Taking to the Trees

Author Marguerite Holloway will talk about how learning to climb trees can offer, literally and figuratively, a model for facing the climate crisis. Holloway will discuss various tree species and what they are telling us about the myriad and synergist threats currently acting on trees and forests. She will also discuss how being in trees and with trees can change our perspective and give rise to personal transformation—transformation that engenders community and caretaking, forces needed to save ourselves and the trees and forests we depend on.

Biography

Marguerite Holloway has written about the environment and science for publications including the New York Times, The New Yorker, Audubon, Wired and Scientific American, where she was a long-time writer and editor. Holloway is a professor and the Director of Science and Environmental Journalism at the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University.

Stay Tuned!

Abstract coming soon.

Biography

Dr. Stacy Byrd (formerly Stacy Clark) was recently appointed as Associate Professor of Forest Ecology and Silviculture at the University of Tennessee’s School of Natural Resources. Prior to this appointment, she served as a Research Forester with the USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station for 21 years. She earned a PhD from Oklahoma State University where she studied stand dynamics of old-growth post oak (Quercus stellata) forests. She earned a B.S. and M.S. from The University of Tennessee where she examined nursery production, silviculture, and tree improvement of upland oak species. Dr. Byrd’s research goals are to assist forest managers with specific objections to restore and sustain upland hardwood forests through practical silvicultural applications including artificial regeneration (planting), prescribed fire, commercial harvesting, and herbicide release. She currently serves as a leader in silvicultural research on the restoration of American chestnut (Castanea dentata). Dr. Byrd initiated and serves as the first Coordinator of the Ecology and Silviculture of Chestnut Working Party in IUFRO (International Union of Forest Research Organizations) and was the lead coordinator of the inaugural International Oak Symposium held in Knoxville, TN in 2024.

Green Forests Work: Restoring Forests and Ecosystem Services on Former Coal Mines and Degraded Lands Across Appalachia

M. French, C.D. Barton, and P.N. Angel

Surface mining for coal has degraded more than 2 million acres of Appalachian forests over the past century. The Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative (ARRI) and Green Forests Work (GFW), a nonprofit offshoot of ARRI, developed a set of Best Management Practices known as the Forestry Reclamation Approach (FRA), which enables the restoration of healthy, productive forests on formerly mined lands. Green Forests Work provides financial and technical assistance for forest and ecological restoration projects on both public and private lands. GFW focuses its efforts to restore forest types, species, and habitats that have experienced significant declines. GFW’s projects increase the productivity of the land, suppress non-native invasive species, and restore ecosystem services while creating volunteer and employment opportunities, as well as a multi-use resource base for future economic opportunities. GFW also restores riparian areas, urban and suburban environments, and implements projects that restore and protect forest health and resiliency in ecosystems that have been degraded by exotic pests, pathogens, or other disturbances. From 2009-2026, GFW and ARRI planted more than 8 million trees across more than 16,500 acres on bond-released former coal mines, active surface mines, Abandoned Mine Lands, and other disturbed lands across the Appalachian region.

Biography