Oakleigh (“Oak”) Thorne writes: “I just received the Spark Plug Award from the Boulder Flatirons Rotary Club in Boulder, Colorado. It included a $2,000 check toward the building of the Lafayette Nature Center, future home of Thorne Nature Experience. This center will be the first time in its 69 years that Thorne has owned its own land and buildings. At 94, I am involved in the capital campaign to raise the necessary funds. I also run a federal bird-banding station at Thorne Nature Experience.”

Patrick Duffy writes: “My what-ifs: What if my wood technology professor had not said, ‘throw a wide net, you may find a good master’s school?’” That led to Yale Forestry and coaching the ski team and working nights at the Faculty Club on the village green. What if Walt Henson had not been there from Canada to show me how to make thermocouples to study climate near the ground? That led to a research job at Chalk River, Canada, and nearly 20 years of research management. What if I was not elected president of the YSE student body and asked to greet all visitors? I would not have met Martha Hayne from Vassar for a three-year love affair spanning the continent. If I had not accepted an invitation to be a fourth for tennis from the hotel lifeguard, I would not have met Elisabeth von Bandian of the Vienna Hotel Management School, and we would not have been married for 53 years, raised four lovely children, and traveled the world. Midcareer in 1971, if I had not taken a risk in government to take a 12-week career assignment course, my team would not have been assigned to draft an environmental impact assessment policy and procedure for Canada. This led to 50 years of senior government work including with Lee Talbot, U.N. assignments in seven agencies, industrial clients, several universities, CESO, domestic tasks. My favorite outfit was FAO, and Kenya was my favorite land. At 90 I am a widower and happy finishing off my life story with my kids. Thank you!”

Scott Wallinger writes: “After eight years on the board of Lowcountry Land Trust, I still serve on its Advancement Committee and regularly read SAF publications. (Last year SAF’s Forestry Source published an article I submitted about the South’s Third Forest project in 1969 and 1970.) Javier Moro and I exchange periodic emails. We did a mensuration project together at Yale. He’s retired in Madrid. Last year the Madrid Forestry School’s publication Montes (a forester is a ‘mountain engineer’ in Spain) wrote about his work in the 1970s inventorying forests in Algeria, Senegal, and Bolivia for the FAO — a far cry from today’s LiDAR inventories! I also stay in touch with Brazilian friends associated with the forest and paper mills that reported to me in the 1990s.”

Gerald Conley writes: “I arrived at Yale with a fresh BS in forestry from the University of California and three summers as a forestry trainee with the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Within days of arriving at Yale, I was studying German on the side because I would need it if I pursued a doctorate in forest management, a possibility I could not have imagined before my arrival. I went on to Harvard Business School, where I worked a summer as a consultant for Peter Arnold ’51. My job was to document the economics of switching Great Northern Paper Company’s horselogging for pulpwood operation into tree-length logging using recently developed Beloit harvesters and specialized skidders. After a stint in the Peace Corps, I worked as an international forestry and wood products consultant and planner, rising into upper management. Subsequently, I formed a successful venture capital partnership with my wife, Fran, who I met at Harvard Business School. We continue to celebrate our 56 years together and the family we have created.”

Mike Gawel writes: “Our daughter Ann Marie received her PhD in 2022 for her thesis on impacts of invasive species such as snakes, pigs, and rats on native forests of the Mariana Islands and their cultural impacts on island residents. She continues her research on a Smith postdoc fellowship. On my arrival on Guam in 1973, my surveys showed the presence of 12 native forest birds, but 10 of these have gone extinct in the field since then due to predation by invasive snakes. I continue to reside on Guam after retirement from the National Park Service. Contrary to classmates’ belief, I am not a beachcomber! I will try to get to my YC 55th reunion in June and visit YSE.”

Bill Lansing writes: “Since retirement in 2006, I continue to capture the local history of southwestern Oregon. Check out my website at billlansing.com to see a list of books. I am at number 13. It’s been fun, and I have learned a lot about various topics I knew little about before I started.”

Rick Matheny writes: “In 1974, I received an MPH from the Yale School of Public Health and became one of the longest serving directors of health in Connecticut, working throughout the state. I then began a stint as an independent contractor for local health districts in Connecticut as they prepared to apply for national accreditation. In 2020, I was appointed the director of health for the Quinnipiac Valley Health District on an interim basis just as the pandemic reached Connecticut. It is a job I returned to in February 2023 and will hold until a permanent director of health is hired. It seems that I am unable to retire! I still manage to find time to seriously flower garden at our Branford house. We received awards for Outstanding Horticultural and Landscaping Achievement in 2016 and 2021 from the Branford Garden Club. All four of our children and our five grandchildren live in Connecticut as well.”

writes: “My status remains the same — retired from industrial forestry in 2008. We’re surrounded by forest to the south and water (ice) to the north. The Upper Peninsula of Michigan in winter is great if you enjoy quiet, cold, and white. We live on the border with Wisconsin, where there is a modicum of civilization 12 miles away and a bit more about 35 miles away. I remain busy as a volunteer with two different hospice agencies while Clare does the same for the library in Land o’ Lakes. I snowshoe and identify tracks of wolves, coyotes, ermine, fishers, otters, etc. in winter, while gardening and fishing keep me entertained in the short summer.”

Gerard (“Rod”) Hennessey writes: “In May, I was fêted as The Nature Conservancy Virginia Coast Reserve’s first director at their 50th anniversary celebration at the Barrier Islands Center in Machipongo, Virginia. I worked as the startup manager from 1974 to 1984. I did the initial resource inventory and prepared the management principles, which are still used today. I’ve lived on the seaside of the Eastern Shore of Virginia ever since our farm on Bell Neck.”

Katharine Preston writes: “I remain convinced that science and seminary students talking to one another can help bridge some interpretive gaps that get in the way of effective climate action. The facts tend to speak for themselves, but the moral leadership on climate justice that can come from communities of faith needs committed leadership. So, among other work, I spend time promoting the joint master’s degree program between YSE and Yale Divinity School.” katharine.preston@gmail.com

Evan Griswold writes: “After retirement, I have been volunteering my time in Old Lyme, Connecticut, with membership on both the Inland Wetlands Commission and the Open Space Commission, where I have served as co-chair for two years, now stepping down. I recommend the new biography by David Patterson ’59 of the Pinchot family, highlighting the School’s founder, Gifford Pinchot, who was also the founder of the USDA Forest Service and twice governor of Pennsylvania. A good read packed with history.”

Hallie (Black) Metzger writes: “I had the joy of bringing together my two disciplines — forestry and classics — in a talk for the Yale Club of Chicago on February 22 about how Rome’s colonization of the British Isles transformed the physical landscape and laid a cultural foundation for the future British Empire. We too often think of the ancient world as ‘one and done.’ We forget that the past shapes our present and limits the choices we can make in the future. I am honored to continue serving on our Alumni Association Board and hopeful my family’s small plot of hybrid chestnuts in northwestern Connecticut won’t be wiped out by the blight.”

Philip Conkling writes: “My consulting projects during the past year or two include Diamond Offshore Wind, a developer that has proposed a 10-turbine floating wind project 40 miles off the Maine coast. I also worked on environmental permitting for an Atlantic salmon land-based recirculating aquaculture system in the MidCoast Maine town of Belfast. My non-profit clients have been focused on operation and capital campaign fundraising and strategic planning for a land trust and a museum. I have also recently done some consulting for my alma mater, the Island Institute. My wife, Paige, and I restored an 1857 10-bedroom sea captain’s house on an island into a summer rental enterprise during the past five years and helped launch five sons into careers.”

Sally Hasted writes “I continue to live in Wilton, Connecticut, with husband, Jack, and our cats, where I tend a yard that’s friendly to all wildlife. Before COVID, I loved teaching environmental science and a love of nature, writing, art, history, and everything else my students longed to learn. I’m grateful for YSE and the degree that enabled my lifelong passion to save the world of nature. I needed it badly, as my family and society had belittled me and said, as a girl with no math skills, I could never be a scientist. I’m so proud of Yale for spearheading the environmental movement and for enabling other young people who want to get their feet muddy, slip down mountainsides, tumble over tree roots, balance on boards across marsh mud, confront bears when alone in the woods, smear mosquito blood on their penciled field notes, confront hunters and one-up them with the casual mention of the Winchester 300 they were forced to shoot in ‘Wildlife Bio,’ and prefer paper maps to digital devices. So rock on, YSE!”

Tim Glidden writes: “I retired at the beginning of 2022 after leading Maine Coast Heritage Trust for 11 incredibly rewarding years conserving the state’s amazing islands and shoreline. Promptly contracted COVID but bounced back to enjoy two grandchildren who have moved to Maine. Now after a year of indulging myself, I’m re-engaging with Maine’s environmental and conservation scene to start the next chapter. Always excited to see classmates coming through (which seems more frequent in the summer for some reason).”

Denise Mitten writes: “I am now faculty emerita, though I am still finishing working with about 20 graduate students. I take every opportunity to adventure with my child, Lauren, as well as other friends. I split my time living in Prescott, Arizona; on the road; and in D.C. and Delaware. During COVID, I have had to come East to help with family, so I have experienced cross-country travel in an electric car four times now. When visiting Lauren in D.C., my transportation is often on a tandem bike. Even my luggage, when I arrive or leave, is transported by bicycle.”

Dorie (Faulkner) Karl writes: “I’m having a blast in retirement, watercolor painting and following my dream of writing children’s books. I’ve specialized in informational fiction. My first picture book will be published this year and is about a gopher tortoise in Florida surviving a prescribed burn by seeking refuge in its deep burrow along with a few rowdy commensals. My sister recently moved into a bungalow next to my cabin east of Gainesville, Florida. Our brother is less than two hours away, so the Karl clan is poised to help each other cruise through the golden years. I had only minor hurricane damage in the forest this year and none to the dwellings. A tall laurel oak did fall within an inch of the power pole, taking out the transformer. The treetop brushed over my pump house, completely concealing it but not damaging anything important! I count myself lucky.”

Thomas McHenry writes: “Suey Braatz and I visited the slopes of the Cotopaxi volcano in Ecuador in January 2023.”

Cilla (Whiteman) Leavitt writes: “Hello to all my old classmates. I am still working at Yale part time. I direct a wilderness program for the first-years called FOOT. Been doing it for 39 years. Yikes. I am anticipating putting 750 Yalies in the woods this year. I only get nervous when I see 15 coach buses pull up to Phelps Gate on College Street. This is my last year on the Alumni Association Board of YSE. It’s been fun to reconnect with the School.”

Mark Plotkin writes: “I have been busy with my podcast, ‘Plants of the Gods: Hallucinogens, Healing, Culture, and Conservation,’ which now has over a half million downloads. And with the pandemic winding down I am focusing again on fieldwork, primarily in Suriname and Colombia.”

Gro Flatebo and Kent Wommack write: “We are in regular touch with fellow classmates in and around Maine including Ben Niles (and Anne), Tom Walker (and Katy), and Jay Espy ’85 and Lynne Espy ’85. Our three children are scattered among Maine, Montana, and Wyoming. After 34 years with The Nature Conservancy, Kent now runs the New York City-based Liz Claiborne & Art Ortenberg Foundation, which supports community-based wildlife conservation initiatives around the world. When not tending to granddaughters, gardens, a barn, a fleet of kayaks, and community affairs in Maine, we are relishing NYC’s theaters, restaurants, culture, and diversity.”

Shere Abbott writes: “I’m back in D.C., teaching sustainability science and policy at Johns Hopkins University (yes, and commuting to Baltimore) in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering, which straddles the Bloomberg and Whiting schools. Amazing colleagues and students. JHU bought the former Newseum and is renovating it for a D.C. presence. I hope to do more science-policy work from there. One of the great advantages of D.C. is reconnecting — Maddy Pope ’83 paid a visit while in town for the wedding of Denise Schlener ’83, and Leah Haygood tolerates my lab while birding (mostly chatting) in Rock Creek Park. With a critical mass, maybe we’ll resurrect the D.C. TGIFs of the ’80s!”

Dusti (Gardner) Becker writes: “Happy 2023! Tony and I moved to a lake in northern Florida and love it, especially canoeing and watching all the birds. This will be my last year of hosting tropical volunteer projects! So here are the last chances to join me in Kenya and/or Ecuador. A two-week community-based giraffe conservation expedition with the Maasai is on offer for a donation of $3,250 and takes place June 25-July 8, 2023. My two-week tropical bird-banding training programs are only $1,850 with two teams: August 6-19, 2023, and December 4-17, 2023. Great parent-child option!”

Richard D. Bowden writes: “I am nearing completion of my 33rd year as a professor of environmental science and sustainability at Allegheny College, where I teach, research, and conduct projects on a wide variety of topics — from forest ecology and biofuels to using goats to deal with invasive plant species. When wearing my academic research hat, I’ve worked for a long time on experiments dealing with nitrogen deposition and the ability of soils to sequester carbon. Courses have involved students in projects related to using switchgrass as an absorbent for spills; developing a resilient forest management plan for the Allegheny campus; and planning promotional material for the Foundation for Sustainable Forests, a land trust that protects forestland for active, sustainable forest management. In my free time, I enjoy cross-country skiing, biking, kayaking, and putting venison in my freezer.”

Christie Anna Coon writes: “At age 80, I have retired from delineating wetlands. I miss being alone in the woods with the birds and other wildlife, but life has other outdoor activities — long walks on trails in the woods or at the beach with the dog and husband, Allen Green, or daughter Hannah. Son Scott does not live nearby, but we text every morning. Stay well and hardy, my old classmates from the Yale School of the Environment Class of 1987!”

Eric Jay Dolin writes: “I just finished my 15th book, this one on five men marooned on the Falkland Islands during the War of 1812. It will be published in 2024. My most recent book is ‘Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution’ (2022). If you are interested in learning more about my books or where I am speaking, please check out my website at www.ericjaydolin.com. Although most of my books don’t have an environmental/science component, one I published in 2020 does — ‘A Furious Sky: The Five-Hundred-Year History of America’s Hurricanes.’ And I would not be surprised if one of my future books focuses on environmental or natural history. Jenn and I live in Marblehead, Massachusetts, and both kids are out of the house. One way I stay close to nature is by doing a lot of gardening and wandering aimlessly on local beaches.”

CJ May writes: “I am not only back to in-person enviromagic performances in Waterbury schools and other locations but also to in-person field trips. Several magicians from McBride Magic & Mystery School joined me in visiting OrchardWorks in Stafford Springs, Connecticut. I can tell I am still a forester because I had my phone out and was checking the sustainability of the woods he was using!”

Melissa Grigione writes: “I am now a full professor and continue to study animals in the U.S. and abroad. My children are now approaching their college years. How time flies!” 

Peter Jenkins writes: “I remain active in environmental and whistleblower law as senior counsel at Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) in Silver Spring, Maryland. I am also excited about my heavy volunteer work for the last year and a half with a new NGO called Methane Action (www.methaneaction.org), for which I am chair of the Advisory Board. Its goal is to tackle the technology and policy challenges of removing methane from the atmosphere as part of the battle against climate change.”

Judy Olson writes: “It had been too long. In 2020, a Zoom class reunion was better than nothing. But now that traveling is relatively easier, a group from the Class of 1990 and friends came from near and far to Snow Mountain Ranch, Colorado, over the long Labor Day weekend. We shared hugs and stories and photos and lots of laughs and smiles. As part of a Trout Unlimited streambank restoration project, we plugged willow whips into the banks of the Fraser River. We hiked to the scenic Columbine Lake for a picnic lunch together, and Chip Isenhart ’91 and Jill Isenhart ’91 gave us a VIP tour of their creative interactive exhibits in the new Headwaters River Journey museum. It felt unreal that 30 years has passed since we were in school together; we all look so much the same (well, maybe a few gray hairs).”

Bob Russo writes: “I so regret missing the class get-together in Colorado! Maybe we will have one on the East Coast this year? I’ve been talking to Tom Kelsch about it!”

Lisa Pagkalinawan writes: “All is going well for my family and me. I’m really enjoying my job at the Asian Development Bank, where I am working on environmental safeguards. I joined a safeguards review mission in Kyrgyzstan in June 2022, which was fascinating! I’m working on knowledge management and exploring behavior change approaches to improving implementation of our safeguards policy. My daughter is in her third year at the Savannah College of Art and Design, where she is majoring in fashion. I’m glad she is putting an environmental spin on it by focusing on vintage and used clothes and exploring how to move toward sustainability. My son will graduate from high school this year and may take a gap year to study Spanish.”

Kristen Struve writes: “Hello, everyone, and greetings from the San Francisco Bay Area. I now work as an assistant officer for the Water Supply Division at the Santa Clara Valley Water District, which includes working on potable reuse, water conservation, water supply long-range planning, and drought response. So it’s been busy!”