On Wednesday, April 26, 2017, the library will partner with the Paleontological Research Institution (PRI) for a special Book Launch of Smith Woods: The Environmental History of an Old Growth Forest in Central New York State. This event takes place at 6:30 pm in the Melvin Community Room of the Library.
About Smith Woods:
Just outside the Village of Trumansburg, in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York, is a 32-acre plot that is one of the largest remaining flat tracts of old growth forest in the area. This small but spectacular place, with its enormous trees, dense forest canopy, and never-plowed ground is a glimpse into the past. A walk through this small forested area may be the closest one can get in central New York to experiencing a landscape like the first Europeans encountered across most of the region in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.”
Authors Warren Allmon (Director, PRI), Marvin Pritts (Professor, School of Integrative Plant Science, Cornell Univ.), and Kurt Jordan (Assoc. Professor, Anthropology, Cornell Univ.) will talk about how this patch of land was preserved, what it can tell us about the human and pre-human history of the region, and its ecological importance. A question and answer session will follow.
The book will be available for purchase and signing. We hope to see you for an evening of history, science, and celebration at the Library!