We’ll take a look at what’s going on with our trees – in the recent past and today – and what the future might hold. Environmental and ecological changes are accelerating, and trees are a sort of visible canary-in-the-coal-mine indicator of nature’s health. We’ll look at a few species from American Chestnut to Ashes to Eastern Hemlock. Are the problems manageable?

Jeff Smith is a Naturalist and board member at Waterman Conservation Education Center (WCEC), with a focus on wetland ecology and botany. In the past few years he’s been working on inventorying plants and plant changes at WCEC sites. Recently he’s focused on invasive plants and insects and troubled trees (especially Hemlock and Ash). He promotes general nature education through nature/plant identification walks and talks. As a videographer, he maintains the WCEC YouTube channel “Waterman’s STNY Nature” (youtube.com/@watermancenter).

Silent Auction
The Naturalists’ Club will be holding their annual Silent Auction at our May membership meeting. Please bring any nature related items you would like to donate to the club for this fundraiser. Items can include books, optics, gardening supplies, knick-knacks, bird feeders, and more. There will be bidding forms describing the item. Fill in your name and your bid amount on the form. Keep an eye on any items that you want. Someone may outbid you and then you can rebid to try to win the item. The bidding will close at program start. Come a little early to drop off your donation and browse through all the items. Thank you in advance for your donations. All proceeds help fund club activities.