Spring 2013
“Teaching, demonstrating, and sustaining a working landscape” In This Issue page 1
Grounding Education in Place An Invitation page 2
Updates in Brief 2013 Trail Crew New Signs! page 3
Bucknell’s Leadership Development Spring School Programs page 4
Intern Corner Recipe from the Lodge
Grounding Education in a Place:
Professional Development for Teachers at Merck Forest and Farmland Center By Sarah Ullman, Director of Education This summer, Merck will host two weeklong professional development opportunities for teachers. Come and be a part of these two engaging and dynamic courses! For the second summer in a row, Methods in Place-Based Environmental Science Education will be offered as part of a Math and Science Partnership grant through the Southwest Vermont Curriculum Coordinators’ Collaborative. This course will provide participants with an overview of field methods and tools that can be used to deliver place-based environmental science lessons using Merck’s landscape as an outdoor classroom. June 24-28, 2013. New this year, Merck will host part of the 2013-2014 Forest for Every Classroom workshop series, a partnership between Green Mountain National Forest, Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park and Shelburne Farms. During this yearlong series of workshops, participants will explore Vermont’s forests to investigate place-based learning and education for sustainability. Course runs from April 2013 - May 2014. Onsite at MFFC, July 8-12, 2013. Graduate credits are available for both of these course. For more information or to register, contact Sarah Ullman at sarah@merckforest.org or check out the education page on our website.
An Invitation from the Director
page 5
By Tom Ward, Executive Director
2013 Contributors Now at the Visitor Center page 7
About Us & Memberships page 8
Spring Calendar Merck Forest & Farmland Center 3270 Route 315 PO Box 86 Rupert, Vermont 05768 p. 802.394.7836
www.merckforest.org
Photograph by Jody Shimp, USDA
page 6
Garlic mustard is one of the invasive plants that is found on MFFC’s property.
It’s a simple matter to take a hike around the roads and trails here at Merck Forest, imagining what we see is permanent and unchanging. For us “active management” of forest and farmland implies there are real issues with which MFFC as an institution must wrestle. Currently, patches of invasive plants— honeysuckle, barberry, burning bush and garlic mustard—dot the property, and we are faced with the question: What, if anything, should MFFC do to control the spread of these invasive exotic species on the property? What sampling method(s) should we employ to quantify the problem? Do purely mechanical eradication methods work? Other highly regarded nonprofit institutions have made the decision to employ herbicides, in addition to mechanical means, in order to have a more efficacious control program. As an organic maple syrup producer, should we avoid chemical controls entirely in areas adjacent to our sugarbush? Are there some herbicides entailing less risk to plants, animals, and water resources?
These are just a few of the questions I am pondering, but as MFFC works through these questions as an organization founded upon the idea of teaching and demonstrating sustainable land management, I am curious to hear your thoughts on these issues and look forward to your responses.