An essay by Guy Dunkle and Annie Socci Maloney. Read by Guy Dunkle.

Guy Dunkle has spent the last 20 years practicing conservation-minded forestry in the same region of western Pennsylvania where he grew up. Guy partners with industrial, NGO, and public and private forest landowners to create vibrant, uneven-aged forests using a unique silvicultural system of low-intensity, high-frequency thinnings, group selection openings, and horse logging.

Annie Socci Maloney joined the Foundation for Sustainable Forests team in 2016. Annie holds a PhD in forest ecology from Boston University and a BS in natural resources from Cornell University. She spent 15 years in wilderness education and leadership development with the Voyageur Outward Bound School in northern Minnesota. Annie and her family live on a farm in northwestern Pennsylvania, where they raise sheep and make maple syrup.

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This piece is part of our series exploring ecological forestry featured in the Spring 2025 Issue of From the Ground Up.

Read all the submissions in our Ecological Forestry collection:

• Ecological Forestry and Slow Wood: Perspectives from Around the Region by Brian Donahue
• Ecological Forestry: Origins and Principles by Tony D’Amato
• Putting Forests First: Ecological Forestry and an Ethical Worldview by David Foster
• Relationships: The Essence of Low Impact Forestry by Sam F. Brown

• The Practice of Ecological Forestry: Seeking Diversity, Balance, and Adaptation in the Woods by Rick Morrill
• Worst-First and Femelschlag: Ecological Forestry with the Foundation for Sustainable Forests by Guy Dunkle and Annie Socci Maloney
• The Maine Woods Initiative: The Appalachian Mountain Club’s Approach to Ecological Forestry by Carolyn Ziegra
• Managing for Diversity: Insurance for the Future Forest by Ben Farina
• Exemplary Forestry: Integrating Climate Resilience, Biodiversity, and Wood Production by Robert T. Perschel