In her talk "No-Man's Land as Nature Preserve: The Strange Case of Cold War Conservation," Dr. Brady discussed a little-known way the Cold War contributed to nature conservation around the world. Following World War II, Cold War animosities turned large swaths of land in places such as Germany and Eastern Europe, Korea, and Puerto Rico into militarized areas. Although subject to extensive damage and pollution, these sites also experienced varying degrees of "rewilding," becoming de facto nature preserves. Dr. Brady explored how and why these militarized areas became ecozones, what environmental scientists have learned studying them, and how conservation can heal even the wounds of war.

FHS historian Jamie Lewis has had a busy month. The day before he made a presentation to the Lee County Forestry Association about  Bernhard Fernow, the "forgotten founding father of American forestry," he appeared on the weekly radio show "From the Forest," on WIOX in Roxbury, New York. The interview coincided with the association's screening of the FHS documentary America's First Forest. The program is hosted by the Catskill Forest Association. You can find the episode, titled "Forest History Society," archived here.