Ecologist Rick Van de Poll’s interests in the forest are as varied as the species that live there. He is a mycologist and a wetlands scientist, a teacher and a mountaineer, a poet and a…

Vermont born and raised, Zarabeth Duell grew up hiking and camping around the state – activities she has continued with her now-teenaged children. A structural engineer by training, she…

Brett Chedzoy has worked as a forester for the past 30 years. His work – and his interests – bridge forestry and agriculture. A forester with the Cornell Cooperative Extension…

As the child of a military family, Janel Lawton moved often as a kid, including stints in Key West, Florida, rural Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and urban New Jersey. She opted to attend college in…

About 11 years ago, Rebecca McCabe began volunteering at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in Kempton, Pennsylvania, as a college biology student. After completing her studies, then earning a…

Sam Cox has always been drawn to the woods near his family’s large grain farm. When the 17-year-old is not completing school work, competing with his robotics team, or helping on the…

Kirk Gentalen grew up in New Jersey, within sight of New York City. Since leaving home to attend college in California, he’s lived in several states, working as an environmental educator…

Growing up in the Bay Area in California, Dallas Huggins had “minimal exposure” to the natural world. She started hiking as a teenager, but really dove into exploring the outdoors…

Nancy Patch knew from a young age that she wanted to be a forester. Her work in the field has spanned four decades – including two years in Argentina with the PeaceCorps. But she’s…

Erica Holm grew up in what she describes as a typical suburban neighborhood in southern New Hampshire. Although she wasn’t a particularly outdoorsy kid, she pursued a degree in natural…