UW News

February 3, 2005

Three-part lecture series on natural world

Wildfires in western forests have become uncharacteristically severe and widespread yet society remains distrustful of management options that include removing trees and controlled burns, says Jim Agee, UW professor of forest resources, whose talk Forests Aflame: Strategies and Challenges for Managing Fire in the West, on Thursday, Feb. 10, is the first in a series of three public lectures titled “Sustaining Our Northwest World: From Fire to Flowers.”

The lectures all begin at 7 p.m. in 110 Kane and are followed by a reception. General admission is $5 ($12 for all three lectures); Alumni Association members pay $4 ($9 for all three) and students pay $3 ($7 for all three). For reservations or advance tickets, visit http://www.washington.edu/alumni/clubs/cfraa/2005cfrlectures.html.

Gordon Bradley, UW professor of forest resources, will speak on Who Shapes the Visual Landscape? And Does it Matter? Feb. 24. Changes when forests and the rural countryside are used — be it for timber harvesting, road building, home building or other activities — can cause concern because of how the alterations fit with the existing landscape. After ecological, economic and other social concerns about a project are met, the question becomes, is there also an obligation to meet people’s visual preferences?

Dan Hinkley, a UW alumnus and founder and manager of Heronswood nursery near Kingston, Wash.,will speak March 10 on Exclamation, Accentuation, Punctuation: The Importance of Form and Textural Contrast in Garden Design and Plant Selection. Hinkley says visually satisfying gardens relies on three concepts: creating depth in plantings by using vertical elements (exclamation), using plants with different textures (accentuation) and repeating elements for continuity and cohesiveness (punctuation).

The lecture series is sponsored by the UW College of Forest Resources and paid for in part from the Rachel A. Woods Professorship in Reforestation.