Lynn Levine, consulting forester and forest educator, who was the spark that started the Dummerston Conservation Commission and is currently a member, has just written a new book called “Identifying Ferns the Easy Way: A Pocket Guide to Common Ferns of the Northeast.”  She will be leading a fern identification workshop  on Saturday, August 17  (rain date is Sunday August 18) from 10 to noon.

Lynn will give a short talk about ferns, the plants that have survived four extinctions, and then lead us on a fern walk in East Dummerston.

This workshop is limited to a maximum of 12 people.  The cost is $10, and participants will receive a free copy of the new fern guide.  People can register by calling 254-4717.

For the last 41 years, Levine has been an environmental educator, tracker and a consulting forester to private landowners. She is the author of Mammal Tracks and Scat: Life Size Pocket Guide, Snow Secrets, and Is It Time, Yet? and is co-author of Working with Your Woodland: A Landowner’s Guide, and Mammal Tracks and Scat: Life-Size Tracking Guide.  She is “Dedicated to Connecting All People with Nature.”

Here are a few reviews

Identifying Ferns the Easy Way offers a wonderful way for people to become acquainted with our common regional ferns. A simple, effective key and great illustrations make this a very user-friendly field guide.

Tom Wessels Professor Emeritus, Antioch University and author of many books including his most famous The Forested Landscape.

 From now on, I will be taking Identifying Ferns the Easy Way, this wonderfully practical and handy guide, with me when I go for a walk in the woods.  I will find ferns that I did not know existed, and it will enhance the experience.

Bernd Heinrich Professor Emeritus in biology from, UVM, and the author of numerous bestselling and award-winning books such as Mind of the Raven, Why We Run, and Winter World, and more than twenty other books.

Here is a substantive, easy-to-use ID book on ferns of the Northeast written by a naturalist and teacher who has lived her life paying attention to our native New England woodlands.  Levine worked with Briony Morrow-Cribbs, a highly accomplished artist and teacher who is also an experienced gardener.  Both being teachers, they demystify the identification process by providing you with an approachable three-step process.  Everyone who walks in the woods here in the Northeast will take great pleasure in this empowering guide.  This is your way into understanding the mysteries of (these) native plants.

Gordon Hayward, Author of many books, including Art and the Gardener, and a professional landscaper.

A great introduction to the ferns of our region. Clear language and detailed illustrations make this the perfect companion for your next woods walk.

Elise Tillinghast,  Publisher, Northern Woodlands magazine

Identifying Ferns the Easy Way holds its promise–it takes a complex group of plants and helps the user navigate the extraordinary diversity of these species with simple, visual methods.  It is an excellent teaching tool for the common ferns found on the northeastern landscape.

Arthur Haines, research botanist for New England Wild Flower Society and author of Flora Novae Angliae