus.

Bill provided Peter with a tour of our very own Jericho Research Forest following his lecture and meetings with students in which he shared his background and information on current trends in forestry investments.  He has over 35 years of forest management and investment experience.  His company has offices located in the U.S. and across the world and is a leader in global timberland investing.  Peter offered seniors and graduate students in their capstone forestry class much information to digest as they conclude their studies this spring.

Jane Obaggy (ENVS ’78) visited Senior Lecturer Matt Kolan's NR 206 Environmental Problem-Solving and Impact Assessment course, the capstone class for all Rubenstein School students. Jane is an environmental consultant who manages Cadmus’s Emerging Markets Group, which provides technical support for international development activities—including environmental stewardship and risk assessment—and private-sector efforts to foster corporate social responsibility programs around the world.

She described her career path and provided students with several examples of how she leveraged each job experience to develop new skills and initiate change.  She told students that she often published articles about her work, helping organizations establish and implement strategies to manage environmental, health, and safety risks, which benefitted her career.  Jane lauded students on their accomplishment of banning plastic water bottles on campus.

David Epstein (ENVS ’80), president and executive director of the Land Conservancy of New Jersey,  was a guest in Senior Lecturer Walter Poleman's class, Place-based Landscape Analysis (NR 378), during which he participated in a field study at Shelburne Pond.  David also lectured in Associate Professor Deane Wang's class, Land Conservation - Science and Practice, where he described his work at the Land Conservancy of New Jersey.  David met with our Career Services Coordinator Anna Smiles-Becker to discuss potential student internship opportunities with the Land Conservancy of New Jersey, and he met with students curious about careers in state land conservancies.  

Mark is excited about his Fellow award for which he will be recognized at a special ceremony during the APS annual meeting in August. “It represents recognition by my peers of the significance of my accomplishments to the field of plant pathology,” he states. But perhaps more important to him is being able to give back— in acknowledgement of those who helped him to achieve his career goals.

Growing up in a single parent family of nine children in the suburbs of Boston, older brothers introduced Mark to the wonders of the backcountry at Tuckerman’s Ravine in New Hampshire.  Summer work at a state forest through the Youth Conservation Corps incited him to study forestry at UVM in the late 1970s.

Struggling to pay out-of-state tuition his senior year, he took a semester off to work at a local supermarket stocking shelves at night, until former Professor Dale Bergdahl, who saw great potential in Mark, took him under his wing. With Dale’s assistance, Mark applied for and was awarded a small research grant to study a fungus causing a Christmas tree disease, and he worked in Dale’s forest pathology lab while finishing his Bachelor’s degree.

Under Dale’s mentorship, Mark studied this very same balsam fir pathogen for his Master’s research, trapping fungal spores at UVM’s Wolcott Research Forest and learning the life cycle and ecology of the fungus to better aid Vermont Christmas tree growers in managing the disease. Mark’s career was off and running, but he saw the opportunities for employment in forest pathology diminishing nationally and instead switched to studying the ecology of agricultural systems.

With Professor R. James Cook at Washington State University (WSU), Mark worked on biological control of soilborne wheat diseases. After a post-doctoral stint at Kansas State University and another with the USDA ARS Root Disease and Biological Control Research Unit in Pullman, Washington, in 1995 Mark stepped smoothly into his current position at the USDA ARS Tree Fruit Research Laboratory in Wenatchee.

His timing couldn’t have been better…or worse. “The state of the apple growing industry in the Pacific Northwest at that time was hellaciously bad,” describes Mark. “Growers were ripping out trees left and right.  There had been no renovation to the system for many years, and the industry had not moved to new apple varieties to keep up with the worldwide markets and was still producing 70% Red Delicious.”

“The price of apples plummeted and for four or five years, we were in a bad economic situation,” adds Mark.  Growers pulled out thousands of acres of trees and replanted new varieties, and today orchards contain a more diversified mix of apple varieties with only 30 to 35% Red Delicious. 

Unfortunately, there was more to the story. Because of the vast acreage being replanted, a common disease called Apple Replant Disease became an epidemic.

"For me, it was fortuitous,” admits Mark. Replant is caused by a soilborne disease, Mark’s expertise, but no one understood the microbiology actually causing the disease in apple trees.  Growers simply treated soil with environmentally hazardous chemical fumigants such as methyl bromide, now phased out, in hopes of controlling the causal agents.

Mark began with suppositions of past scientists who hinted at certain microorganisms that might be involved.  Conducting selective microbial elimination trials with elevated temperatures or narrow target biocides, Mark looked at growth responses of apple trees and narrowed down the culprits to a few soil fungi and a soil nematode (microscopic roundworm).

Drawing on what he’d learned with wheat pathogens, he began investigating the local soil microbial community to see what natural organisms could be encouraged to suppress the pathogens. Using Brassica seed meal, a bi-product of biodiesel production, as a biological soil amendment in apple orchards, Mark has successfully created a more resilient soil ecosystem, one that suppresses the ability of pathogens to re-infest apple trees and has helped to re-establish the apple industry in the Northwest.

Even more important to him is what he’s achieved by mentoring students, much like Dale did for him.  Mark is an adjunct faculty member in the Plant Pathology and the Crop and Soil Science departments at WSU and has advised many graduate students and postdoctoral associates in his lab, including Antonio Izzo (UVM ’90) now on the faculty of Elon University in North Carolina.

“I have had so many more experiences by working with students,” he says.  “They bring fresh perspectives to the lab and often stimulate me to think about things from a different viewpoint.” Mark’s students come from all over the world, including South Africa where Mark collaborates with faculty at Stellenbosch University in studies of soil microbiology in tree fruit, vineyard, and potato production systems.

Because of Dale’s mentorship, in 2006 when Dale retired from the Rubenstein School, Mark initiated and is the continued benefactor for the Dale Bergdahl Scholarship given annually to a junior Forestry student in financial need who exemplifies Dale’s desired qualities in a student of forestry.  This year’s recipient is Teague Henkle (FOR '14), a licensed pilot, leader of the UVM student chapter of the Society of American Foresters, captain of the UVM Woodsmen Team, and student researcher at the University's Proctor Maple Research Forest where he conducted a study on the tapping of paper birch for syrup.

Mark and his wife Michelle Simpson Mazzola (RM ’83) also contribute to Give UVM, a new scholarship for beyond first-year students at UVM who need financial help to continue with their final years.  “I came from a low income out-of-state family and was personally paying every penny of my UVM education,” explains Mark. “I’d like to help someone else in a similar financial situation.”

Mark and Michelle live in Leavenworth, Washington, where Michelle also works from her business Resource Solutions. Through grant writing, she helps organizations for developmentally disabled adults and works with small communities to develop infrastructure such as hospitals, libraries, and fire stations.  The couple also works closely with Share Community Land Trust to build homes for modest income families, and Mark is on the board of the Leavenworth Community Farmer’s Market.

The couple can step out the back door of their home and go any direction in the heart of the 2.1-million-acre Wenatchee National Forest. They hike, cross-country ski, travel, and return regularly each spring and autumn to enjoy Vermont.