Chris Bolgiano

03/01/2018
Seeing the Forest for the Carbon

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“Seeing the Forest for the Carbon” was published in Virginia Wildlife Magazine, March/April 2018. It won a prize in the 2019  Virginia Outdoor Writers Assn. Excellence in Craft Contest. 

“Old growth is critical for biodiversity from amphibians and aquatic organisms, to entire suites

03/22/2019
Forests Are Our Future

Opening Keynote Speech at Penn State University’s Forest Landowner Conference, March, 2019.   

Mountain view near PA-WV line
Mountain view near PA-WV line

The invitation to open this large and prestigious 2-day conference was dangerously flattering.  Not only did it give me the opportunity to visit my revered PA friend and writer, Marcia Bonta, and her …

06/24/2019
Pillars of Carbon: National Forests and the Great Appalachian Carbon Commons

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“Pillars of Carbon: National Forests and the Great Appalachian Carbon Commons” is an essay that appeared in Mountains Piled Upon Mountains: Appalachian Nature Writing in the Antropocene (pp 175-185), Ed by Jessica Cory. West Virginia University Press, 2019.

“Dashes …

02/01/2020
Forest Forensics: Clues in the woods to historic crimes against nature, and the consequences today
An abandoned winch on my property is a clue to the historic deforestation of the Southern Appalachian Mountains from approximately 1880-1930.
An abandoned winch on my property is a clue to the historic deforestation of the Southern Appalachian Mountains from approximately 1880-1930.

“Forest Forensics” was first published in October of 2019 in Blue Ridge Outdoors Online then republished in Rewilding Earth in February 2020.  

“There are no bodies, no police tape, no cluster …

03/01/2020
The Grimm Brothers’ Worst Nightmare: Wolves Thriving in Germany
Kindergarten teachers perform a skit of The Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf on Grandparent’s Day.
Kindergarten teachers perform a skit of The Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf on Grandparent’s Day.

“The Grimm Brothers’ Worst Nightmare: Wolves Thriving in Germany” was published in Rewilding Earth, March 2020. Inexplicably, this story gained me an invitation to join the Rewilding Leadership Council, which …

03/14/2020
Forests of the Southern Appalachians: Repairing the Past, Defending the Future

The theme for the 2020 annual conference of the Appalachian Studies Association was “Appalachian Understories.” Conference announcements cited, somewhat vaguely, the “Mother Forest.”  This was nice to see because the globally unique Southern Appalachian forests don’t receive much recognition, especially the world-class national forest commons.  Yet these nearly contiguous six million acres …

05/04/2020
Repairing the Past, Defending the Future

I was invited to be on the Global Climate Commons Panel at the 2020 annual meeting of the Appalachian Studies Association in Lexington, KY.  By the time the meeting was cancelled due to covid-19, I’d already prepared this Powerpoint, which James Madison University then kindly taped.

05/02/2021
A Sedimental Journey: How Historic Deforestation Degrades Waterways Today
home welded wench
Not a modern art sculpture but a home-welded winch in my woods left over from the 1880-1930 era of massive deforestation.

 I was invited to give this presentation by my watershed group, Friends of the North Fork Shenandoah River.  In “A Sedimental Journey: How Historic Deforestation Degrades Waterways Today,” I …

04/02/2022
Presentation: Forests for Life
Shenandoah Mountains - Full Size
View eastward from the VA-WV state line. Despite appearances, forests are not endless and need protection from poor logging practices, especially mature and old forests.

Presented “Forests for Life” to the American Association of University Women, at Bridgewater Retirement Community (not recorded).  …

05/19/2022
Author’s Chat: Corridors for Wildlife, at Barren Ridge Vineyard
Sitting with fisheries biologist Paul Bugas at the patio of Barren Ridge Vineyard.

Participated in an “Author’s Chat,” (not recorded) with Paul Bugas, at Barren Ridge Vineyard, cohosted by Stone Soup Books of Waynesboro.  A major topic was the increasing interest in developing habitat corridors to save wildlife – and …

09/15/2022
Presentation: A Sedimental Journey: Tracking Historic Dirt Downstream
bank of the Smith Creek
Does this bank of Smith Creek in the Allegheny Mountains of Virginia look “natural” to you? Far from it, as its land use history proves.

Using archival photos and my forest forensics photos of clues to the history of my own beloved woods – and far beyond – I presented …