From an unnamed commune in NC in the 1980s to Penn State University’s 2019 Forest Landowner Conference, I’ve had a long and successful career boring many different groups with forest facts they need to know.
09/15/2022

Presentation: A Sedimental Journey: Tracking Historic Dirt Downstream

Using archival photos and my forest forensics photos of clues to the history of my own beloved woods – and far beyond – I presented a webinar for the Forest History Society (Duke University), “A Sedimental Journey:  Tracking Historic Dirt Downstream.”  This presentation greatly expands the one I gave in 2021 for the Friends of the North Fork.  If you think forest history hasn’t had consequences that continue today, take a look at your local creek after […]

05/02/2021

A Sedimental Journey: How Historic Deforestation Degrades Waterways Today

 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 use a forensics approach to find clues to history – and its long-term consequences – in our forests and streams today.  The word “Legacy” usually means something good received from the past, or created for the future.  “Legacy sediments” literally muddy this concept and are revolutionizing our understanding of truly […]

Other Presentations

Every presentation is aimed at a different audience, but the theme is the same: how our forests can save us if we can save them:

  • Spotswood Garden Club, Bridgewater, VA. It was on Valentine’s Day, 2020, so i featured the recent trend of women around the world marrying trees to save them.
  • VA Master Naturalists, Sept. 2019 Annual Rally, Massanetta Springs Conference Center, Virginia, a stately and historic venue with just enough mold spores to catch in my throat, but still lovely to be there.
  • JMU Faculty Emeriti, most of whom I knew from my 31 years at JMU, Feb., 2019
  • Climate Action Alliance for the Valley, “Our Forests ARE our Future,” Nov., 2018.
  • Eastern Mennonite University Biology Class, March, 2018.
  • Sustainable Floyd, “Save the Planet, Get Rich … through forest conservation?” Nov., 2017.
  • Afton Chapter, VA Master Naturalists, “The Great and Seriously Uncommon Appalachian Forest Commons.” July, 2017.
  • Appalachian Studies Assn., “The Great Appalachian Carbon Commons,” March, 2017.
  • Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards, “An Appalachian Journey from wilderness to Wilderness.” Oct., 2015.
  • Readers Read Series, Eastern Mennonite University, Nov. 2014
  • VA Sierra Club, “Developing a Southern Appalachian WWIMBY Response: Welcoming Wilderness in my Backyard.” Sept., 2014.
  • "Developing a WWIMBY movement: Welcoming Wilderness in My Back Yard". 50th Wilderness Act Anniversary Conference, Albuquerque, NM, Oct. 2014
  • Eastern Mennonite University Biology Class, “An Appalachian Journey: from wilderness to Wilderness.” Jan., 2014
  • VA Environmental Educators Conference, Oct. 2013
  • Colonial Garden Club, Harrisonburg, Dec. 2012
  • Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge, July, 2012
  • Virginia Forum (Historical Analysis), Harrisonburg, March, 2012
  • Virginia Festival of the Book, 2012
  • A Celebration of Wilderness, Blacksburg and Harrisonburg, 2012 (sponsored by the U.S. Forest Service)
  • Maryland Native Plant Society Annual Conference, 2012 (one of three keynote speakers)
  • Pinchot Institute for Conservation
  • Hollins University Guest Lectures
  • Washington & Lee University Luncheon Seminars
  • Virginia Tech College of Natural Resources Seminar Seriesv
  • Radford University Guest Lectures
  • Eastern Shore (MD) “Journeys Home” Lecture Series
  • Highlands (NC) Biological Research Station, Zahner Lecture Series
  • Shenandoah National Park Nature Writing Workshop
  • Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project
  • Mt. Rogers Naturalist Rally (when I emailed my husband about this upcoming talk, I made a type and he thought it was Mr. Roger’s neighborhood).
  • Wildlands Conference
  • Sierra Club Appalachian Task Force
  • Appalachian Restoration Campaign
  • Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition
  • Nature Conservancy, Virginia Chapter
  • Western North Carolina Alliance
  • Georgia Forest Watch
  • Potomac Valley Audubon Society
  • Woodland Owners of the Southern Alleghenies
  • Montebello Clean Mountain Coalition
  • 6th Mountain Lion Workshop
  • The Bergton Ruritan Club (one of the attendees walked out when I mentioned erosion from logging).
  • An unnamed commune in western NC (they may have named themselves by now but I’ve lost touch and wouldn’t know how to contact them).

Documentaries

Appalachia: A History of Mountains and People

Talking Head in Four-part PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) TV series by Jamie Ross and Ross Spears. Narrated by Academy Award Winner, Sissy Spacek. Premiered April 9, 2009, on PBS.

Available from Amazon.com.

Garden Story with Rebecca Frischkorn

Talking Head in Four-episode DVD. Published by Liseron Limited Partnership, 2005.

Host Rebecca Frischkorn visits gardens and talks with volunteers, teachers, and students who recount their love of these gardens and the many things they have learned from them.

Available from Amazon.com.