About Working Woodlands Workshops![]() NPS Photo Working Woodlands workshops are designed to connect nature enthusiasts and land-owners with natural resource professionals, to provide them with the skills and knowledge to promote land stewardship. These workshops are held both virtually and in-person throughout the year. Explore a wide range of topics, including but not limited to wildlife tracking, tree identification, creating wildlife habitat, invasive plant management, sustainable forestry, and much more. After attending a workshop, you can expect to come away with knowledge about land stewardship and the skills to take it home and practice in your own backyard. Workshops are co-sponsored by Vermont Woodlands Association, Vermont Coverts: Woodlands for Wildlife, and Billings Farm and Museum.
►View workshops on the park's YouTube Channel. Subjects include: Common Tree Pests, Bat Conservation, Successional Forests, Climate Change, Women Land Stewardship, Forest Birds, Vernal Pools, Wildlife Tracking, Composting.
2023 Working Woodlands Workshops![]() NPS Photo Beech Management HikeFriday, July 7, 202310am-12pm Location: Prosper Road parking lot at Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park. Click here to register. American beech is a native tree that is being plagued by beech bark disease, an infection caused by an invasive fungus. When beech trees get sick their response is to send up sprouts from their roots so that if the parent tree dies it will be replaced by many saplings. This adaptation means that when a forest of beech trees becomes sick, dense thickets of beech sapling will spring up only to inevitably face the same demise. These thickets can be so dense that they stunt the regeneration of other native tree species, limiting biodiversity and creating a monoculture of one tree. This summer the park will work to solve this problem by suppressing the beech regeneration using a variety of methods. In this workshop we will hike to the sites where beech is being treated to see the management in action. We will learn from the park's Natural Resource Lead, Steven Mortillo, about the impacts beech trees have on the ecosystem and the different techniques the park uses to manage this tree and restore biodiversity. ![]() NPS Photo Birding Basics HikeSaturday, July 15, 20238:00am-10:30am Location: Prosper Road parking lot at Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park. Click here to register. Join the park’s Natural Resource Team on an early morning birding adventure! Bird watching is a wonderful, engaging way to connect with nature. On this hike we will go over the basics of birding and how to identify birds using songs and calls, habitat and behavior. From birding beginners to the dedicated ornithologist- this hike is open to all levels of bird lovers! We will begin our hike at the Prosper Road parking lot and visit different woodlands, grasslands and the Pogue to experience the full range of bird habitat that the park provides. We will provide binoculars and bring spotting scopes for any who need them. Parking for this hike is located at the Prosper Road parking lot. If coming from Woodstock Village, drive past the Billings Farm & Museum on VT-12 and continue for 3.3 miles. Turn left on Prosper Rd, and drive 0.7 miles. The parking lot will be on your left. Click here for driving directions on Google Maps. ![]() NPS Photo Getting to Know the Woods: Peer to Peer Discussion Program
4:00pm-6:00pm |
Last updated: July 8, 2023