There are events in life—the arrival of a newborn, the wedding of a couple, the passing of a loved one—when we gather in community to honor and celebrate that which we value. In the lifeline of the Field Naturalist Program, there was a remarkable convergence of events over four days in late April that brought into focus the people, relationships, and mission that make this program so valuable.
It began on a Thursday afternoon, just before the Plant Biology department’s weekly Marvin Seminar, with the unveiling of a portrait of Hub Vogelmann on the third floor of Jeffords Hall—our program’s home base at UVM. The portrait was a gift of photographer Bob Klein, who shared that during Hub’s tenure as Botany department chair, he founded not only the FN Program but also the Vermont Chapter of The Nature Conservancy (TNC), to which Hub appointed Bob as the first director. With so many FNEP alums currently working for TNC around the country, I smiled to think that this UVM-TNC connection was integral to Hub’s vision 40 years ago when he launched the program: to train professionals with the knowledge, skills, and moxie to serve on the front lines of conservation science. It was fitting that these capacities were on full display in two masterful FN student seminar presentations that followed that afternoon: Hayley Kolding featured her TNC-sponsored research on riparian ecosystems in eastern Oregon, and Sonya Kaufman shared her timely fire ecology research on forests of the Northeast. Hub would have loved it.
These events served as a prelude to a weekend marked by further celebratory convergence. As the Northeast Natural History Conference got underway, dozens of alumni also poured into town to celebrate our program’s 40th anniversary at a Friday reception hosted by UVM and the FNEP Alumni Association. It was an emotional evening as naturalists from across four decades reunited with cohort members and faculty mentors, and it was a joy to welcome folks from as far back as the B Team. Old bonds rekindled, and new relationships formed as people shared stories of past field adventures and present-day conservation projects. The evening also provided an opportunity to honor in song the memories of members of the FN community who have passed on (Cathy Bell, Elizabeth Farnsworth, Lillian “Porky” Reade, and Hub).
The natural history conference featured compelling talks by several alums and many current FNs. Alicia Daniel did a superb job facilitating a series of talks entitled "Bedrock to Birds: Dispatches from the Field of Natural History Education." Our graduating AL Cohort (Actias luna) gave command performances of their master’s project presentations in a session appropriately called "Connecting Conservation Needs with Moxie." Shelby Perry, now an ecologist with Northeast Wilderness Trust, spearheaded a thought-provoking session on the possibilities of catamount restoration in the eastern U.S., and celebrated author Thor Hanson (of the O Team) gave a brilliant conference keynote on the biology of climate change. Each time these and other FNEPs spoke at the conference, I was reminded of the power of combining an integrative understanding of field science with a passion for clear and compelling communication. These underlying values have served the program well in its first 40 years and will no doubt be a key part of our storyline for the next 40. As this remarkable weekend came to a close, I had the honor of sending a note of welcome to the six incoming FNs recently selected to comprise our 40th cohort. I can’t wait for you to meet them!
