From the Ground Up: Conservation in New England | Podcast on RSS.com

From the Ground Up: Conservation in New England

From the Ground Up: Conservation in New England

by Wildlands, Woodlands, Farmlands & Communities

News Commentary Science

The Finest Kind: Remembering Lobsterwoman Jean Symonds - Paul Breeden

An article written and read by Paul Breeden. Paul Breeden decided as a little boy to someday work for National Geographic. His first published artwork was in National Geographic magazine. From there he went on to illustrate for various other national and international magazines, books, and a U.S. postage stamp. His work was featured at the National Gallery of Art, American Botanical Artists, Brandywine Museum, Geosphere, International Earth Summit, The White House, and 100 Years of Illustration. Having worked in a variety of media, including calligraphy and photography, Paul now primarily paints acrylic Maine landscapes, mountains, and the working waterfront. For fun he paints mind-boggling trompe l’oeil watercolors. See the photos and read the full article here. Discover additional content in the Spring 2026 Issue of From the Ground Up.

Bookshelf: Tending Your Forest: A Guide to Ecological Forest Stewardship in the Eastern and Central United States by Paul Catanzaro and Anthony D’Amato - Liz Thompson

A book recommendation read by Liz Thompson. Liz Thompson, Managing Editor of From the Ground Up, is an ecologist from Vermont who has explored, photographed, written about, and helped conserve many wild places. She serves on the board of Northeast Wilderness Trust. Read the book recommendation and discover additional content in the Spring 2026 Issue of From the Ground Up.

Visit to Harpswell - Scudder Parker

An poem written and read by Scudder Parker. Scudder Parker’s first volume of poetry, Safe as Lightning, released in June 2020 by Rootstock Publishing, was awarded the Best Poetry Book of 2020 by the Independent Publishers of New England (IPNE). Scudder’s poetry has appeared in numerous literary journals including Sun Magazine, Crosswinds, The Lascaux Review, Sky Island Journal, Vermont Life, Northern Woodlands, and Twyckenham. “The Poem of the World” was selected as a finalist in the Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Contest. For Scudder, poetry is the search for truthfulness, not homage to conclusion. It is exploration—fit of bone in socket, bees at riot in oregano blossoms, ache of old injustice summoning an opened heart, the strange joy of longing, laughter at long-defended foolishness. Family, farming, failing, finding. Foraging for the innocent sacred, patient in our midst. Scudder’s had numerous careers—preacher, organizer, gardener, politician, energy consultant, poet—and is still learning from each of them. His new volume, The Poem of the World, published by Kelsay Books, is now available in bookstores and online. You can follow Scudder’s work at Substack. Read the poem and discover additional content in the Spring 2026 Issue of From the Ground Up.

Wellfleet - Angela Patten

An poem written and read by Angela Patten. Angela Patten’s publications include five poetry collections, and her work has appeared in many literary journals and anthologies. Winner of the 2022 Anthony Cronin International Short Poem Award and other awards, Patten has received artist grants from the University of Vermont Retired Scholars Award Program, the Vermont Arts Council, and the Vermont Community Foundation. She has served as visiting writer at several institutions. Born and raised in Dublin, she maintains dual citizenship in Ireland and the United States. She lives in Burlington, Vermont, and is a Senior Lecturer Emerita in English at the University of Vermont. read the poem and discover additional content in the Spring 2026 Issue of From the Ground Up.

Edge Erosion - Chelsea Steinauer-Scudder

An article written and read by Chelsea Steinauer-Scudder Chelsea Steinauer-Scudder is the author of Mother, Creature, Kin: What We Learn From Nature’s Mothers in a Time of Unraveling, published by Broadleaf Books in spring 2025. Her writing can also be found in The Atlantic, Emergence Magazine, The Common, the EcoTheo Review, the edited poetry collection Writing the Land, and in Katie Holten’s The Language of Trees: A Rewilding of Literature and Landscape. She lives with her family in Rochester, Vermont. Read the full article and discover additional content in the Spring 2026 Issue of From the Ground Up.

Food Farming in the Sea: An Interview with Mussel and Oyster Farmer Carter Newell - Liz Thompson

An interview with Carter Newell, conducted and edited by Liz Thompson. Carter Newell has been farming shellfish since 1982, founded Pemaquid Mussel Farms and Pemaquid Oyster Company, and has an MS in oceanography and a PhD in marine biology. In addition to being the captain of the mussel barge Mumbles and the Oyster Girl 2, he is active studying estuaries, modeling bivalve growth, developing aquaculture GIS systems, scuba diving, and playing the fiddle. Liz Thompson is Managing Editor of From the Ground Up. She is an ecologist whose early training included summers on the Maine coast. Read the edited transcript and discover additional content in the Spring 2026 Issue of From the Ground Up.

New England Policy Chronicle: Updates from Around the Region - Alex Redfield

An article written and read by Alex Redfield. Alex Redfield is the Policy Director for Wildlands, Woodlands, Farmlands & Communities. On the farm, in state government, and in conservation policy circles, his work for the past 20 years has centered on supporting a just transition of New England’s landscape toward an equitable future. He lives in South Portland, Maine. Read the full article and discover additional insights in the Spring 2026 Issue of From the Ground Up.

Modeling Future Scenarios of Massachusetts Forests: A Tale of Resilience - Meg Graham MacLean

An article written and read by Meg Graham MacLean. Meg Graham MacLean is a Senior Lecturer and Research Scholar of carbon accounting at the University of Massachusetts - Amherst. She is passionate about collaborating with forestry, environmental, and community leaders at all levels to better understand the human-environment interactions that impact our forest ecosystems. Her research uses innovative quantitative methods to explore how the forested landscape is changing due to human and climate pressures, the impacts of these changes on forest ecosystems and carbon dynamics, and how to monitor and model these changes with the goal of informing policy and management decisions. Learn more Read the full article and discover additional content in the Winter 2026 Issue of From the Ground Up.

Wilderness Comes Home, 25 Years Later - Christopher McGrory Klyza

An article written and read by Christopher McGrory Klyza. Christopher McGrory Klyza is Stafford Professor of Public Policy, Political Science, and Environmental Studies at Middlebury College. He is the author or editor of five books on conservation and environmental policy including Wilderness Comes Home, The Story of Vermont, The Future of the Northern Forest, and Who Controls Public Lands? Read the full article and discover additional content in the Winter 2026 Issue of From the Ground Up.

Seeing the Forest from Above: How a Good Map can be a Game-Changer for Old-Growth Forest Conservation - John M. Hagan

An article written and ready by John M. Hagan. John Hagan is a forest ecologist and President of the nonprofit Our Climate Common, based in Georgetown, Maine. He has studied Maine’s working forest landscape for 33 years. For more information about the Late-Successional and Old Growth (LSOG) mapping project, see Hagan et al., 2024 . If you would like help determining whether LiDAR might be useful for your area, contact John Hagan at jhagan@ourclimatecommon.org. Read the full article and discover additional content in the Winter 2026 Issue of From the Ground Up.

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