Sara Santiago

Alumnus and lecturer Mike Ferrucci, who earned a B.S. in Forestry from the University of Maine and M.F. from YSE, is retiring from the school as of spring 2020. As a contract forester and President of Interforest, Ferrucci brought professional development to Master’s students, offering advice, connections, and real world practice to soon to be foresters.

During spring semester, students knew Ferrucci for his impeccable timing, consistently packed lunches, and contracter mentality - all necessary for a day of work in the woods! As leader of the Southern Forestry Field Trip associated with his Forest Operations course, Ferrucci took students to the U.S. South to introduce them to pine, plantations, and professional forestry. Cohort after cohort of foresters became well acquainted with his operations exercise at Spooner Hill in the Turkey Hill Division of Yale-Myers Forest, which the 2019 Forest Crew dubbed “Small Fry Flies Again” and officially inventoried, marked, and sold for harvest. While this well-known stand has been thinned in time with his retirement, Ferrucci’s imprint on the Forest School carries on. We are fortunate that Joe Orefice, Lecturer and Director of Forest and Agricultural Operations, will take over Forest Operations, and Joe and Thomas Easley, Assistant Dean of Community and Inclusion, will run the Southern Forestry field trip going forward.

Professional forester Mike Ferrucci (far left) completes his last semester as a lecturer at YSE. Photo courtesy of students on the Southern Forestry Field Trip.