Join us on July 14th to hear from entomologist and forest scientist Kyle Bradford of the Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program!

The Hudson Valley is home to a rich diversity of forest landscapes, including ancient forests. These forests have never been completely cleared for agriculture, and their soils have never been homogenized by the plow. Although most of our forests have been logged to some extent, the communities of ants, plants, fungi in ancient forests have unique, surprising characteristics and often harbor incredible biodiversity. 

It is not always easy to distinguish between an ancient forest and a younger, post-agricultural forest, making our oldest remaining forests especially susceptible to logging, development, and loss. As a first step in ancient forest conservation, the Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program has been studying the biodiversity and structural characteristics of ancient forests in the field, and remotely mapping potential ancient forest remnants in Columbia County. This talk will delve into the Ancient Forest Project's findings, the benefits of conserving ancient forests, and how you can get involved in their protection. 

About our speaker: Kyle Bradford is a biologist with the Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program in Ghent, NY. For over a decade, he has worked on insect-related projects, including biodiversity surveys of ants, bees, butterflies, and dragonflies. He holds an MS in Conservation Biology from Antioch University New England and a BS in Environmental Science from the University of Vermont.