BioU: Forestry for Naturalists, Beckett, Summer 2026

Course Number:	EDU 5710 S21
Instructor:	Sean Beckett, M.S.
Location:	In-person & online
Dates and Times:	May 21 - June 21, 2026. May 21 and 22 from 9 am - 5 pm at North Branch Nature Center.
Credits:	3 Graduate Credits
Tuition:	Tuition is set by and payable to North Branch Nature Center

Course Description

How can cutting down a tree be a radical act of compassion? This course explores the complex, nuanced, and sometimes contradictory world of ecological forestry. We’ll explore when and how active management techniques like logging can be used to enhance biodiversity, improve forest health, and heal landscapes impacted by centuries of exploitation. And we’ll see when it’s appropriate to let a resilient forest manage itself.

We’ll spend the weekend visiting several sites in the Green Mountains and Champlain Valley managed by Ethan Tapper, and see examples of successful treatments and key concepts in the ecological forester’s toolbox: forest management for habitat diversity, restoring highgraded forests, mimicking old growth conditions, watershed restoration and erosion control, resilient trail and road design, aggressive management of invasive species from deer to beech to barberry, sugarbush management, cultivating the “necrosphere,” and more. Along the way, we’ll examine the ecological dynamics unfolding at each site, from bedrock to botany to birds.

Audience: Educators with a Bachelor's Degree

Course Goals & Objectives

Course Goals:

Visit two field sites post-silvicultural treatment to compare and contrast how different forestry techniques have yielded different ecological outcomes.
Examine the most common practices employed by ecological foresters to achieve biodiversity and ecological resilience goals.
Discuss how foresters make decisions to account for various opportunities and threats to forest health.
Spend quality time immersed in beautiful and diverse landscapes.

Course Objectives:

Learn to recognize and interpret treatments conducted in actively managed forests, especially those managed for ecological resilience.
Understand how wildlife and plant communities respond to different forestry practices in the long term and short term.
Become acquainted with the tools and techniques used by ecological foresters.
Be able to better understand and evaluate the nuanced goals and tradeoffs involved in forest management.

Course Schedule

Course will take place in-person, in the field and in the classroom, on the Saturday-Sunday listed in the scheduled course meeting time above. Course will begin at North Branch Nature Center and visit several sites during the weekend to cover course content in the field. Nightly reflections for each of the two in-person days will be due immediately following the in-person experience. A final project will be due by June 21, 2026.

Required Readings/Resources

Tapper, E. (2024). How to Love a Forest: the bittersweet work of tending a changing world. Broadleaf Books.

Kosiba, A. (2023). Managing forests for carbon. Northern Woodlands [PDF].

D’Amato, A. W., & Catanzaro, P. (2022). Restoring old growth characteristics [PDF].

D’Amato, A. W., & Catanzaro, P. (2019). Forest carbon: An essential natural solution to climate change [PDF].

*published more than 5 years ago, but part of the same series as D'Amato et. al 2022 above, and remains the best and most authoritative resource of its kind on this topic for this audience.

D’Amato, A. W., Bradford, J. B., Fraver, S., & Palik, B. J. (2016). Increasing forest resiliency for an uncertain future [PDF]. *published more than 5 years ago, but part of the same series as D'Amato et. al 2022 above, and remains the best and most authoritative resource of its kind on this topic for this audience.

For additional course or registration information

Sean Beckett

(802) 229-6206

This course requires registration with North Branch Nature Center (NBNC) first. Please click on the Register Now! link below.