At 6:03pm, President Barbara Saunders called the meeting to order. Vice-President Ken Chaya introduced Jerry Huntley, a Frank M. Chapman Research Fellow in the Ornithology Department at the American Museum of Natural History, who presented on “Rivers and Refugia: Insights into the Avian Diversity of Africa’s Tropical Forests.” Jerry informed the audience about early advice he received from ecologists in the field, who counselled him to study “small things” when he expressed a desire to study wolves in Yellowstone. As a researcher in the field of phylogeography, he explained that while biogeography aims to answer the question of where and why organisms are where they are, the question of why organisms persist in certain places is often the hardest question of all. Turning to his own research, Jerry first differentiated between Lowland tropical forest below 1500 meters – and montane forest above. He explained that the Congo forest basin contains the 2nd largest block of contiguous tropical forest after the Amazon and is a hotspot for avian diversity. He explained that starting in the 1980s surveys of species richness were conducted in Africa, and diversity in the forests was examined. This resulted in the emergence of the Pleistocene forest refuge hypothesis which contends that, in the early Pleistocene, continued aridity caused bouts of severe forest fragmentation. This fragmentation then led to events of speciation, a view supported by Ernst Mayr. Alternative views included the montane speciation hypothesis, and the riverine barrier hypothesis supported by Alfred Russel Wallace. Talking more specifically about his fieldwork in Benin, Jerry highlighted the country’s high deforestation rate with only about twenty thousand square kilometers of total forest cover remaining, but with a fair amount of avian diversity. Between 2010 and a more recent trip, much of the forest had been transformed into a teak plantation. Showing many species of Bulbuls he explained that many new lineages were being established in the past 2-3 million years, which is also reflected in mammal species in the area. Therefore, he concluded, forests are not evolutionary museums and are instead places where speciation is occurring. He ended with thoughts on the importance of collections in the face of disappearing forests, and the impact they have on conservation efforts.
At 7:32 pm President Barbara Saunders reconvened the meeting. In the absence of Recording Secretary Hamish Young, council member Rochelle Thomas read the minutes of the May meeting. They were approved unanimously. Secretary Lydia Thomas presented four candidates for membership, Barbara Higham, sponsored by Marian Bloch; Elizabeth Norman, sponsored by Mary Beth Kooper; Sema Gurun, sponsored by Anne Lazarus; and Tod Winston, sponsored by David Spawn, Kathryn Heintz, Mary Jane Kaplan, and Gabriel Willow. All were approved unanimously. President Saunders regretted to inform members of the deaths of Tony Lauro, William Yates, and Taeko Tsujimoto. She then announced that Ryan Zucker has been chosen by NYSOA to receive the Lillian C. Stoner award and that on June 4th Claude Bloch was presented with a special joint award from LSNY and NYC Audubon. She thanked the council members who had helped to coordinate this year’s Schedule of Events, especially Vice-President Ken Chaya, for a great series of programs and Anne Lazarus, Miriam Rakowski, Debra Mullins and Mary Beth Kooper for setting up the field trips, Jill Hamilton for editorial skills and Sherry Felix for being the web master. There is one correction to the printed program – the date of the Annual Dinner is March 10th not March 12th. Council Member Kathleen Matthews reminded members about the upcoming Homecoming picnic on September 15th and asked that those interested in attending should respond to Secretary Lydia Thomas. Conservation Committee Chair Rochelle Thomas announced several local initiatives, including updates on the Jones Beach Wind Turbine Service Stations, the annual International Coastal Clean-up on September 21st, planned construction in Central Park’s Lasker Rink, and another upcoming Beach Clean-up sponsored by NYC Audubon on October 5th. Council Member Gabriel Willow reported on the September 10th NYC Council hearing on bird safe glass. He informed the audience that there was a public comment period ending at 5pm on September 12th.
President Saunders then introduced Bill Logan, arborist at the New York Botanical Garden, who presented on “Thousand Year Woods.” Bill opened by saying there are “ornamental” styles of pruning trees which allow trees to prosper while simultaneously benefiting humans. In the past, humans had created synthetic woodlands that lived far longer than uncut forest growth. He explained the methods of coppicing and pollarding. Coppicing, which reduces trees to the ground, differs from pollarding, which creates a series of heads or knuckles at an elevation of about 6 feet, to prevent animals from eating low branches. He showed a 2000 year old coppice of a linden in an arboretum in England. Lindens can sprout from the base forever, which is somewhat exceptional in tree species. The branched linden that resulted might have been used for anything from charcoal to feeding animals to home building materials. Humans were able to keep cutting a single tree for 2000 years while enabling its survival. He then showed photos of Bradfield wood, a coppice woodland in England continuously used for 1000 years. A rake factory used the wood from the coppice forest for many years and helped preserve it. When the rake factory closed, the trees went uncut but were only slightly out of cycle when cutting began again. Bill explained that some species in a woodland only grow when they are cut, and that some species do not thrive when coppicing ceases. He then showed images from Grinde Farm in western Norway, operating since the Bronze Age with continuous tree-cutting. The farming system is on an “itinerary” as farmers move from one farm in spring, to another in summer and another in autumn. To Bill this seems like the most intelligent farming system in the west, especially since the cutting of the trees also helps grass to grow, through the contraction of the tree root system. He then discussed the case of Leitzalarrea, a Basque village where ownership of the landscape is held in common. Pollarded beech and ash helped to fuel the community laundry service. The town also produces the best axe cutters in the world, winning the world championship for 40 years in a row. The concern in Europe is how to preserve such altered woodlands, as many species of lichens, mosses and insects that use the trees could be lost without this type of maintenance. New pollarded groves are being started that could be used in 100 years. Other examples from Japan, native practices in California and the Eastern woodlands, and even the pollarding of the lindens on the Metropolitan Museum plaza show how the intelligent management of trees and woodland can be of benefit both economically and aesthetically to humans and also to the trees themselves, which may live much longer as a result.
The meeting adjourned at 8:58pm.
Respectfully submitted by
Hamish Young, Recording Secretary, from notes taken by Council Member Rochelle Thomas