The 2025 Northeastern Old Growth Conference: Wildlands and Old-Growth Forests, co-hosted by Middlebury College and the University of Vermont, will be held September 17–20, 2025, at Middlebury’s scenic Bread Loaf Campus in Ripton, Vermont. Scientists, conservationists, policymakers, health professionals, writers, and artists will gather to share knowledge and inspire a future with more wildlands and old-growth forests in the Northeast. This year’s themes include The Future of Old Growth, Healthy Forests, Healthy People, and Old Growth Ecology.

The 2025 Northeastern Old Growth Conference: Wildlands and Old-Growth Forests, co-hosted by Middlebury College and the University of Vermont, will be held September 17–20, 2025, at Middlebury’s scenic Bread Loaf Campus in Ripton, Vermont. Scientists, conservationists, policymakers, health professionals, writers, and artists will gather to share knowledge and inspire a future with more wildlands and old-growth forests in the Northeast. This year’s themes include The Future of Old Growth, Healthy Forests, Healthy People, and Old Growth Ecology.

With environmental Filmmaker Kathy Kasic and UVM Professor and Author Paul Bierman

Tabi Joda is an internationally influential figure in the ecological, sustainable development, and resilient agriculture movement. He is the Ambassador of the Great Green Wall Initiative of the African Union, UN Consultant, and coordinator for One Billion Trees for Africa—a movement promoting tree planting to combat the Sahara Desert and building sustainable micro-agriculture systems across the Sahel. While his work is in the realm of ecology, his work rests first on the local human ecosystems that must be strong and healthy for sustainable local projects to succeed.

“Forest Recovery from Human Land-Use: Implications for Streams and Carbon Storage” a Howard E. Woodin Environmental Studies Colloquium Series talk by Stephen Peters-Collaer, PhD student in forest ecology in the Carbon Dynamics Lab at the University of Vermont.

This practice-based activity is open to anyone on campus, but especially those interested in thinking about ecology beyond traditional Western disciplinary lenses. We will use drawings and sound to consider the boundaries between more-than-human nature and embodied experience that Gloria Anzaldúa set out in her mediations, which proposed a feminist approach to the spaces and places at the U.S-Mexico border.

The Mittelman Observatory is hosting a stargazing event on the MBH roof deck from 8:00 - 10:30pm on Friday October 3rd. This event is open to Middlebury students, faculty, staff, alumni, and their families. For safety reasons, attendance is limited and registration is required. Please register for only one 45-minute stargazing time slot using the link below. Tickets are available on a first-come-first-serve basis. The event is free for all attendees. Note that this event will only take place if the sky is expected to be mostly clear.

The Mittelman Observatory is hosting a stargazing event on the MBH roof deck from 8:00 - 10:30pm on Friday October 10th. This event is open to the public. For safety reasons, attendance is limited and registration is required. Please register for only one 45-minute stargazing time slot using the link below. Tickets are available on a first-come-first-serve basis.The event is free for all attendees.Note that this event will only take place if the sky is expected to be mostly clear.