Talk of the Towns 4/8/26: The Trees of Acadia– the overstory of a new book by Catherine Schmidt

Producer/Hosts: Ron Beard and Liz Graves
College of the Atlantic provides help with production. Engineering by Joel Mann of WERU Community Radio.
Theme music for Talk of the Towns Theme is a medley from Coronach, on a Balnain House Highland Music recording.

Talk of the Towns: Local Community concerns and opportunities

This month:
What are some of the important tree species that make up the woodland of the eastern-most national park?
What records were important to telling the story of Acadia’s trees?
What have been some of the dynamic forces shaping Acadias past and present forests?
What are researchers discovering that will help natural resource managers in Acadia National Park cope with insect pests and changes in climate which affect present and future forests?
How will reading this book make any walk in the woods more enjoyable!

Guest/s:
Catherine Schmidt, author of Trees of Acadia, science communicator, Schoodic Institute.
Nick Fisichelli, President, Schoodic Institute.
Caroline Kanaski, forest ecologist, assistant professor of forestry, University of Maine Fort Kent.

FMI:
Catherine Schmidt’s website: catherineschmitt.com/
Schoodic Institute: schoodicinstitute.org
Downeast Books : www.globepequot.com/imprint/down-east-books/

About the hosts:

Ron Beard is producer and host of Talk of the Towns, which first aired on WERU in 1993 as part of his community building work as an Extension professor with University of Maine Cooperative Extension and Sea Grant. He took all the journalism courses he could fit in while an undergraduate student in wildlife management and served as an intern with Maine Public Television nightly newscast in the early 1970s. Ron is an adjunct faculty member at College of the Atlantic, teaching courses on community development. Ron served on the Bar Harbor Town Council for six years and is currently board chair for the Jesup Memorial Library in Bar Harbor, where he has lived since 1975. Look for him on the Allagash River in June, and whenever he can get away, in the highlands of Scotland where he was fortunate to spend two sabbaticals.

Liz Graves joined Talk of the Towns as co-producer and co-host in July 2022, having long admired public affairs programming on WERU and dreamed of getting involved in community radio. She works as the Town Clerk for the Town of Bar Harbor, and is a former editor of the Mount Desert Islander weekly newspaper. Liz grew up in California and came to Maine as a schooner sailor.