On Friday, December 6 the Log Lunch community gathered for the last lunch of the semester to hear from Meaghan Boehm ’25, Brodie Leo ’25, and Yaroslava Yashchuk ’26 about their work doing public outreach for Pownal’s town forest in ENVI 402: Environmental Planning Workshop. Last year, the town of Pownal acquired almost 300 acres of forest with grant money, adding to the 735 acres acquired in 2002. The previous parcel was discontiguous and Hurricane Irene disrupted the only legal access point. Now, the new land provides a new legal access point and comes with a conservation easement, which limits the forest’s uses to conservation, recreation, and education.
The students in the planning workshop spent the semester conducting public outreach to determine what Pownal residents would like to see happen with the forest.
“Our role is only at the beginning of the process,” Brodie said. “They’ll need to bring experts in further down the line. A highlight for me has really been getting to know the people who live in Pownal.” He emphasized that in order to tap into preexisting town networks, they had to spend a lot of time physically in Pownal. “We wanted to meet people where they are,” he said. “People are busy, and providing input on town projects is not a normal part of their days.”
Yaraslova said that due to the need to maximize outreach during the limited timeframe of a single semester, they employed a mix of a digital survey, tabling sessions, and focus groups to gather people’s input on the forest. “The methods had different purposes, she said. Surveys were able to reach more people and create data whereas tabling sessions and focus groups provided more personal connection with town residents. They shared the survey on the town website and town Facebook groups, and it included four sections, focusing on management focuses, activities, programs, and events, with the opportunity to rate different things from less to more important. The students conducted focus groups with hunters, educators, and recreation naturalists. They held tabling sessions outside of stores or at pre-exisitng town events, distributed informational brochures about the forest, and shared a QR code linking to the survey.
Meaghan said that 75 people responded to the survey, out of the 3,000 residents of Pownal. She said that while this indicated there is still a need for more outreach, there were still clear trends that showed town residents want the management focus to be on recreation and natural resources/habitats. There was very little support for timber, a high level of support for education, and a large amount of interest in hiking and running.
Brodie said that eight hunters attended the focus group, and voiced a need for safety precautions, especially regarding children, to be in place during hunting season. The hunters also shared an understanding of the land as something that should be preserved for and open to future generations, and respected the importance of conservation, including limiting ATV access. Yaraslova said that only two educators were in attendance at their focus group, which she acknowledged is sometimes the reality of public outreach. They voiced desires to make parking accessible for families and schools to use the forest and to include historical context, including Mohican stewardship of the land, in educational programming.
The students’ work over the semester will culminate in a presentation to the town of Pownal in mid December. Though their own experience, they also were able to make recommendations for improved future outreach, including holding more personal interviews and focus groups, sharing surveys in more mediums, and conducting targeted outreach to younger residents, low-income communities, and families.
“It was a great experience, learning about how to engage with different parts of communities in a place very close to Williams,” Meaghan said.
“Before this project, I mostly knew Pownal through Route 7 and Stewart’s,” Brodie said. “A highlight had been engaging with the town on a deeper level, and learning about the Mohican stewardship and postcolonial history.”
The Log Lunch chefs prepared a delicious meal of palak tofu, rice, garam masala lentil salad, puff pastry samosas, tamarind sauce, cucumber raita, naan with garlic butter, and lemon bars with cardamom shortbread.