Tonight, October 19, the Big Picture in Waitsfield hosts forester Ethan Tapper with a presentation on ecological forest management “Healthy Woods Are Messy.”
The event, which runs from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. is for anyone who is interested in ecological management of their land so that it enhances and maintains biodiversity while still addressing the cultural, recreational, and economic values that forests provide.
Tapper is a Chittenden County forester for the Vermont Department of Forest, Parks and Recreation.
“Vermont’s forests are highly-altered -- young, simple and degraded, missing many critical habitats, features and functions that they need to stay healthy, abundant and resilient as they head into an uncertain future. As people consider what it means to care for forests at this moment in time, it is clear that radical action is needed to protect their biodiversity and their ecological integrity, and to help them build resilience and adaptability as they prepare for the pervasive influence of global change,” Tapper noted.
“Ecological forestry is a reimagined vision of forest management – one that seeks to manage forests “like they manage themselves.” Ecological forestry is regenerative in nature, using forest management to emulate natural disturbances and natural processes, to help forests become more diverse, complex, and resilient and even to make Vermont’s young, simple forests more like old growth forests. It does so while also providing local, renewable resources – wood – which have global biodiversity and human-rights benefits,” he added.
Tapper will give a one-hour talk about what ecological forestry is, what it looks like, and why it is so crucial at this moment in time. The event is sponsored by the conservation commissions from Warren, Waitsfield and Fayston.
Tapper is a Saxtons River native and 2012 graduate of the University of Vermont's forestry program and has been the Chittenden County forester since 2016. He assists private landowners and municipalities in responsibly stewarding their forests, which cover some 60% of Chittenden County. Tapper is responsible for monitoring the Use Value Appraisal Program for Chittenden County. He also assists communities with their municipal lands by writing forest management plans for town forests.
Because of this he has been recognized by many organizations. He is the Northeast-Midwest State Foresters Alliance’s 2021 CFM Forester of the Year, the 2021 recipient of the Vermont American Tree Farm System’s Education and Outreach Award, 2020 recipient of Vermont Coverts’ James B. Engle Award, and the 2022 recipient of the Vermont Urban and Community Forestry Program’s Vermont Tree Steward Award.
