Ren Cattafe

Hello! My name is Ren Cattafe, and I am an undergraduate student at UMass Amherst studying forest ecology and conservation. I grew up in eastern Massachusetts, spending a lot of time in forests, which fostered my love of nature early on and influenced my decision to pursue a career in natural resources. I’m interested in sustainable logging practices, promoting forest resilience through silviculture, and increasing community accessibility and knowledge of forested areas. During my studies I have also had the opportunity to participate in active hemlock woolly adelgid research, which I plan to continue in the coming academic year.

I feel extremely grateful to be working with GMF this summer. Not only has it been an incredible learning opportunity, but a chance to do work that serves a real purpose.

Within the first week, my fellow interns and I supported research that involved marking 30+ acres of trees with the goal of strengthening the dominant cohort and the understory. This experience has enhanced my ability to perceive and interpret forested landscapes in a manner that can’t be achieved in a classroom setting. I am thrilled that such research is supported here, and that both industry and science can coexist within the same space.

Will Watkins

Hello, my name is Will Watkins. I am a rising senior at North Carolina State University studying forest management with a concentration in ecology and a minor in environmental education. I first got into forestry as a degree because I grew up participating in boy scouts and spent a lot of time outdoors. The summer before I started my freshman year at college I was able to go on a special backpacking trip out in New Mexico where I learned about and helped with some forestry and conservation efforts. This inspired me to pursue forestry at school. Now that I have had some schooling and this internship, I know I made the right choice.

I was born and raised in North Carolina and had never heard of Great Mountain Forest, nor did I know much about the northwest corner of Connecticut. But as soon as I ran across this opportunity online I was excited and applied immediately. It checked all my boxes, plus it was in a part of the country that I have never been to? That’s great! Even now, after working here for a month, I am still slowly learning more about both GMF and the area.

So far, we have marked stands of trees for a pre-commercial thinning and we have made some plots in a stand of barberry to get an inventory of the understory. That is only a small bit of what we have done so far and what we will eventually get to do later in the summer. I am very much looking forward to the rest of the summer.

Ronald Law

Hello, my name is Ronald Law, and I am a 2025 summer intern at Great Mountain Forest. My interest in forestry began quite late in life as I was originally studying computer science. After some time however, my disinterest in the field became apparent to me and I decided I had to quit.

Six months later, I started working at a lawn care company, eventually becoming a tree and shrub specialist. Though I enjoyed my time there, I slowly came to realize the elements in our environment that were changing dramatically, resulting in the death and weakening of numerous plants under my care. As unusually warm winters became the norm, and invasive pests became more prevalent, I realized I wanted to work in a position that was more proactive than reactive when it came to the health of our environment. So I decided to return to school and pursue environmental studies, which eventually led me to my internship at Great Mountain Forest.