Vassar Forest Joins National Network Protecting Old-Growth Woodlands
On May 7, Vassar’s Forest was formally inducted into the Old-Growth Forest Network, a national nonprofit organization that aims to protect old-growth forests from logging and create a connected system of public forests. Founded by environmentalist Joan Maloof, the network works to identify one forest within each county to add to the network.
Keri VanCamp, Director of The Preserve at Vassar, said, “Vassar is committed to stewarding and protecting the forest to ensure that it continues to mature and develop into an old-growth forest. The designation protects this valuable habitat in perpetuity and enables future generations to access and explore the forest, deepening their connection to the natural world.”
The Vassar Forest is a 222-acre forest corridor that is being left to natural processes. One hundred sixty acres of the forest corridor is located on The Preserve at Vassar, a 500-acre field station located across a street from the main campus. The Preserve is a rich, living laboratory for students and faculty at Vassar, with a network of marked trails open to the public and a variety of environmental outreach and educational programs for the local community. The forest corridor continues onto the main campus following the Casperkill Creek.
Alum Sarah Robb-Grieco ’94, Old-Growth Forest Network’s Northeast Regional Manager, led the ceremony and, to mark the occasion, presented a commemorative plaque to President Elizabeth Bradley.
“I loved this campus,” Robb-Grieco said. “I really experienced so much here, and a lot of that positive experience had to do with the natural spaces on campus, whether it was the lake, or the forest, or the orchard, or the farm. It is so exciting to be able to bring these pieces together and protect some of this land that is so dear to me personally, and now everybody else also gets to experience it.”