Tom Wessels: Reading the Forested Landscape, Part 1 

Please note: you are encouraged to comment and welcome to ask questions, but Tom does not monitor these posts and probably will not personally respond. -Ray

Came here to learn about forests... learned about geology, history, ecology, agriculture and a whole mess of other subjects... and forests. Awesome.

I’m in my 70s, and have been a student most of my life. I’ve had a lot of good teachers over these many years, far more than bad ones. But I can say without question whatsoever that Tom Wessels is absolutely the best. The time I spent at Antioch under his guidance made more of a difference in my educational journey than any other person I’ve ever known. The insights offered by the kinds of questions he always asked reverberate within me whenever I’m trying to figure something out. And damned if they don’t always work. Tom, thank you.

The RU-vid algorithm gave me this despite never having looked at forestry videos before, and honestly I’m quite glad it did

Such a pure, simple and real way to see life. How it’s all connected, all linked to things we do today that will change tomorrow. Great reasons to do good, and to appreciate nature far more than we do. Thank you for sharing, and thank you Tom, for being Tom.

This video makes me second guess my career path.

I'm seriously grateful for this series and this channel.

I've walked & filmed all our wooded areas in Essex, England. But this is the first time I've watched a video re woods/history etc & I'm hooked, Thank you Mr Wessels!

Dear Dr. Wessels, I have been stumbling through the forests of new England in all seasons for over 40 years. I am a trained biologist. It is as if you took a blindfold off of me, and I stand seeing for the first time in my life. This is an awesome and powerful revelation to me - regarding one of my most prized possessions, - the amazing forests of New England. I cannot thank you enough. Your lectures (this is my second time through all) are some of the most fascinating information I have ever been struck by. Thank you Sir..

Spent most of my working life in the woods, logging and land clearing. Learned a lot in the past 1/2 hour and can't wait to watch the rest of the episodes. Big thank you to Tom

What a generous man to freely share the knowledge he's gained over decades of experience. I'm so grateful I came across this series! Watching from Pennsylvania on a snowy day.

I'm 18 years old, and all of a sudden I feel the urge to learn about forrest forensics! Who knows maybe this knowledge will come in handy one day 😊

This channel is criminally underrated.

I’m a huge fan of early American history and never heard this story about merino sheep etc. only 4 1/2 minutes into this video and love it !!!!

The audio engineering for the narration is outlandishly good. Excellent use of the lapel along with post compression and noise cancellation. Most outdoors types show are horrifically windy or rough sounding.

As a young man who's feeding and cultivating his love for ecology and native habitats, this series is a true gem.

I understand why this has almost 1 million views. I had no idea that you could just walk into a forest and look at the trees and earth, and it’s entire history can unfold right before your eyes. I would also like to say, that I have used Tom’s methods to determine past crop fields in the forest where I visit. I found a couple of stone dumps, but what really gave it away was one part of the forest was uneven with pillows and cradles and the other half was completely smooth. I never would’ve realized this if I hadn’t watched these video’s. Thank you Tom.

The knowledge of this man is incredible and his talent at passing it on is just as magnificent

I was in the nursery landscape business for 20 years. After that I did some logging. I learned more about what the forests can tell us in this one video than decades of working with trees. Brilliant stuff.

I've been hoping to meet a forest guru for 'bout 50 years. I go hiking with my dog in a forest several times a week. Now it's like I finally got the glasses I've needed.

Outstanding video. One of the best I have ever watched. Thank you.

This video has changed my life. I've spent all my life in woods, farming, permaculturing, trail running, river tubing, canoeing... just sitting. My knowledge is vast but miniscule at the same time. In the forests and mountains of North Carolina I constantly am reading the history through topography but missed some links. You have shown me what I want to do with my life. Sure, I'm an electrician.... but this is what I will be doing for rest of it. Reading the land and spending my life becoming intimate with it.

Very inspiring. I just retired, was a forester in New Zealand till 1980, and a plant ecologist. In retirement I want to explore the US wilderness and I have personal reasons I want to explore the North East US. I have never been there. Now I have some concepts to apply to what I see. I just love the title - Reading the Forested Landscape. Thanks you for a great video series.

Not sure why RU-vid recommended this to me but I'm glad it did. Fascinating stuff.

This guy is my "spirit animal". I absolutely love going into the forest and discovering old stone foundations, logging railroad right-of-ways, old culverts, Native American trail markers and tons more forgotten, lost or forgotten relics and signs from our past! This video is like therapy! Thanks for taking the time to film it and post it!

Tom is a National Treasure. Thank you.

I like this guy, he knows his shit. I went on hikes with him in Maine with one of my classes in high school and he could identify everything.

This is low key one of the more interesting videos about the outdoors

This feels like a PBS show my fam and I would watch on a Sunday afternoon

anybody interested in forest and trees is a great human.

This is that environmentalist/historian crossover content I crave.

TOM, i love how wise you are. i live in farm country in upstate ny. ive always built stone walls gorgouse step down with fountains into a koi pond. you are AMAZING !!!!! i WISH YOU WERE MY DAD OR UNCLE, your the kind of person that will survive whats coming to the world. HOW DO YOU KNOW SOO MUCH. my dad passed away, youd fit right into my family. . i have learned SOOOOOO much from you today. very clean , and pollite person id like to know. i am american indian and hungarian. i have an orchard i planted when i was young, huge gardens i grow 1000 squash and cukes and tomatoes a year to donate to food pantrys. plus a really kewl 200$ do all incubator, i started with 12 JERSEY GIANTS.....i now have 200 chickens assorted breeds now. yes i get 200 eggs a day. i donate them to an amish family up the road from me, they have 7 kids. mom and i help them every week. buying them grain, flour, lots of food . blankets, tarps. they dont have or wear shoes. i own a huge antique/ junk shop and i had them come down and gave them all a 50$ credit. ive never seen 7 little kids soo happy, 3 to 15. i love how they live soo much, but i could never go without my puter n phone.lol . i am 60 yrs old , but i love god and he keeps me young. your a tree guy, heres a funny tree story for ya. my wife and i in 1988 didnt have money for a xmas tree, so we walked threee miles to where there were 80yr old pines. well i was young and gutsy so i got my hack saw and started to climb, and climb, and climb, the higher i got the windier it got and that pine was swaying back and forth, so i start cutting, going back in forth with the saw and the tree moving. i got SOOOOOO SICK i hurled a huge lunch we had. it went all down thru the tree that i had to climb down thru. whenever i see a 80ft northern christmas tree i think of thst. feels like yesterday. she gone now, im losing everyone and its not fair. i feel deserted. another VERY KEWL THING I OWN, i have the UNDERGROUND rail road cave system under my shop and huge victorian. it goes id say ten miles each way, and im the only one that knows abot it. i think i should get lanterns nice ladder and charge 50bucks a day for them to go caving. theyd have to sign a waiver. i looked up the laws and it says if you own a cave system you only own the part under your property. that sucks!!! well, im glad i found you program. my uncle joe is a woodsman too. take care you wise ole owl! may god richly bless you and you partner. signed, pastor richard h smith jr. also known as richie rich. (richie richs is my shops name). lmk if you want 20 baby chicks. free to you,

Well this was great! So the woodlot i bought here in New Brunswick im building on seems to be 18 acres of 12 original wood lot and 6 pasture at the far end abandoned around the mid 70s with a wire fence along the back to an old field thats been logged out in the 90s. I know I'm going to do a lot of walking in the spring after the snow melt! The growth, tree falls, and ups and downs makes it hard to do when the leaves are on can hardly see 10 or 20 feet in front of me in the places around where I cut out. The previous owner used to cut out his fire wood in here about 10-15 years ago. Lots of thin bushy stuff and huge poplars, many rotten in the middle, like a sponge about 350 feet off the road where im building. Took a lot of cutting and thinning. Been saving all the maple. Just taking anything out close to the cabin.

I had to stop watching 9 minutes in to give myself a few days to process everything I learned in just that 9 minutes. Insane content

I’m glad I stumbled across this. I live in downtown Los Angeles, never been to NH and have really no practical need for this info and yet I find it fascinating. Nicely done!

Came across your video by chance. Very interesting and informative. I'm on the other side of the pond in South East England and its great to compare your reading of the woodland with mine. I have 'ancient woodland ' , so it's been forested for at least 500 years but has been continuously managed for various purposes. Lower areas on heavy clay, planted with Sweet Chestnut (coppiced for poles in the hop fields) and with Oak standards. Chestnut now suffering rot and being replaced by self seeded Birch and Sycamore Maple. Higher ground on sand, remnants of ancient coppiced Oak with multiple stems and Hornbeam . Then was overplanted with Chestnut, but didn't do so well, so 40 years or so they planted Scots Pine. I have spotted several circles from charcoal burning,(for local iron industry) and saw pits for wood. Also high cut (pollarded) Hornbeam marking end of a coppice sector.

I ADORE how nerdy all of this was. Thank you! 💚

I don't know how anyone could downvote this. Tom is the best!

I’m literally so EXCITED right now! This is literally all me and my brothers talk about when we go metal detecting

This guy's vocal cadence is so satisfying to listen to. fascinating video

What an engaging storyteller. Got me all wrapped up in Jarvis and his 4,000 smuggled Merinos like it’s the new Tarantino flick.

Starting about a dozen years ago? ...... I really started enjoying his book, "Reading The Forested Landscape". So much more info to inform my hikes through New England. Then, he came out with an illustrated version a few years back, and that was just fantastic! Well, this series is the icing on the cake! Everything is explained and presented in video! Perfect! I am greatly impressed at how this video is produced! Tom Wessels is given plenty of time to communicate each idea, and quick clips are added to further illustrate things. First rate!

Excellent series, this answers so many questions about things I have seen in the woods on hikes but did not know how they evolved! Thanks to Tom's fascinating discussion I will be looking at the forest with a new appreciation of what took place.

Forester here. I was taught to refer to the "pillows or cradles" as hummocks and hollows, for the same reasons. The rock walls were all over Vermont, where I grew up and attended college in the early 1970's. Old field white pines were infested with weevil evidence. Rare was the unaffected tree.

Fascinating. I don’t know anything about trees and stuff but I live in Rhode Island and those stone walls in the woods are all over the place. This guy knows so much about this subject, very nice to learn from him.

This guy has style, love his beard, and wearing that baldness proud. Such a boss.

I haven't learned so much in a very long time. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

This guy is awesome! He's got one hell of a memory that's for sure. I came here because it said New England forest and I'm missing New England everything, "Vermont". Because I'm down here in Texas.. Instead I got a history lesson, and a geography lesson. Great video 👍

It's rare to find someone that can read a forest so well! I'm enthralled! What I really enjoy is reading the soils above the rivers to estimate the depth of waters flowing down thru the Connecticut river valley from Canada by the type of deposits. It must have been an incredible sight as glaciers receded. My property is just south of St Johnsbury where the Connecticut river bumps into the shores of Vermont Rte 5 and turns south as it goes along the border with NH. It's a fascinating and beautiful area.

When I was in 3d grade in 1959, we were taught the stones for New England fences were from glacial deposits, and had been pulled from the fields as they were worked. Newer stones were supposed to be emerging as well, so the landowners never stopped culling them and needed a place to stack them, like a fence.

Soon as you said “forest forensics” I was immediately hooked 🪝

Well - now I am going to see pillows and cradles every time I'm in the woods! Great documentary/show/video

Phenomenal logic. I've spent the better part of sixty years trapesing around central New England forests and all of this knowledge has given an answer to all of the questions that arose in my mind as I did so. Tom Wessels is not only "skilled" in his assessments, but he's also a visionary. This is a tremendous revelation for any New Englander used to mucking about in our forests. Well done! BTW this presentation took a very dry subject and turned it into a riveting presentation. I could NOT stop watching once I stumbled upon it. Cheers.

Just wonderful! Felt like I was back doing a walk with my undergrad ecology prof! Well done.

Incredible. Thank you for sharing!

Tom, I was very educated/entertained by this video! I am a lifelong learner, botanical & historical dilettante and enjoyed your wise analysis of the habitat around you! A couple of questions/statements I have: 1) We don't have any Merino sheep here in Missouri. Why? Because NH has still got all 6 million of them there! ;) 2) Why don't the Merino sheep have a tail? 3) I've reported you to my local Sasquatch/Skunk Ape sightings group...and...we have our suspicions about your cranium shape No worries, mine is shaped like a cinder block...so...yeah...I've been dealing with it for 62 years, and you're way ahead of me! 4) The pine weevil growth anomaly was interesting. (Glad it wasn't from an invasive species!) We got the Emerald Ash Borer going on here in MO...and friggin' Zebra Mussels (no more john boat hauling)...and big jumping White Asian Carp (hit you upside your head, knock you outa the boat & have killed people in OH River)...to name a few. (Just this summer some lady found a rather too-large lizard for MO in her yard...and it was a Fenmu? or tropical species...who let that loose? Almost like the Cobra infestation in Springfield, MO in the 1950s...Google it if you've not heard about it!) Well, hell, now I'm getting all factoidy/historical - like you! I think I should subscribe!

I don't know how this came up in recommendations, since I haven't been actively searching for it, but I'm a permaculture nerd and a CG hobbyist looking to understand geomorphology, and the apparent chaos of landform at all scales, better. This tickled every one of those fancies. Thank you Tom.

my buddy and have been going in our woods for years smoking pot with questions of the past. Thank you

This is one of the best videos I have ever seen.

This man is a wealth of knowledge

This is a wonderful video, I've lived in Connecticut my whole life and find every hike in the woods a good opportunity to learn all about history.

This needs way more views. True knowledge with an understanding of historical evidence shown in a practical and concise format.

This is just the gem I needed to find at 3am

I've been a New Englander for 50 years I just came across this channel. All the videos are wonderful. Reminds me of walks in the woods with my dad and brothers as a young boy. Thank you for sharing!

These videos are awesome. I have been looking for this kind of commentary and insight for a long time to help me understand the natural world around me. I am glued to this series.

I’m 24 minutes in and this is absolutely incredible. I feel like I’m on a paid hike/ history/ intellectual geographical lesson about current and historical events about forestry and more specifically the northeast

WOW! I'm 60 YO and I always wanted to be a Park Ranger/Ecologist, but didn't follow my childhood dream. Your delightful personality and informative knowledge of forests make it intriguing to learn what I always wanted. Subscribed, allowed notifications, and liked. Thanks for bringing out the kid in me.

Idk why but I can't stop watching....

I am so impressed and amazed at the wealth of knowledge you have! I am captivated when you speak. I have been trying to evaluate my mom’s property in NE Pennsylvania. You taught me so much in just this short video. I will most definitely read your book! This is just the kind of information I was looking for. Thank you for educating me.

This makes me want to get out in the woods and explore. My family has around 100 acres in Maine and I’m looking forward to showing what I learned here to my kids this summer. Thanks for rekindling my interest in nature.

No idea how this was recommended to me, but it's amazing

The algorithm won't stop suggesting this video, I finally relented.

Not sure how I came upon this video, but the most interesting thing I've seen on the internet in ages! WOW! Fascinating stuff and does this guy ever know his stuff. Looking forward to watching Part 2 and 3!

Regarding the stone walls....When the low lands were deforested for ag, a phenomenon called frost heave occurs. Basically what happens is the exposed soil layers freeze deeper because there is no blanket of vegetation. The soil will then push up stones when it freezes during winter faster. Also, since the pastures were lowlands there were more stone to push out of the ground due to geologic weathering. Every spring the farmers would carry off all of the new stones. Walls were the convenient way to move the stones away from the pastures.

This video made me a fan of Tom and his tremendous wealth of knowledge. Wow!

This video just reinforced my desire to pursue environmental sciences in retirement.

This might be the most interesting video I have ever watched, I was unaware of even the simple concepts at the start of the video like pillows and mounds being formed by down trees - but he took that to a whole other level talking about wind patterns and directions - then when he started aging the trees on the mounds and confidently estimating which particular storm knocked those trees down I nearly lost my mind. This is so cool!

Great content, great story telling. Tom should be a guest panel member on the BBC TV program QI.

Tom, you certainly know your business. I wish I had seen your channel sooner, because this subject is so very fascinating.

Using technology to bring me closer to nature. Thanks for the video!

absolutely phenomenal knowledge being passed here. I visit the old hemlock forest in Wachusett quite frequently and this is all invaluable to understand the fingerprint of the forest. thanks tom and new england forests crew.

Have wondered about those walls, and more regarding forests, for 50 years. I’ve wondered if related to depression era work programs but seem to pre-date all that. Also thought they may represent practical rock clearing to borders of land owned, but for what? Totally unaware of sheep fever. Thank you!

Awesome. Just awesome. Knowing a place is such a gift.

Just finished watching the 3 videos in the series, now I'm rewatching them

Great collection of videos. You have made me so much more observant when I am on hikes and I am able to pass on all this information to my kids. Tom Wessels has some great books out there too!

Thank God for the fine work Tom Wessels has done over his career. He has made ecosystems and their history more fun and accessible for hundreds of thousands of people including myself. Thank you also for posting all the fine work on this channel. Marc Sutherland

Best material on RU-vid I've encountered honestly

You all are so knowledgable. Interesting videos. Thank you!

I love the outdoors & you’ve answered so many questions I’ve always had. So much respect to you and your knowledge!

I'm impressed with the interesting, detailed, well researched, and engaging presentation on information that havent found to be readily available. I appreciate the lesson.

So glad I decided to watch this. Flax gets uprooted, not sickled, in order to get the maximum fiber length.

As a landowner of family homestead of 1930 s I have observed everything since my birth in 1940 s to see what is and what nature wants I encourage nature plants. Now I see what nature wants the naturalist

Great job! So refreshing to hear and learn from an expert. I spent a few years of my youth picking stone off of plowed fields. It was an awful task.

This spring I'll be walking my woods with a lot of new information. I already have seen a stone dump, a few pillows and cradles, and barbed wire going through a line of old trees. Thanks for the lessons. You've got a new subscriber.

I studied this very thing in a biogeography class. It's one of the classes I look back on most fondly

Excellent. So informative. Thank you.

Hands down the most informative video I've ever watched on RU-vid. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us.

Great video! Recently learned about old-growth and sparked my interest in forest-life. Can't wait to watch the rest in this series. Thank you for sharing your knowledge!!!

This is such fascinating material. I have 20 acres of woodland in SW Michigan. We're near Lake Michigan and the soil composition is nearly all sand. Aerial photographs show the site as having been cleared, or nearly cleared, prior to 1930. There are straight channels in the land visible in those early photos in the NE quadrant and those channels are still evident both on the ground and in aerial photographs today. It certainly appears that the trees were cleared and an attempt made to drain the site. With Tom's insights about pits and mounds, I'm now thinking that while they cleared this land and tried to drain it, that effort was abandoned without significantly disturbing the pits and mounds. I need to take a walk back to that quarter with the channels in it to see whether or not the pits and mounds are evident there. Through the remainder of the site, they definitely are present.

Ok I have to say i thought I knew quite a bit about forests until i started watching your videos, and now realise i know next to nothing :-) I have learnt more watching your videos in the last few weeks than wandering around them for the last 50 years, many of the things i have seen over the years , now i know why they are like that, a huge wealth of knowledge thank you for sharing .