This article appears as part of Hawthorne Valley’s 2024 Annual Impact Report: The Biodiversity Edition. We invite you to explore the full report and learn more about our work to renew soil, society, and self through the integration of education, agriculture, and the arts here.
Farmscape Ecology Program (FEP) has been a hub of innovative research and community engagement for over 20 years. One of the FEP researchers at the heart of this work is Anna Duhon, whose journey from studying local food systems in the Berkshires to fostering biodiversity at Hawthorne Valley exemplifies a lifelong commitment to understanding the intricate relationships between people and the land.
Having grown up in Great Barrington, Anna’s path to Hawthorne Valley was a homecoming and a deepening of her ties to place. After earning a master’s degree from the University for Peace in Costa Rica, with a focus on Natural Resources, Anna returned to the Berkshires to research local food systems for her thesis. "It was a moment of growth in local agriculture," she recalls, describing the upswell of new farms and food outlets in the late 2000s. This work planted the seeds for her role at FEP, where she continues to explore the interplay between human, agricultural, and ecological communities.
Biodiversity in Action: The Trail
Among her many projects, the Biodiversity Trail stands out as a living embodiment of FEP’s mission to connect people to the ecological and cultural landscape of the Hudson Valley through innovative research and outreach.
A multi-faceted initiative, the in-progress trail will offer the Hawthorne Valley community a chance to experience our unique biodiversity while walking through a working farm.
“The trail combines so many layers,” Duhon explains. “It will incorporate tagged plants for our phenology research, interpretive signs highlighting biodiversity and agricultural management, and even poetry inspired by the landscape.” Phenology, she notes, is the study of the timing of natural life cycle events, such as flowering or migration, which are often influenced by weather and climate. The team has been documenting phenology observations for over a decade, as well as drawing from 19th-century records uncovered by FEP in partnership with other researchers, to analyze shifts caused by changing climatic and environmental conditions across New York State.
This dynamic approach extends to the trail itself, which will integrate research findings, educational tools, and student-driven contributions. “The students in Hawthorne Valley Waldorf School's Ecology Club were deeply engaged in designing the trail,” Anna says, describing their role in charting a path that highlights biodiversity and agriculture, brainstorming interpretive signage content, and even beginning trail construction.
The trail also bridges the practical and poetic. Inspired by the multi-faceted vision of a trail through the farm championed by farmer Spencer Fenniman in collaboration with Jill Jakimetz, FEP, and others, the project has grown to encompass themes of ecological research, artistic expression, and sustainable land management. It is intended to be, as Duhon puts it, a “living trail” that evolves with new discoveries and creative contributions.
We want the trail to be a place where people experience the richness of this landscape, both its natural and working aspects. It’s about seeing how these pieces fit together—how farming and biodiversity can coexist and support one another.
Balancing Farming and Conservation
Creating a biodiversity trail on a working farm poses unique challenges, particularly where agricultural demands intersect with ecological conservation. Core to FEP is seeing the potential synergies in these intersections, even while recognizing places where different goals may be in tension.
For example, she highlights the management of hayfields to support declining grassland-breeding bird species. “These birds rely on specific grassland conditions to reproduce,” she explains. “Intentional management of hayfields with the needs of grassland-breeding birds in mind can help ensure they have a chance to nest and fledge their young before the fields are cut.” Similarly, Hawthorne Valley’s dry meadows—less fertile from an agricultural standpoint—harbor rare ants and important native grasses and plants that provide critical habitats for pollinators and other insects.
“These landscapes include a range of different types of habitats” she says. She explained that some habitats that used to be created and maintained by beavers, fires, or flooding, all causing disturbances that are much less common in the current landscape, can now be maintained by certain farm activities.
Beyond the Trail
This year marked the publication of a unique book project over 10 years in the making: From the Hudson to the Taconics: An Ecological and Cultural Field Guide to the Habitats of Columbia County, New York. Anna, along with Conrad and Claudia from FEP, and Gretchen Stevens from Hudsonia, co-authored the book, which is a deeply researched and richly illustrated companion for exploring the ecological and cultural fabric of the local landscape. Anna has been engaged in sharing this field guide with audiences of all kinds, including potentially through the development of accompanying educational curriculum.
As Anna’s work continues to evolve, so does her vision for the intersection of research, community, and conservation. In her words, “It’s about creating spaces where people and the land connect in meaningful, dynamic ways.”
