A beautiful snow-covered forest trail is the quintessential winter postcard moment; but cross-country skiers, snowshoers, dogledders, winter climbers and all other recreationists who flock to the wintery woods have trees to thank for being an important carbon sink.
Join NE Wilderness Trust, One Tree Planted and Adirondack Foresters for a lively discussion about the natural capital of trees.
As a high school, college and professional baseball player, Chris Dickerson understands what dedication, hard work and a drive to win means off and on the field. Drafted as a senior in high school by The New York Yankees, he decided to go on to college instead and spent the next three years at the University of Nevada, Reno until he was drafted in his junior year by the Cincinnati Reds. He made his major league debut with the Reds in 2008. Dickerson’s MLB career spanned 8 seasons and teams including the Cincinnati Reds, New York Yankees, Baltimore Orioles and the Cleveland Indians.
Although playing professional baseball was always Dickerson’s dream, his passion has always been the environment and trying to find solutions to the growing environmental crisis. The huge amounts of plastic cups used at every major league game and in the locker room, prompted he and fellow baseball player Jack Cassel, to team up to address the devastation of plastics on the environment by establishing Players For the Planet, an organization that brings professional athletes together to inspire communities and build awareness of the growing environmental crises we face globally by participating in major recycling, conservation and clean-up programs, as well as sponsoring educational seminars. Other participating athletes include Robinson Cano, Jay Bruce, Ryan Braun, Tyler Glasgow, Nelson Cruz among others.
In 2009, Dickerson had the opportunity to speak at the United Nations as part of UN Climate Change Conference (COP 15). Chris was awarded the Seal the Deal Award as recognition for his efforts of using his voice and platform of professional sports to incite change to build a more sustainable world. Dickerson was also one of the global athletes working for environmental change, highlighted in the book, Champions for Change: Athletes Making A World of Difference.
Sophi Veltrop lives amongst the woodlands and wildlands of Central Vermont and loves the songs of thrushes.
She is the Outreach Manager for the Northeast Wilderness Trust, a non-profit land trust founded in 2002 to fill the vacant niche of wilderness protection in the Northeast. Their mission is to conserve forever-wild landscapes for nature and people. Their small and dedicated team of conservationists is based in Vermont and Massachusetts, with a dedicated Board of Directors spanning the Northeast. Northeast Wilderness Trust protects more than 73,00 forever-wild acres across New England and New York.
Molly Hassett is a Forester in the Bureau of Forest Management’s Carbon Forestry and Climate Section in the Department of Environmental Conservation. Molly holds a MS in Environmental and Forest Biology from SUNY-ESF and has previously worked in the Division of Lands and Forest’s Bureau of Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health on various programs including southern pine beetle, oak wilt, spotted lanternfly, hemlock wooly adelgid, and Japanese tree lilac.
