Healthy Forest Friend Campaign

Meets Goal: Thank You!

We’re extraordinarily grateful, and absolutely delighted, to report that our Healthy Forest Friend campaign, which started last fall, surpassed its $20,000 goal. Thank you to all of our friends -- including brand-new donors -- who gave to this important effort.

The Healthy Forest Fund directly supports efforts to manage our lands and sustain their long-term resiliency and health. Donors are supporting ongoing land stewardship practices that help keep our trails and preserves accessible, open, and well-maintained for the community to explore and enjoy, and to keep the habitat healthy for our wildlife friends, too. The fund supports year-long land stewardship activities by our land steward, who will manage, oversee, and prioritize care for the forests and trails in the preserves.

A special thank-you goes to Jeff Chaddock for hosting last fall’s High Tea and Trees event and a follow-up message, encouraging support of the Healthy Forest Fund. Many of the year-end donors took advantage of this opportunity to make a Required Minimum Distribution from an IRA, and gave to the effort via a QCD (Qualified Charitable Distribution).

Current funds raised support healthy forests for 2023, and fundraising will be ongoing for future years. Consider supporting this effort; find out more on our donation page here.

Hostetler Wood Studio to Donate Portion of Sales

We’re absolutely delighted to share the news that local artist Jay Hostetler and his wife Cherri will be donating a portion of sales from their studio to support our work at Athens Conservancy. After a career in the guitar-crafting industry, Jay has returned to his love of woodworking, using local found wood from the forests around Athens. He is known for crafting wooden trees of all sizes and shapes, and says, “The satisfaction that comes from transforming a piece of wood into a tactile and visual object is hard to describe. Whether it’s small trees or turning other one-of-a-kind pieces, the magic and wonder of sculpted designs emerging from various woods is never lost on me.”

Jay is very passionate about woodworking and is dedicated to the maintenance and preservation of the lands and trees and that sustain his craft. The Hostetlers have agreed to support the important work of protecting the local the environment by donating 5% of all sales to the Athens Conservancy. 

Thank you to Jay and Cherri! For more information about the beautiful and unique wooden trees, see the studio website here.

Remembering Scott Moody

Athens Conservancy remembers Scott Moody, longtime friend of the Conservancy, who recently passed away. Professor Emeritus of Biological Sciences at Ohio University, Scott was widely appreciated for his extensive knowledge of the amphibians, reptiles, and birds that make their home in this region. An enthusiastic teacher, he loved to share his expertise and insights about our natural world with his students and the community. (photo courtesy of Phil Cantino)