P.O. Box 254 | Bristol, VT 05443 | tel. (802) 453-7728 fax. (802) 453-7729
visit us: http://www.familyforests.org
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VFF Workshops and Events &Hogback Community College CoursesVisit our Events Gallery to see the programs we've offered in the past! Click on the titles below for in-depth course descriptions and registration information for current and up-coming courses: General Workshops and Events
We usually hold VFF workshops & events rain or shine, but sometimes weather conditions will cause us to cancel a workshop. We ask that you call the VFF offices (453-7728) the morning of the workshop in case of rain, snow, or high winds. We will leave a message on the answering machine if the workshop is cancelled. Hogback Community College Courses Hogback Community College (HCC) is a loose but energetic confederation of teachers and learners in the Five-Town Forest of northeastern Addison County, Vermont. Our goal in forming HCC is to create a true community college—one that celebrates and sustains this community by offering a diverse, changing array of useful and attractive courses. These 1- and 2-credit (16-32 hours of instruction) courses offer in-depth explorations on the subjects they cover.
MANAGING YOUR WOODS WITH BIRDS in MIND: A Workshop for Small Woodland Owners Hosted by Audubon Vermont When: Saturday, May 12
Where: Green Mountain Audubon Fee: Members $40, Non-members $45 (includes resource packet and pocket Vermont bird guide) Pre-registration is required. Call (802) 434-3068 Audubon Vermont Conservation Biologists and local County Foresters team up to lead a full-day, bird- focused woodland management workshop. Learn bird identification by sight and sound. Receive hands-on lessons in easy bird habitat assessment that you can use on your own property. Explore forestry practices that integrate management for timber and birds. Whether your primary interest is wildlife, timber production, recreation, aesthetics, or forest health, this workshop will give you a new way to think about your woods. The workshop will feature a field tour of a planned harvest at the Audubon Center, so come prepared for an off-trail walk in the woods. Coffee and refreshments provided; bring your own lunch.
GAME OF LOGGING TRAINING PROGRAMThe Game of Logging training program combines Scandinavian logging techniques with the latest systems for working safely around trees. We cannot overstate the value of these courses. We have participants who’ve used chainsaws for 30 years prior to taking GOL Level I say that the course changed the way they work in the woods.
FALL 2012 (download registration form Fall 2012) Cost per training session level for Fall 2012: $160
(Note: all course dates are Thursdays)
SPRING 2013 (download registration form for Spring 2013) Cost per training session level for Spring 2013: $170
(Note: all course dates are Thursdays) Location and directions:All 2012 GOL workshops will be held at The Waterworks Property, which is located on Plank Road in Bristol. From the traffic light in downtown Bristol, head north 0.6 miles on North Street. Turn left (west) and drive 3.5 miles. You will see the Waterworks parking lot on your right (north). We look forward to seeing you at the workshop! Please contact VFF if you have any questions. How to Register: Download the appropriate registration form above. On it you’ll find detailed information about the registration process, including fees, cancellation policies, directions to course meeting sites, etc. Please complete the registration form and mail with payment to Vermont Family Forests to the address indicated on the form. We will hold your payment until we reach the minimum number of students required for offering the course. If we have already reached the course’s maximum student capacity by the time you submit your registration, we will place you on a waiting list.
Game of Logging STORM DAMAGE TRAINING If you have storm-blown trees in your forest that you'd like to remove, this course is for you. Storm Damage cleanup involves far more than looking at a standing tree and predicting what needs to be done to get the tree down safely and accurately. The forces at work in trees that have been tipped over by wind can be very hard to read and hence make a plan for. This type of saw work is very dangerous. Storm Damage training provides saw users a number of “tools for the tool box” to be pulled out when they best fit. Dates: October 25, 2012 April 25, 2013
Storm Damage training will include:
Location and directions: All 2012 GOL workshops will be held at The Waterworks Property. See GOL description above for directions. How to Register: See registration instructions and form above.
Hogback Community College CONSERVING VERMONT'S REPTILES & AMPHIBIANSAnnouncing HOGBACK COMMUNITY COLLEGE's Only 2-Credit Course Offering for 2012! We are delighted to announce our second season of offering Conserving Vermont’s Reptiles and Amphibians through Hogback Community College. We are thrilled that Jim Andrews will be offering this 2-credit class on the identification, natural history, and conservation of Vermont’s reptiles and amphibians. Jim is an outstanding teacher who excels at hands-on, field-based learning.
One of last year’s students, who happened to be a teacher, put it this way: “The evening sessions were great but I absolutely loved the field time. This was a terrific learning experience!” “Conserving Vermont’s Reptiles & Amphibians” will give students the science and skills they need to identify most of Vermont’s reptiles and amphibians, to contribute to the Vermont Reptile & Amphibian Atlas Project, and more! About the Course This course will introduce students to the identification, natural history, and conservation of Vermont's reptiles and amphibians, two often-overlooked taxonomic groups. In addition, students will learn how to locate, document, and report these species. Over the course of five evening presentations and four day-long field trips, students will study reptiles and amphibians in different habitat types and/or at different times of the year. Field trips will include the use of active searches, call identification, egg-mass surveys, and live trapping. We will locate as many of Vermont’s herpetofauna (~20 species) as we can in the Hogback region (Bristol, Lincoln, Monkton, New Haven, and Starksboro) using The Waterworks Property in Bristol as our primary field location. Students will be encouraged to use these techniques, as well as nighttime road searches, on their own and to locate, document, and report species in areas where they have not previously been documented. Course meeting dates have been timed to introduce students to most of the species early in the field season, and then to have most of the summer to apply their knowledge and locate and report species before the final class. The final class will be a group survey of a location not previously surveyed for reptiles or amphibians. Field trips will be off-trail and may at times be physically challenging, wet, dirty, and or buggy, but a whole lot of fun. One of the course’s goals is for students to become better stewards of their own and public lands. Additionally, students will gain hands-on experience in collecting field data to assist in filling the many gaps in our knowledge of the distribution of these species in Vermont by helping collect field data for the Vermont Reptile and Amphibian Atlas.
About the Instructor James S. Andrews is an adjunct assistant professor of herpetology at UVM, coordinator of the Vermont Reptile and Amphibian Atlas, chair of the Reptile and Amphibian Scientific Advisory Group to the VT Endangered Species Committee, and a research associate of Vermont Family Forests. He has a master’s degree in biology from Middlebury College and lives with his wife Kris in Salisbury, Vermont.
Course Details Date, Time, and Location of instruction:
Minimum and maximum number of students How to Apply Download a registration form here. On it you’ll find detailed information about the registration process, including fees, cancellation policies, directions to course meeting sites, etc. Please complete the registration form and mail with payment to Vermont Family Forests to the address indicated on the form. We will hold your payment until we reach the minimum number of students required for offering the course. If we have already reached the course’s maximum student capacity by the time you submit your registration, we will place you on a waiting list.
Hogback Community College WRITING THE WATERWORKSWe are delighted that John Elder will be teaching a second Hogback Community College course! His first course, Frost in the Forest, launched the Hogback Community College last spring. In this writers' workshop, we will combine descriptions of a particular landscape in a specific season with personal, reflective narratives. The landscape will be the Bristol Waterworks and the season will be spring. In our excursions into the Waterworks on the Saturdays of May 19 and 26, we'll focus on the natural history associated with this exciting hinge of the year. Both writing and drawing will help us to sharpen our perceptions of spring in Vermont. But observations, memories, and stories can all inform each other, and our initial entries will also be the foundations for more extended pieces of writing. In evening sessions on two Thursdays (May 24 and May 31) we will share and respond to the essays that participants have come up with. Selections from such outstanding nature writers as Henry David Thoreau will enrich the context for our discussions.
About the Instructor: John Elder lives in Bristol with his wife Rita and sugars in Starksboro with the families of their two sons. He taught English and Environmental Studies at Middlebury College from 1973 to 2010. John’s own writing combines descriptions of landscape and discussion of literature with memoir. In 2008 he was named Vermont Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation and the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education.
Course Details
Minimum/maximum student enrollment: Minimum: 8 Maximum: 12 Fee: $120 Credit hours*: .75 credit hour (12 hours of instruction) *While our courses offer the structure and content of college courses, we are not seeking accreditation for Hogback Community College, nor do we currently offer credits for transfer to other educational institutions. We are continuing to look at our options for offering students course credit in the future. Numerous teachers have taken Hogback Community College courses as part of their Professional Development requirements.
How to Apply: Download a registration form here. On it you’ll find detailed information about the registration process, including fees, cancellation policies, directions to course meeting sites, etc. Please complete the registration form and mail with payment to Vermont Family Forests to the address indicated on the form. We will hold your payment until we reach the minimum number of students required for offering the course. If we have already reached the course’s maximum student capacity by the time you submit your registration, we will place you on a waiting list.
Hogback Community College WETLANDS OF THE HOGBACK ECOREGIONIf you’ve been wanting to learn about the diverse and widespread wetlands of central Vermont, here’s your chance. Forest seeps, vernal pools, streams, and beaver marshes—these are some of the local wetland communities you’ll explore in this hands-on course. With wetland ecologist Shelley Gustafson as your guide, you’ll learn about:
Over the course of three ½-day field trips and two evening discussions, you’ll develop an understanding of the complex ecological processes at work in local wetlands.
About the Instructor: Shelley Gustafson is a wetland ecologist and consultant with over 10 years of experience evaluating wetlands within Vermont and the surrounding region. She received an M.S. in Water Resources from the University of Vermont in 1999. Her wetlands research has been published in the Journal of Environmental Quality.
Course Details Date, Time, and Location of instruction:
Minimum and maximum number of students: How to Apply: Download a registration form here. On it you’ll find detailed information about the registration process, including fees, cancellation policies, directions to course meeting sites, etc. Please complete the registration form and mail with payment to Vermont Family Forests to the address indicated on the form. We will hold your payment until we reach the minimum number of students required for offering the course. If we have already reached the course’s maximum student capacity by the time you submit your registration, we will place you on a waiting list.
Hogback Community College FOREST TAI CHI (summer session)Just as the health of a forest can be gauged by its capacity for self-renewal, so the human body - an ecosystem of interconnected parts - depends on resiliency, balance and strength to maintain health. The practice of Tai Chi Chuan with its slow and meditative movements cultivates this flexibility and balance while opening to the universal renewable energy source called "qi". In this class, students will learn Tai Chi/Qi Gong exercises and the first set of the Tung Family Yang Style slow set. Classes will be held indoors and with weather permitting the group will venture into local woodlands for inspiration and connection with the rhythm of the forest. In addition, there will be time for discussion and take-home reading about the philosophical roots of Tai Chi Chuan as well as healthful practices to integrate throughout the seasons.
About the Instructor Rachel Edwards, M.S., L.Ac. is a practitioner of Chinese Medicine in Bristol. She is an assistant teacher of Tai Chi Chuan at Falling Water School of Tai Chi Chuan in Middlebury and teaches private lessons in Addison County. Her previous background in outdoor education, movement, and meditation led her to fully embrace Tai Chi as a life-long practice and gateway to wellbeing. For more information about Rachel, visit her website at www.stillmountain-quietheart.com.
Course Details Wednesdays 5:30 - 6:30 p.m. Open Sky Studio, Bristol Minimum/maximum student enrollment: Minimum: 8 Maximum: 15 Fee: $80 Credit hours*: .5 hour (8 hours of instruction) *While our courses offer the structure and content of college courses, we are not seeking accreditation for Hogback Community College, nor do we currently offer credits for transfer to other educational institutions. We are continuing to look at our options for offering students course credit in the future. Numerous teachers have taken Hogback Community College courses as part of their Professional Development requirements.
How to Apply: Download a registration form here. On it you’ll find detailed information about the registration process, including fees, cancellation policies, directions to course meeting sites, etc. Please complete the registration form and mail with payment to Vermont Family Forests to the address indicated on the form. We will hold your payment until we reach the minimum number of students required for offering the course. If we have already reached the course’s maximum student capacity by the time you submit your registration, we will place you on a waiting list.
Hogback Community College TREES AND WHERE THEY GROWForests are exceedingly complex. To fully experience them, one must understand the individual members that contribute to the forest system. An important first step in cultivating understanding is the proper identification of these individual members, and woody plants are significant members of forest communities.
In this course--taught by John Shane, retired chair of the UVM School of Forestry--students will learn to identify (by leaves, buds, and bark) common trees and shrubs of Vermont forests. Since woody plants are parts of forest systems, we will explore each species' specific ecological roles in the forest. Additionally, since it is impossible to learn all woody plants in Vermont in such a short time-frame, the course will also stress methods of viewing plant characteristics, and organizing observations, to facilitate the further self-instruction that can lead to a lifetime of enjoyable plant identification. After a brief indoor introduction to some terminology and ID methodology, we will spend the remaining course time in the field, introducing and reviewing woody plant ID using leaves, twigs/buds, and bark characteristics.
About the Instructor After a childhood that was, according to teachers, largely wasted in roaming the woods, John went to college. Last year, after 30 years, he re-emerged after resigning as Chair of UVM's Forestry Program. Rumor has it that, despite the lengthy immersion in academia, he behaves more-or-less normally.
Course Details Date, Time, and Location of instruction:
Minimum and maximum number of students:
How to Apply: Download a registration form here. On it you’ll find detailed information about the registration process, including fees, cancellation policies, directions to course meeting sites, etc. Please complete the registration form and mail with payment to Vermont Family Forests to the address indicated on the form. We will hold your payment until we reach the minimum number of students required for offering the course. If we have already reached the course’s maximum student capacity by the time you submit your registration, we will place you on a waiting list.
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