Program of Events / 13th Northeastern Alpine Stewardship Gathering

October 25-27, 2024
The Highland Center
Bretton Woods, NH

Download a pdf of the program agenda for 2024 NEASG

 

Friday, October 25

3:00 PM Arrival, registration, check-in

5:00 PM Happy hour

6:00 PM Dinner

 

7:00 PM Opening remarks:

Lars Botzojorns, Waterman Fund president

Georgia Murray, Appalachian Mountain Club

Kevin Berend, Waterman Fund board member

[Featured speaker:] Steve Tatko, VP of Land, Research, and Trails, Appalachian Mountain Club

 

 

Saturday, October 26

6:30-8 AM Breakfast

Check-in, registration

 

8:00 AM Keynote address:

Mardi Fuller, Nonprofit communications director & AMC board member

 

8:50 AM Panel discussion: "Reimagining Wild(er)ness"

 

9:30 AM Research 1: Evolution & environmental gradients [Canada]
Moderated by Jason Mazurowski

Ariane Langlois | Université du Québec à Rimouski
Origin and dynamics of boreal upland heath flora

Guillaume de Lafontaine & Laura Pothier Guerra | Université du Québec à Rimouski
Eco-evolutionary dynamics at the altitudinal limit of a transcontinental boreal conifer

Philippe Blier | Université du Québec à Rimouski
Use of a novel approach to unveil an altitudinal vegetation gradient

Anthony St-Jean | Université du Québec à Rimouski
Exotic plants colonize the Chic-Chocs

 

10:30 AM Restoration
Moderated by Caitlin McDonough Mackenzie

Lester Kenway | Baxter State Park (ret.)
Early efforts to restore and rehabilitate trails on the tablelands of Katahdin 1978-1999

Jesse Wheeler | Acadia National Park, & Lauren Gibson | Friends of Acadia
Restoring summit vegetation in a changing climate at Acadia National Park, ME

Rebecca Stanley | Friends of Acadia
Restoration implications of visitor use patterns on sub-alpine environments in Acadia National Park

Molly Bogner | University of Maine
An investigation into effective management techniques to support summit restoration

 

11:30 AM Lunch

 

12:30 PM Wild(er)ness cont'd
Moderated by David Crews

Larry Anderson | Freelance writer & independent scholar
“Speak softly and carry a big map”: Benton MacKaye’s evolving vision of American wild(er)ness

Darryl McGrath | Albany journalist & author
She would’ve hoofed me to death: The exhausting, enthralling, and dangerous world of fieldwork with moose

 

1:00 PM Research 2: Climate & vegetation change [United States]
Moderated by Georgia Murray

Josua Benes | University of Vermont
NorthEast Network of Mountain Observatories (NENMO)

Andrea Tirrell | University of Maine
Alpine plant communities of Katahdin: A resurvey after 33 years

Jordon Tourville | Appalachian Mountain Club
Northeastern US alpine plant community responses (1983-2024) to climate warming and atmospheric pollutant deposition

Dan Sperduto | US Forest Service
Late-sleepers: Perspectives on the vegetation of snowbeds of Northeastern alpine and beyond

Hannah Vollmer | Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest
Conservation genetics of an endemic alpine flower, Potentilla robbinsiana or dwarf cinquefoil, in the White Mountains of New Hampshire

 

2:15 PM Stewardship & Education
Moderated by Kayla White

Tim Howard | New York Natural Heritage Program
Vegetation response to stewardship assessed using oblique photography

Nigel Bates | Green Mountain Club
What’s in a sign?

Jill Weiss | SUNY-ESF
Recreation and stewardship: Hiker preparation and perceptions in the Northeast US

Nathaniel Scrimshaw | Pan American Trails/WTN Americas
Completing the Franconia Ridge Visitor Use Management Plan

Nathaiel Scrimshaw | Pan American Trails/WTN Americas
Northeast Alpine Stewardship Center and its White Mountain Field School college semester

Corey Denenberg Dehner | Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Developing a wilderness ethics certificate program for STEM students

 

3:45 PM Share-out
Moderated by Kayla White

Adrienne Bartlett | Green Mountain Club

Liam Ebner | Adirondack Mountain Club

Peter Palmiotto | Antioch University New England/MERE

Tom Gorril | Maine Appalachian Trail Club & Leah Beck | Friends of Acadia

Nava Tabak | Baxter State Park

 

4:45 PM The Role of Communications in Alpine Stewardship
Moderated by Alicia DiCocco

 

5:00 PM Poster session/Networking/Happy hour

Joshua Benes | University of Vermont
Northeast Snow Survey (NESS): A feasibility study to develop an automated snowpack and climate monitoring network in the northeast United States

Claire Burnet | Acadia National Park
Save our summits: Community-powered vegetation restoration in Acadia National Park

Mackenzie Case | SUNY-ESF (presented by Sam Socash)
Predictors of hiker preparedness in the Northeast U.S.: Experience, information sources, and Leave No Trace knowledge

Jonathan Chipman | Dartmouth College
Systematic monitoring of alpine zone vegetation change regionwide using satellite remote sensing

Julianne Fisette | Université du Québec à Rimouski
Disentangling the effects of habitat complexity vs time since deglaciation on plant diversity patterns of the Chic-Chocs range: A test of island biogeography theory.

Jacquelyn Gill | University of Maine
Islands in the sky: A new collaborative project integrating community, genetic, and modeling approaches to understand alpine plants in a warming world

Grace (Rei) Jia | University of Vermont
Investigating northeast alpine plant biodiversity in the face of climate change: A first-year field season update

Charles J. Peachey | Mount Washington Observatory

Kyler Phillips | Appalachian Mountain Club
Refugia or at risk? Alpine snowbank communities in the face of climate change

Katie Rhodes | Antioch University New England
Canary in the alpine: Snowbed community research in the Adirondack Mountains of New York

Catherine Schmitt | Schoodic Institute at Acadia National Park
Acadia summits, then & now

Nathaniel Scrimshaw | Pan American Trails/WTN Americas
Completing the Franconia Ridge Visitor Use Management Plan

Nathaniel Scrimshaw | Pan American Trails/WTN Americas
Northeast Alpine Stewardship Center and its White Mountain Field School college semester

Brittany Slabach | College of the Atlantic
Small mammals, summits, and soil: Investigations into small mammal communities on Acadia's summits

Joe Zeno | University of Maine
How climate change is affecting the alpine plants of New England

 

6:00 PM Dinner

 

7:00 PM Emerging steward award

Laura Waterman, Waterman Fund founding board member

 

7:30 PM Evening program: Essays & Poetry 

Catherine Wessel, "Old Friends in the Alpine"

David Crews, Mônadenok

 

 

 

Sunday, October 27

 

Field Trips

Ammonusuc Ravine Tr. to LOC hut - Jordon Tourville (Strenuous)

Crawford Path trail project from MW summit - Erik Samia (Medium)

MWObs tour - Michael Carmon (Easy)

Workshop: Becky Fullerton (AMC Archivist) - "Wayfinding," Washburn Room