Farmscape Ecology Program

Farmscape Ecology Field Day at the Hudson Valley Farm Hub
2025-07-29 13:30 - 16:30 (America/New_York) | Hudson Valley Farm Hub, 1875 Hurley Mountain Rd, Hurley, NY, 12443
Tuesday, July 29, 1:30-4:40pm, 1874 Hurley Mountain Road, Hurley NY; rain date: Wed., July 30th; register here
This will be an opportunity to join us and our colleagues from the Applied Farmscape Ecology Research Collaborative to learn about and discuss the different Farmscape Ecology research projects that occur at the Farm Hub. This event is for farmers, conservation professionals, land managers, and others interested in on-farm ecology to learn about the different research projects that occur at the Farm Hub and discussing their applications.
This event will be free, but has limited capacity and will require registration with the Hudson Valley Farm Hub.

Pollinator Meadow Exploration at Overmountain Cons. Area
2025-07-21 15:00 - 17:00 | NY
Monday, July 21, 3 to 5pm; 138 Cattalino Rd, Ancramdale, NY
Join researchers from the Farmscape Ecology Program for an exploration of a pollinator meadow seeded by volunteers in the autumn of 2019 on a former corn field at Overmountain Conservation Area in Ancram. Which native plants were seeded? Who are the native (and non-native) plants growing in the meadow now, during its 6th season? Which pollinators visit their flowers? What have we learned from monitoring the vegetation development over the years?
This free event is sponsored by the Columbia Land Conservancy. Participant number is limited, so please register with fep@hawthornevalleyfarm.org or call 518-672-7994 to reserve a space and receive directions. Rain date: Wednesday, July 23.

Comedy to Conservation — a free presentation by Carla Rhodes
2025-07-11 18:30 - 20:00 | Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program, 1075 Harlemville Rd, Ghent, New York, 12075
Friday, July 11, 6:30pm at the FEP Creekhouse in Harlemville (directions here)
Carla Rhodes, former stand-up comedian and current wildlife photographer & conservationist, will present a slideshow entitled, Comedy to Conservation. Carla, based near New Paltz in Ulster County, is an amazing photographer of our regional wildlife, as her portfolio illustrates. She has a fascination with flying squirrels, shrews, and moths, among other creatures. She has published in The Washington Post, Rolling Stone, The Guardian, Wall Street Journal, Smithsonian and other publications. We invite you to join us for this in-person free event. Because space is limited at the Creekhouse, we do ask that you register. Hope to see you then.

Meadow Work Day at the Forge Project
2025-06-21 16:00 - 19:00 | Forge Project
Please join a group of volunteers facilitated by Claudia and Josie for a few hours on the longest day of the year to tend the various meadows at the Forge Project. We will learn who are the native plants we try to support on this beautiful hilltop. We plan to remove invasives and woody plants from an established wet meadow, which has been actively managed without mowing for three years, gently nudging it towards a higher proportion of native plants. We will also visit a newly seeded wildflower meadow, learn to recognize the seedlings of native and non-native species, and do some weeding, if needed.
If you plan to attend, please RSVP with the Forge Project to receive directions.

"Spring in the Orchard" tours
2025-06-07 | Martin Van Buren National Historic Site, 1013 Old Post Road, Kinderhook, NY, 12106, United States
Join Anna and Kyle for special tours of the newly installed native plant plots and other spring happenings in the recently restored historic orchard at the Martin Van Buren National Historic Site in Kinderhook, NY. “Spring in the Orchard” tours depart from the Visitor’s Center on June 7th at 10:15am, 11:15am, 1:15pm, and 2:15pm; sign up the day of the tours at the Visitor’s Center. (Rain date is June 14th).
The tours will highlight the two native wildflower installations–including an experimental seeding of sand-frequenting plants that may have been part of an historic Kinderhook pine barrens–that were guided by the Farmscape Ecology Program and made possible thanks to the receipt of an Ecological Restoration Grant from the Partners for Climate Action. The tour will provide an opportunity to learn how Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program biologists selected the species that were planted, and are collaborating with the staff and orchardist at the site to monitor the ecology of the organically managed orchard over time, including the impact on pollinators and other insects. The tours will also provide an opportunity to learn what historical records tell us about when apple and pear trees were flowering in Kinderhook in the 1830s and 1840s, and how this compares to current observations.

Spring Wildflower and Nature Walk at Crellin Park
2025-05-10 13:00 - 15:00 | NY
Where: Crellin Park (2940 NY-66, Chatham, NY 12037)
Participants will experience several habitats, including floodplain forest, and see how spring wildflowers distribute differently between them. This is a great opportunity to welcome back spring flowers, learn how to recognize different species, hear some of their lore, and observe their early insect visitors. The walk will be interspersed with short landscape-inspired readings from the Columbia County Library Association’s 2025 Community Read book Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. To attend, please register to reserve spaces for your party by emailing Josie.

Spring Flower and Nature Walk at Hand Hollow Conservation Area
2025-05-01 13:00 - 15:00 | NY
Where: Hand Hollow (4079 County Rte 9, East Chatham, NY 12060)
Participants will see how spring is progressing in diverse habitats in the landscape, including an ancient forest habitat adjacent to younger forest. This is a great opportunity to welcome back spring flowers and their insect visitors, learn how to recognize different species, discover some of the special qualities of ancient forests, and engage in hands-on activities exploring the spring landscape. The walk will be interspersed with short landscape-inspired readings from the Columbia County Library Association’s 2025 Community Read book Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. To attend, please register to reserve spaces for your party by emailing Josie.

Leatherwood Deer Exclosure and Spring Wildflower Walk at Hawthorne Valley
2025-04-29 15:30 - 17:00 | NY
Thanks to an ecological restoration grant from Partners for Climate Action and support from the Hawthorne Valley Association Net Positive Initiative, we have successfully assembled a deer exclosure around a grove of Leatherwood shrubs and spring wildflowers on Phudd Hill, and will soon be conducting baseline research and sharing about the project.
We will be leading a spring flower walk to the newly erected exclosure, where we will look at the Leatherwood and spring flowers being protected from deer browse, as well as others outside the exclosure, and talk about the importance of such interventions in the landscape. Spots are limited, so please register (email Josie).

Ancient Forest Wildflower Walk
2025-04-24 15:30 - 17:30 | NY
Continuing our ancient forest-themed ecology walks, we will lead a spring wildflower walk at an ancient forest with calcareous outcrops in Canaan, NY. The location is on private land and will be shared with participants once registered.
The walk is full, to be added to the waiting list please email Josie; the walk is limited to 15 participants.

Ancient Forest Pilot Project Presentation
2025-03-13 18:00 - 20:00 | Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program, 1075 Harlemville Rd, Ghent, New York, 12075
During the 2024 field season, Josie, Kyle, and Laura conducted a pilot study for the Ancient Forest Project, within the scope of a larger initiative aimed at bringing attention to underrecognized habitats in our landscape. Join us as we share the results of this pilot, highlight the insights gained and questions that remain about ancient forests, delve into the organisms we studied, and discuss our plans for moving forward with this project.
This talk will be in person at the Creekhouse (1075 Harlemville Rd., Ghent, NY 12075) and also on Zoom. The link is below, and the recording will be available afterward.
Zoom Link Password: [REDACTED]
https://zoom.us/j/94951934352?pwd=[REDACTED]

Farming, Ecology and Landscape Recovery in the Brecklands of Eastern England
2025-03-01 14:00 | Bard College
The Farmer-Ecologist Research Circle, an initiative of the Hudson Valley Farm Hub and the Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program, is sponsoring a free presentation by our visitors from England, farmer Richard Evans and ornithologist Chris Sharpe. The presentation is hosted by the Bard Center for Environmental Policy.
Richard Evans, co-founder and lead farmer in the Breckland Farmers Wildlife Network, will describe his experiences and motivations for helping to run this organization since its inception in 2018. The Network’s goals are to “protect & enhance the biodiversity of the Brecks, [a geographical region in eastern England], help shape future policy to benefit this area, and consider the current & future impacts & balance of food production & ecology in the Brecks.” Chris Sharpe, an ornithologist who has helped gather avian data in the same region, will provide an ecologist’s view of the interaction of bird life and agriculture in that landscape.
Bard College
Rm 115, Olin Language Center
77 Campus Rd, Bard College, Annandale-On-Hudson, NY 12504
The talk is free and all are invited. It will be recorded and made available at research-circle.org.
East Anglia, England—and Breckland in particular—is one of the most intensively managed regions of the UK for food production. Its landscape and environment are consequently highly modified. Although these changes have often reduced biodiversity, some historical human practices have created the very environments upon which now scarce, often threatened, local species depend. The last few decades have seen significant efforts to document and understand the region’s biodiversity with a view toward restoring nature on both agricultural and non-productive land. A growing number of contemporary farmers have enthusiastically adopted nature-friendly management practices.
“This is a heart-warming story of collaboration and improvement, a narrative that often clashed with our general impression of the environmental effects of food production,” said Chris Sharpe. “I will provide insights into the sort of agricultural practices that benefit birds and biodiversity, many of which are obvious while others may perhaps be quite surprising.”
Evans and Sharpe will recount more than two decades of farming and wildlife interactions in the Brecklands and share lessons that they hope will shed light on how to organize a community around the values of conservation, both in England and beyond.
“Many of us here in the Hudson Valley are working to find our own balance between the need for our farms to succeed as profitable enterprises that feed our community, and as places that shelter and nurture native wildlife,” said Will Yandik, a member of the Farmer-Ecologist Research Circle. “I think our visitors from England will provide us the opportunity to evaluate our own lands with a fresh perspective.”
The Farmer-Ecologist Research Circle is an initiative of the Hudson Valley Farm Hub (hvfarmhub.org) and Hawthorne Valley’s Farmscape Ecology Program (hvfarmscape.org) for both farmers and ecologists who are interested in supporting biodiversity in a variety of ways across the farm landscape. If you are a farmer involved in producing crops and crop planning, or an ecologist who works on farms, please consider joining us as we create a community centered on biodiversity conservation and agroecology in the region. You can find more information and get in touch with us at connect@research-circle.org or by visiting research-circle.org.

Ancient Forest Exploration: Lake Taghkanic State Park
2025-02-22 13:00 - 15:00 | NY
Interested in learning more about the Ancient Forests of Columbia County? Join us for a series of three guided explorations into these at-risk habitats. Discover their distinguishing characteristics, delve into land use history, and sharpen your skills in winter botany.
Registration is closed, keep an eye out for more ancient forest walks this year.

Book talk at Mountaintop Arboretum in Tannersville, NY
2025-02-08 05:00 - 06:30 | NY
Conrad and Claudia will be giving a book talk at the Mountain Top Arboretum in Tannersville, NY. If you didn’t get to join one of the talks last year, this is another opportunity to learn about our book, From the Hudson to the Taconics: An Ecological and Cultural Field Guide to the Habitats of Columbia County, New York, how it was made, and how to use it.
Registration through the Arboretum is required.

Ancient Forest Exploration: Harris Conservation Area in Austerlitz
2025-01-11 08:00 - 10:00 | NY
Interested in learning more about the Ancient Forests of Columbia County? Join us for a series of three guided explorations into these at-risk habitats. Discover their distinguishing characteristics, delve into land use history, and sharpen your skills in winter botany.
Please email Josie to register.

Ancient Forest Exploration at High Falls in Philmont
2024-12-07 08:00 - 10:00 | High Falls Conservation Area, 540 Roxbury Rd, Hudson, NY, 12534, United States
Location: High Falls Conservation Area in Philmont, NY
Interested in learning more about the Ancient Forests of Columbia County? Join us for a series of three guided explorations into these at-risk habitats. Discover their distinguishing characteristics, delve into land use history, and sharpen your skills in winter botany.
Please email Josie to register if you would like to attend. Space is limited.

Managing Meadows Symposium
2024-11-07 04:00 - 11:00 | Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, 630 Bedford Rd, Tarrytown, NY, 10591, United States
Join us for a symposium on the management of seeded meadows organized by Perfect Earth Project and Ecological Landscape Alliance to be held at the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture.
Conrad Vispo and Claudia Knab-Vispo will be part of a panel on how to manage meadows to support different taxa, such as insects, turtles, and birds: How can you balance meadow management techniques to support different taxonomic groups–to maximize biodiversity and minimize harm? This panel will explore this question, sharing insights from distinct meadow projects. Panelists will discuss habitat creation, successional dynamics, and management practices that support diverse habitats to meet the needs of various species.
The symposium offers two other morning presentations and afternoon site visits to various meadows.
To see the full symposium program, learn about LA CES credits, and to register, please go to https://e.givesmart.com/events/EVN/

Hawthorne Valley Harvest Festival
2024-10-13 07:00 - 11:00 | Hawthorne Valley Farm, 327 County Route 21C, Ghent, NY, 12075, United States
Hawthorne Valley Harvest Festival
Stop by the Farmscape Ecology Program display for a close-up look at insects through a microscope, learn about soil organisms with an interactive poster, and hear about our research efforts in the ancient forests of Columbia County. Our recently published field guide will also be available for purchase. We hope to see you there!

Book Talk: "From the Hudson to the Taconics" at the O Zone
2024-10-02 13:30 - 15:00 | NY
Join authors of From the Hudson to the Taconics: An Ecological and Cultural Field Guide to the Habitats of Columbia County, New York for an introduction to the book and some of the habitats highlighted therein. They will also share experiences and discoveries made in the process of creating this Field Guide.
Please register here if you plan to attend. The O Zone, 148 Pitcher Ln, Red Hook, NY 12571

Habitat Exploration Walk: High Falls
2024-09-28 09:00 | NY
Where: High Falls Conservation Area, 540 Roxbury Road, Philmont, NY
Join authors of From the Hudson to the Taconics: An Ecological and Cultural Field Guide to the Habitats of Columbia County, New York for a walk exploring habitats such as floodplain forest, hemlock forest, and black locust forest at High Falls Conservation Area using this newly released book as a guide and resource. Whether one is already familiar with High Falls or visiting it for the first time, this walk is designed to help everyone “see more colors” in the landscape. Participants will experience several habitats through multiple lenses, including history, culture, sensory immersion, and ecology, and learn how to recognize patterns in the distribution of plants and the animals associated with them.
Copies of From the Hudson to the Taconics will be available to use for the walk, though please bring your own copy if you have one. The books will also be for sale before and after the walk. The walk is free, but participants are requested to register. You can sign up for the walk at the Claverack Free Library or by emailing fep@hawthornevalleyfarm.org

Meadow Work Day at the Forge Project
2024-09-26 12:00 - 15:00 | NY
Forge Project invites neighbors from the region to participate in a Meadow Work Day, learning about and participating in some of the meadow tending work happening onsite. Basic plant identification will be led by allied botanists Claudia Knab-Vispo and Josie Laing of the Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program. You will learn about the different management zones on the land, which include established meadows and a savanna-like area where our task is to gently nudge the vegetation towards more diversity in native plants. You will also see a resently seeded wildflower meadow in the making. Introductions will be led at 4:15 PM and 5:45 PM – attendees are welcome to stay for the entire time.
Please go here to learn more about the event and to RSVP.

Book Talk: From the Hudson to the Taconics—Looking at Our Landscape Through the Lens of Habitats in the Claverack Area
2024-09-25 14:00 | NY
Where: Claverack Free Library, 629 NY-23B, Claverack, NY
Join authors of From the Hudson to the Taconics: An Ecological and Cultural Field Guide to the Habitats of Columbia County, New York for an engaging introduction to this richly illustrated and unique new book, which is the culmination of years of original research by the Farmscape Ecology Program and Hudsonia. Authors will share some of their experiences creating From the Hudson to the Taconics, exciting discoveries along the way, and how they hope to build on this work through a new habitat research and conservation initiative. The audience will also be invited to learn how one might use this book (available through the library) to become more familiar with the diverse and beautiful landscape of Columbia County and its surrounds. Authors will focus especially on some of their favorite habitats in the Claverack area.
This free talk can be enjoyed as a single event or paired with a Habitat Exploration Walk at High Falls Conservation Area, in which participants will have a chance to use the book to explore in more detail the many facets of several habitats.

Book Talk and Habitat Walk at Austerlitz Historical Society
2024-09-15 10:00 - 13:00 | NY
Austerlitz Church, 11550 Route 22, Austerlitz NY
Join authors of From the Hudson to the Taconics: An Ecological and Cultural Field Guide to the Habitats of Columbia County, New York for an in-door presentation about their beautiful book. This will be followed by a leisurely stroll through the fields and along the stream behind the Austerlitz Church to experience somhttps://hvfarmscape.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=8cf69baa8c0d6581f3fd8e9c0&id=2efc79391d&e=fa02baabb0e of the habitats highlighted in the Field Guide and to see how the book can be used to “see more color in the landscape.”

Climate Carnival in Chatham
2024-09-14 07:00 - 11:30 | NY
Please visit the Farmscape Ecology Program display at the Climate Carnival on the Fairground in Chatham, NY. See here for more info about the event.

Habitat Exploration Walk: Palatine Park
2024-09-07 09:00 | NY
Where: Palatine Park, 50 Palatine Park Road, Germantown, NY
Join authors of From the Hudson to the Taconics: An Ecological and Cultural Field Guide to the Habitats of Columbia County, New York for a walk exploring habitats such as swamp forest, oak-maple forest, and pond at Palatine Park using this newly released book as a guide and resource. Whether one is already familiar with the park or visiting it for the first time, this walk is designed to help everyone “see more colors” in the landscape. Participants will experience several habitats through multiple lenses, including history, culture, sensory immersion, and ecology, and learn how to recognize patterns in the distribution of plants and the animals associated with them.
Copies of From the Hudson to the Taconics will be available to use for the walk, though please bring your own copy if you have one. The books will also be for sale before and after the walk. The walk is free, but participants are requested to register. You can sign up for the walk at the Germantown Library or by emailing fep@hawthornevalleyfarm.org

Book Talk: From the Hudson to the Taconics—Looking at Our Landscape Through the Lens of Habitats in the Germantown Area
2024-09-05 14:00 | NY
Where: Claverack Free Library, 629 NY-23B, Claverack, NY
Join authors of From the Hudson to the Taconics: An Ecological and Cultural Field Guide to the Habitats of Columbia County, New York for an engaging introduction to this richly illustrated and unique new book, which is the culmination of years of original research by the Farmscape Ecology Program and Hudsonia. Authors will share some of their experiences creating From the Hudson to the Taconics, exciting discoveries along the way, and how they hope to build on this work through a new habitat research and conservation initiative. The audience will also be invited to learn how one might use this book (available through the library) to become more familiar with the diverse and beautiful landscape of Columbia County and its surrounds. Authors will focus especially on some of their favorite habitats in the Claverack area.
This free talk can be enjoyed as a single event or paired with a Habitat Exploration Walk at High Falls Conservation Area, in which participants will have a chance to use the book to explore in more detail the many facets of several habita

Historical Weather Station Display at Martin Van Buren NHS
2024-08-24 06:00 - 11:00 | NY
Join us as we set up our historical weather station display for an “historical weather day” at the Martin Van Buren NHS. The weather station display will feature antique and replica weather instruments, predominantly from the 19th century. The event will be an opportunity to learn about and interact with these early weather instruments, many of which were manufactured and/or used locally. Some such tools were part of a 19th century meteorological network throughout New York State that included sites in Kinderhook, Hudson, New Lebanon, Chatham, and Spencertown. Slightly later instrumentation was used by the US Weather Bureau, the precursor of our current Weather Service.
Visitors will be invited to try their hand at reading the weather conditions on some of the still-functional instruments, and learn more about their history and use. A daily almanac derived from meteorological and seasonal observations made by 19th century observers in Kinderhook and nearby towns will be available for perusing, as well as historical weather maps. These historical weather observations provide a window into how weather and climate has changed since Martin Van Buren’s time, and some of the local effects of those changes.

Mushroom Walk and Ancient Forest Discussion at High Falls Conservation Area in Philmont
2024-08-17 06:00 - 08:00 | NY
Where: High Falls Conservation Area in Philmont (540 Roxbury Rd, Hudson, NY 12534)
With the wrapping up of the Field Guide, we have felt that there are a few habitats that deserve more attention and care. These include our “ancient forests,” which are forests that have never been fully cleared for agriculture and whose soils have never been plowed. They might have been farm woodlots (providing timber and firewood), wooded pastures, or were perhaps just too difficult to access. They usually lack old-growth characteristics (for example, the individual trees might not be particularly large) and often blend in with our county’s matrix of young, post-agricultural forests. However, we believe these ancient forests might be islands of resilience and native biodiversity that need to be protected.
This year we have begun a pilot study to compare the biodiversity of certain taxa in ancient forests versus the younger, post-agricultural forests that make up most of the county. One of the taxa we are curious about is fungi, specifically macrofungi, and especially mycorrhizal species. During this mushroom walk, we will be looking for and identifying mushrooms while discussing the role of fungi in forest ecosystems and some of the observations we’ve made so far in this pilot study.
The walk will take place at High Falls Conservation Area, where there are a few “varieties” of ancient forest. This is a free event and we request registration by emailing jlaing@hawthornevalley.org if you would like to attend.
