By: Marina McGonigle ‘26 MF
When at Yale-Myers Forest (YMF), there are some sure signs of summer: the barn swallows nesting above the porch lights to create homes for their chicks, spring ephemerals descending back into the forest floor as the canopy fills with hues of green, and, of course, the forestry students who come to participate in a 12-week Apprentice Forest Program called “Forest Crew.”
This summer-long program dates back to the 1940s, with countless stories among past crew members that foster a sense of tradition and impact, emphasizing the lasting influence of The Forest School’s legacy.
The 2026 Forest Crew cohort, led by Forest Manager Owen Klein ‘25 MF, was made up of recent graduates De-Graft Acquah ‘26 MF, Emelia Commey ‘26 MF, Asnakech Jabo ‘26 MF, Angelina Serwaa ‘26 MEM, and Marina McGonigle ‘26 MF, and first-years rising into their second-years, Turner Frankosky ‘27 MF, Luke Schubert ‘27 MF, Cerise Stanley ‘27 MF, and Avraham Penso ‘27 MF. This year’s crew focused on the Turkey-Hill Division, YMF’s southwestern stands, last worked on in 2019.
Emelia Commey ‘26 MF practices her chainsaw skills with Game of Logging Instructor Bill Girard. Credit: Owen Klein
Crew members moved into YMF at the end of May and quickly dove into activities like chainsaw safety training with Game of Logging instructor Bill Girard. For many of us, it was our first time touching a chainsaw; we were excited to cheer one another on when we successfully felled our first tree of many for the summer.
Summer ramped up as we learned the importance of maintaining roads and property boundaries, refreshed all of Turkey Hill’s property boundaries, dug out water bars, and cleared culverts. Throughout these first few weeks of hands-on work, we also had morning lectures from Professor Mark Ashton and Lecturer Joe Orefice on various topics like land-use history and silviculture. We quickly developed a deep sense of pride in YMF as we learned what it takes to manage this land and steward it.
We attended a variety of workshops, including plant identification with Research and Extension Forester Laura Green and interpreting landscapes with Ashton, which involved classifying soils and developing our ability to read New England landscapes. The crew joined the Ingalls Field Ecology Interns for a birding workshop led by Ashton, who demonstrated his impressive hearing and ability to identify just about any bird at YMF. Outside of work hours, we continued to quiz one another on the birds we’d come across, like red-eyed vireos, wood thrush, and more- quickly, birding became a part of everyday life.
Forest Crew explores a shelterwood treatment with Professor Mark Ashton. Credit: Owen Klein
We transitioned to the forest-inventory section of summer and created a sampling design, deciding to do a variable-radius plot, sampling over 80+ plots across our stands. Crawling under laurel, utilizing the Nipmuck Trail, and making the big green van traverse all over the forest, we were proud of our work when we completed our last plot. Using the data, we got a clearer understanding of the forest’s composition and what areas required management. Ashton and Orefice joined us in the field to guide our decision-making, re-delineate stands, and help us always keep our objectives in mind. Crew prioritized Yale Forests’ education, demonstration, and research, ensuring our silvicultural prescriptions are ecologically, economically, and operationally viable.
A turkey feather drawn by Cerise Stanley ‘27 MF to represent the Turkey-Hill Division.
By the end of summer, Crew marked two stands. One was a crown thinning, with a variety of tree species, like tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), red oak (Quercus rubra), and black birch (Betula lenta). The other was a regeneration treatment, creating an irregular shelterwood to establish a new cohort of mid-tolerant and tolerant tree species, focusing on oaks (Quercus spp.), hickories (Carya spp.), and sugar maples (Acer saccharaum). We all took turns tallying trees, using calipers and DBH tapes, and mastering the art of paint guns – although our clothes collected a gallery of blue and red paint.
Crew members clean out the boiler in the sugarhouse. Credit: Owen Klein
On rainy days when we couldn’t mark trees with paint for our prescriptions or be in the field, you’d find us splitting wood at the sugar house to prep for maple season, doing Timber Stand Improvement (TSI), and any project that George French, the caretaker of YMF, may have.
For the last two weeks of Crew, we changed scenery and went up to Swanzey, New Hampshire, where we stayed at the Yale-Toumey Forest. We prescribed a red pine salvage harvest on three stands because of the presence of red pine scale (Matsucoccus matsumurae). Crew graduated from the program during their last week in New Hampshire and celebrated over lunch with some crew members from years past.
Joe Orefice’s tomatoes. Credit: Marina McGonigle
It wasn’t all work and no play, though – camp buzzed with activities throughout summer. June’s heatwave paved the way for after-work swimming at Bigelow Hollow and rendezvous with the new weekly flavors at Buck’s Soft Serve. The World Cup brought everyone together, while we argued over whether controversial red cards were appropriate. Camp cook, Hunter Foster, prepared delicious meals and often used local ingredients (including Joe Orefice’s tomatoes, which have been coined“Joe-matoes” amongst camp members). Dinner was enjoyed together under the Class of 1980 pavilion every evening, sharing stories, fun facts we learned throughout the day, and always ending in laughter you could hear from the Morse Reservoir.
Crew not only teaches forest management skills but also fosters a sense of community, turning forestry students into a close-knit family. To know crew is to love crew.
A summer sunset at Yale-Myers Forest Camp. Credit: Rey Sadoff
