Not much progress has been made over the last couple weeks at Andrews, due to wet weather and wet fall soils. The logger has been able to work a couple dry days and dry areas of the forest but probably will not be able to resume full-time work until the ground freezes in December or early January. As I’ve said in previous updates, this is a common situation for late autumn in Vermont – most responsible loggers don’t work full-time during this period.

I started a new blog where you can find regular written updates on the work at Andrews, which you can find here. You can also continue to check out recordings of webinars and virtual events, and short update videos on the Andrews Community Forest playlist on the Chittenden County Forester YouTube channel, here.

This includes the recording of last week’s “Ecology, Conservation and Forest Management at the Andrews Community Forest” event with the Vermont Land Trust, where Allaire Diamond, an ecologist with VLT, and I got to talk about the unique ecology at the ACF, how we see the forest in general, and our own “land ethics”. That recording can be found here.

While this isn’t about Andrews, I thought you might be interested in learning more about a similar project in Hinesburg. I created a GIS “Story Map” celebrating the demonstration forest management project we led in Hinesburg from 2018-2020, which you can find here. This story map especially highlights our approach to outreach in Hinesburg, trying to create an open, transparent and inclusive process and engage new people. We’re trying to do this same approach (but COVID-safe and with some new tools) at Andrews.

Follow along throughout the project on Front Porch Forum, ACF’s Facebook page, by joining my email list (send an email to ethan.tapper@vermont.gov to join) and attending some of our virtual events (more details on events this winter coming soon!).