News
from the
QUIET CORNER
Issue 5 - FALL 2014
a Note from the
coordinator
Good tidings to the Quiet Corner!
We hope you were able to join
us for some of the seminars and
film screenings that happened at
Yale-Myers Camp this summer.
Summer for the Forest Crew was
a piney one. Crew members spent
a lot of time marking timber sales
in the Still River Division, an area
predominated by eastern white
pine on the sandy soils of glacial
eskers. The majority of Yale-Myers
Forest is oak-hickory, so working
primarily in pine was a bit of a
change of scenery!
The QCI creates partnerships that expand the educational and research opportunities
for students and faculty at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, while
supporting the work of private landowners, natural resource managers and forest industry
professionals in and around the Yale-Myers Forest. The QCI supports strengthened local
livelihoods, increased forest health, and rural economic development for the long-term
benefit of the land and those that live on it by providing knowledge, energy, and expertise
to our partnering landowners and organizations.
THE QUIET CORNER’s first annual
Boot-stompin’ harvest fest
Julius Pasay, Quiet Corner Initiative Coordinator
Autumn has gotten off to an
excellent start. It began with the
first annual Harvest Festival at
Yale-Myers Forest in September.
I was pleased to see so many
students, faculty and staff come up
from New Haven to the forest and
meet Quiet Corner landowners.
Good times were had by all. I
look forward to continuing the
tradition in the coming years.
You may have seen some forestry
students out in the woods; they
are part of teams who are well on
their way to producing six more
management plans for landowners
in the Bigelow Brook watershed.
Two of these properties will also
have river assessments written.
Finally, we have the start of an
excellent line up for this year’s
workshops. Please be sure to check
out the Save the Date section! I
look forward to seeing you at our
upcoming events.
All the best,
Julius Pasay
QCI Coordinator
Rich Dezso shares how he extracts honey from his hives at Harvest Fest . Photo by Danielle Lehle, MF’15
A cross-cut saw competition, cider press,
bee-keeping demo, folk band, and local
food feast were the hallmarks of the first
annual Quiet Corner Harvest Festival at
Yale-Myers Forest.
The festival brought together Quiet
Corner landowners, plus students, faculty
and staff from the Yale School of Forestry
and Environmental Studies for an evening
of revelry. (Yale FES) Dean Peter Crane
and former Commissioner of CT DEEP,
Dan Esty, joined the festivities as well.
The afternoon started with plenty of
time for guests to mingle and press fresh
apples from Buell’s Orchard into delicious
cider under the warm September sun.
Rich Dezso set up his bee-keeping
demonstration and soon drew a crowd.
Onlookers learned about the social
structure of bees, hive management,
and the relationship between bees and
the land while observing Rich open and
display one of his hives. Later in the
evening, guests had the opportunity to
use a centrifuge to spin honey from the
continued on page 2
a birder’s tale
Five am. I have already eaten breakfast,
driven to the Yale-Myers Forest and
bushwacked my way through a gauntlet
of Rubus and mountain laurel to my
observation site. The birds are already
active. I can hear the distinct red-eyed
vireo asking:
“Where are you? Here I am. In this
Tree. Where are you?”
the eastern towhee reminding me
to “Drink your Tea!”
and the oven bird’s insistent,
“Teacher, Teacher, Teacher!”
One hand holds my data sheet while the
other rests by my binoculars—ready to
identify any indistinct brown mass with
wings that flits by me.
Hale Morell MESc ‘15 birding in Richard’s Last
Stand. Summer 2014.
My goal for this bird survey is to discover
whether the variety and number of birds
changes in woods of different ages. To
answer this question, I am comparing the
number of birds I count in unmanaged
stands versus different aged shelterwood
stands. A Shelterwood treatment is a type
of management practice commonly used
throughout Yale-Myers that harvests
many mature trees in a stand, but leaves
behind enough to act as a source of shade
Save the date!
Forest
Forensics
Workshop
Saturday, December 6, 1:00 pm
Here’s a snapshot of what’s on
the horizon for winter and spring
workshops. We look forward to
seeing you there. Please stay tuned
for more!
All QCI events are free and open to
the public
Join Tom Wessels for not just your
ordinary walk in the woods. Train
your eyes to see signs of storms,
elements of ecology and hints of
human history.
Snow date: Sat, Dec 13th
Hale Morrell, MESc ‘15
and seeds for new trees to grow.
There is already a large body of research
showing that some forest management
practices can actually increase bird species
abundance and diversity. In the case
of shelterwoods, this could be because
stratified vegetation layers and gaps offer
more habitat for a variety of bird species
and their breeding, nesting and foraging
needs. I hope that my research will add to
this pool of knowledge and help inform
how we can viably manage forests while
promoting wildlife.
Yale-Myers is not the only forest in New
England managed for these values. In fact,
the Vermont Audubon Society started
a program called Foresters for the Birds
which brings together managers, foresters,
loggers and wildlife biologists to promote
forest management that increases bird
populations, especially those that are in
decline, while maintaining economic
viability.
If you are interested in learning more
about Foresters for the Birds, attending
their tours or workshops, or learning
more about the birds in your area please
visit their website: http://vt.audubon.org/
foresters-birds.
Horse-Logging and Bandsaw
Milling Workshop
Sunday, January 18, 10:00 am
What would winter be like without
a horse logging demonstration in
the Quiet Corner? Join us for some
live draft power and milling!
Snow date: Sat, Jan 24th

continued from page 1
comb to fill jars to bring home.
The big event of the day was the two-person
crosscut saw competition. Contestants
lined up to race for the best time slicing
firewood rounds off of a white ash log.
Competition was fierce, with teams from
the Quiet Corner, student body and the
business office all vying for first. Students
Mikael Cejtin and José Pons-Ballesteros
quickly got into a fast rhythm and ended
up with the best time.
As evening drew on, Yale College’s folk
ensemble, Tangled Up in Blue began
to play and sing. The mix of strings and
vocals entertained the crowd as chef
Frances Sawyer set out dinner.
The delicious local dishes featured smoked
pig, venison backstrap, and turkey
potpie---all from Connecticut, including
vegetables from Willow Valley Farm in
Willington. Fruit pies from Eastford’s
Buell’s Orchard paired well with dessert
wines from Taylor Brook Winery in
Woodstock to finish things off.
Music by the fire and a screening of King
Corn, a film from the Environmental
Film Festival at Yale (EFFY) ended the
first installment of the annual Harvest
Festival. A big thank you to everybody
who contributed their time, food, and
funding to help put this on!
AUDITING THE
Forest Audit
Nick Olson, Master of Forestry ‘16
Each year when the leaves change
and the temperature cools, YaleMyers Forest (YMF) undergoes
an audit as part of its forest
certification. The audit ensures
that YMF is complying with
sustainable and transparent forest
management practices. To take
advantage of this great hands-on
learning opportunity, YMF opens
up the audit to Yale students to
give them the chance to witness
the process in person.
Two management plan students surveying the New England forest.
Photo by Heather West MF ‘15
working together for the future of
new england’s forests
Shane Feyers, Master of Environmental Management ‘15
Once entirely cleared for farmland, New
England is now the most heavily forested
region in the United States! As a result,
awesome creatures like deer, fisher cats,
bears, beavers, and moose are on the rise,
tree canopies are growing taller, water is
becoming cleaner and the potential for
wildland conservation is promising.
Though New England has returned to 80%
woodland, growing human populations
and expanding developments pressure the
landscape once again. With the majority
of New England’s land in smaller private
holdings, wise-use isn’t as straightforward
as ‘your land, your decision’, and
conservation isn’t as easy as drawing
park boundaries and calling it protected.
If we want to keep New England’s
ecosystems healthy and landscapes
beautiful, collaboration across sectors
and property lines is crucial. Providing
science-driven recommendations and
community support to landowners will
better enable them to sustainably manage
their forestland.
At the Yale School of Forestry and
Environmental Studies, Master’s students
have the opportunity to take a project
capstone course that engages them in this
mission. The course, Management Plans
for Protected Areas, matches students
with landowners in the Quiet Corner.
Students spend several months working
with property owner to develop a system
of management that meets the landowners’
needs and preferences. During class
meetings students review the tools,
techniques and perspectives appropriate
to accomplish this task. Weekends are
then spent sampling and surveying the
property, interpreting land-use history
and mapping and analyzing results.
For students, this course synthesizes
academic experiences and professional
abilities. While the course is challenging
in a variety of ways—on our time, our
knowledge, and, when it’s cold and rainy,
sometimes on our motivation—it’s not
just a lesson for class or a grade that we can
take away. This class offers the opportunity
for us to work with people managing
their land. Together we contribute in a
measurable way to protecting the forests
that New England has worked so hard to
recover.
This year, a group of seven
students and staff joined our forest
managers for the audit and forest
tour. The day began at the YMF
classroom where the lead auditor
provided an opportunity to review
the previous year’s documents and
outline what the day’s audit would
cover. This year, the audit focused
on two principles:
• Forest management operations
shall encourage the efficient use
of the forest’s multiple products
and services to ensure economic
viability and a wide range
of environmental and social
benefits.
• Forest
management
shall
conserve biological diversity
and its associated values, water
resources, soils, and unique and
fragile ecosystems and landscapes,
and, by so doing, maintain the
ecological functions and the
integrity of the forest.
The forest managers led the group
to four recent timber harvests and
the future site of a fruit and nut
orchard. At each site, the auditor
guided a discussion with questions
that determined the extent to
which YMF complied with the
certification principles.
In particular, the auditor focused
on YMF’s network within the local
economy, the long-term financial
viability and ecologic sustainability
continued on page 4
continued from page 3
of its harvest practices, how it
protected its wetlands, and how
it managed its invasive species.
The auditor approved of YMF’s
practices and management
with just one suggestion: to
create a written invasive species
management plan—a plan that
had existed in practice, but not
in writing, to date.
The
certification
audit
showed observing students
how financial and ecological
values can be applied to forest
management and how auditors
can verify the application of
these values. Seeing this practice
in action also demonstrated
how outside audits can lead to
an exchange of ideas, even for
well managed forests.
Yale College Ensemble Tangled Up in Blue and QCI Coordinator Julius Pasay at the first annual Harvest Fest
Photo by Danielle Lehle, MESc ‘15
Issue 5 / Fall 2014
The QCI Newsletter is brought to you by the Yale School Forests / 360 Prospect Street, New Haven, CT 06511
Words by Shane Feyers, Hale Morrell, Nick Olson, Julius Pasay / Layout by Claire Nowak and Sara Rose Tannenbaum
Photos by Danielle Lehle, MESc ‘15
Yale School Forests
360 Prospect Street
New Haven CT-06511